Limiting Harm in Health Care: A Nursing Perspective

Limiting Harm in Health Care highlights the potential for unnecessary harm in health care practice. This harm is mostly unintentional, but it can result from many different aspects of medical treatment in a wide range of practice areas. Adverse events, events or omissions during clinical care resulting in physical or psychological injury, are increasingly being recognised as significant problems in health care. Following clarification of the nature and extent of medical harm in health care, separate chapters explore the potential for medical harm in diverse areas of practice. Topics include problems in the use of medication, the treatment of acute heart disease, the role of hospital routine and the potentially negative role of medically dominated treatment in mental illness and palliative care. The book includes recommendations for reducing unnecessary harm within the expanding boundaries of nursing practice. The reader is challenged to assess the potential risks inherent in the health care system, to reconsider established methods of treatment, and to re-examine professional working relationships.