Patient Safety Job Descriptions

Significance

While all nurses must be very aware of patients safety needs, according to Nurse Zone, a nurse specialist in patient safety is responsible for organizing committees devoted to steering hospital policy with the goal of maximizing the safety of patients. Patient safety is essential for maximizing the patient's outcome and for preventing any additional treatments that the patient might need due to injuries caused at the hospital. Many patients have injuries that make their bodies more fragile than usual, requiring more caution than usual. Nurses can further specialize into more specific forms of patient safety such as clinical safety education, simulation training and infection control.

Nurses examine medical procedures and attempt to come up with methods that these procedures can be error-proofed. They are also responsible for closely monitoring the use of drugs in order to make sure that patients receive the right drugs at the right dosage, according to Nurse Zone. They must also be on the lookout for potential dangers that other staff members at the hospital may have missed.

Nurses follow one of three educational paths. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an aspiring nurse can attend an associate's degree program, a bachelor's degree program or a diploma program administered by hospitals. Afterward, the nurse must pass the National Council Licensure Examination in order to become a registered nurse. Nurse Zone reported that nurses who would like to specialize further in patient safety can attend the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Patient Safety Executive Development Program, which is a seven day program. Becoming an effective patient safety nurse requires that the nurse have an understanding of how humans interact with the environment. They must also be willing to communicate to physicians about practices that can potentially harm the patient.

Between 2008 and 2018, the need for registered nurses is expected to grow by 22 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The need for nurses specialized in patient safety is driven by medicare and Medicaid often refusing to pay for medical errors. In general, an increasing elderly population is expanding the need for long term medical treatment and continually injuring patients is a quality of life concern.

The median earnings for registered nurses in 2008 were $62,450, based on data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The highest 10 percent earned more than $92,240 and the lowest 10 percent earned less than $43,410. Nurses working for employment services were paid the most, while nurses working for nursing care facilities were paid the least.