It is hard to disagree that the work of a nurse in a hospital setting may be challenging. It is especially difficult when a patient dies, and medical workers know for sure that their life could have been saved. Unfortunately, due to the unavailability of some necessary resources and probably medical errors, it is not always possible to predict the outcome of a specific case. According to Dr. Flavia Machado, who presented her findings at the 2018 Society of Critical Care conference, the mortality rate among patients with sepsis and severe sepsis is quite high in both low- and high-income countries (SCCM, 2018).
It is not known for sure how many lives of these people could have been saved, but doctors suppose that the numbers are high. To reduce these death rates, some changes should be introduced to the practice setting and the resources available to the medics. The purpose of this paper is to discuss three significant findings from Dr. Machado’s lection and explain their value to nurses in a hospital setting.
To begin with, it is necessary to evaluate the quality of care provided in a specific hospital. According to the speaker, in 2018 and earlier, public institutions were not able to reduce mortality throughout the intervention (SCCM, 2018). Unfortunately, sometimes it takes too much time to deliver a patient with a severe condition to an institution or provide them with the first shot of antibiotics.
These are the factors that indicate the inadequate process of care, and it is vital to improve it by detecting the barriers and facilitators and eliminating the weaknesses in the system. For example, when the emergency departments are crowded, there is a shortage of medical workers. Consequently, patients have to wait for the care much longer, which worsens their conditions, may lead to complications, and reduces the chance of their successful recovery. Therefore, it is required to address these issues and make sure that despite the number of clients in the emergency departments, all of them can receive timely treatment.
Further, there is an issue with the resources available for patients. In her lecture, Dr. Machado notices that medical workers struggle with providing the clients with ICU beds, which reduces the rates of successfully recovered patients (SCCM, 2018). Additionally, Alhalaseh et al. (2021) indicate that the shortage increased because of COVID-19, and now there are fewer resources available for sepsis patients since they may not be a priority. In Brazil, there are 7.6 public ISU beds and 25.5 private ICU beds for 100,000 persons, which exemplifies the extreme need for a better allocation of primary medical resources and an increase in their number (SCCM, 2018). The implementation process should become less costly and more effective, which is the primary goal of healthcare institutions.
Finally, the third valuable finding is related to nurses’ training. It is essential to notice that providing physicians with additional education is the key to making the care better and more quality. Specifically for patients with sepsis, nurses who have received extra training are able to recognize patients with sepsis much faster and provide them with the needed care (SCCM, 2018). Since the requirements for medical workers and the overall conditions change over time, it is important to make sure that all nurses are aware of the latest trends and innovations, which may be achieved through training.
References
Alhalaseh, Y. N., Elshabrawy, H. A., Erashdi, M., Shahait, M., Abu-Humdan, A. M., & Al-Hussaini, M. (2021). Allocation of the “already” limited medical resources amid the covid-19 pandemic, an iterative ethical encounter including suggested solutions from a real life encounter. Frontiers in Medicine, 7, 1-7.
SCCM. (2018). Sepsis: A threat that needs a global solution [Video]. YouTube. Web.