|
|
Thesis/Dissertation Information
- Degree Disciplines:
- Nursing
Notes
- Abstract:
- Background: Nursing errors in clinical practice are costly in terms of increased hospital stay, resources consumed, patient harm, and lives lost, but errors also have the potential for serious effects on the nurse. Nurses of different generational cohorts bring diverse attitudes and approaches in response to human error in clinical practice that subsequently can lead to divergent methods of coping with errors. If unhealthy responses to errors are not recognized and dealt with appropriately, they may affect the nurse’s self-confidence, impede learning, and affect the quality of a nurse’s practice performance. Purpose: To test the hypothesis that there are generational differences in coping methods of registered nurses from the Baby Boomer Generation, Generation X, and Generation Y when errors occur in clinical practice as measured by the Ways of Coping Questionnaire. Theoretical Framework: James Reason’s Human Factors Theory on Human Error served as the theoretical lens to test the study hypotheses. Methods: A quantitative method with a descriptive correlational design was employed to investigate the approaches and actions a nurse may use to cope with the specific stressful encounter of an error in clinical practice. The Ways of Coping Questionnaire elicited individual responses to each item on a four-point Likert scale, indicating the frequency with which each strategy was used. Instruments were demographic data and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire by Lazarus and Folkman (1984). Results: This research included 160 nurses who reported having made a medical error in clinical practice. Demographic information was collected, and participants were collapsed into age cohorts. Participants scored the level of severity of their error. While all levels of severity of error were reported, the majority were reported to have been minor to moderate. Three hypotheses were tested. Two hypotheses sought to examine if there was a difference between the three age cohorts on problem-focused and emotion-focused coping. One hypothesis considered the correlational relationship between the length of time the participant had been working in the healthcare system and the overall score for ways of coping following a clinical error. None of these resulted in significant findings. Conclusions: The conclusion of this study resulted in the three generations of cohorts not having any significant differences in their utilization of coping methods. It must be noted that as the group size for age cohort was unequal, conclusions for one-way ANOVA are not guaranteed. Based on these results, it is evident that the problem focused coping strategies and the emotion-focused coping strategies were used somewhat to quite a bit by the participants. All participants had made at least one medical error in clinical practice, and half of the participants had disclosed their error to the patient. The length of time since their error is noteworthy. It ranged from .5 years to 34 years.
- Thesis:
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--Barry University, 2012.
- Bibliography:
- Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-124).
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- Barry University
- Holding Location:
- Barry University Archives and Special Collections
- Rights Management:
- Copyright Catherine B. Johnson. Permission granted to Barry University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
- Resource Identifier:
- RT86.J64 2012_JohnsonCatherine ( BU-Local )
- Classification:
- RT86.J64 2012 ( lcc )
|
|
