Patient Concern: Personal Safety

Americans rely on the healthcare system for the maintenance and improvement of personal health, which often involves care in the hospital setting. Most patients believe that the American healthcare system provides the highest quality and safest care in the world. It is estimated that four out of every one hundred hospitalized patients in the United States suffers a serious adverse event, such as a nosocomial infection, medication error, or injury related to improper use of equipment or treatment. Because nurses have a generalist education, are present most continuously with patients, they…