CMS Never Events and Artificial Intelligence in Future Nursing Practice

1. Discuss examples of "never events" based upon policy of  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). How do these events impact the workplace? How does this affect decision-making practices of nurse leaders in relation to improving quality and safety in the workplace?

1. Discuss one future health-related projection and its implications for nursing practice. Remember to cite your sources!

1. Discuss examples of "never events" based upon policy of The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

In the beginning of 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) identified 'never events' which are medical conditions and complications that are penalized on occurrence in the medical facilities. Never events can be defined as scenarios that should not happen to hospitalized patients. The never events can be referred to as Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) (Torrey, 2023). Examples of never events in healthcare organizations are; urinary tract infections caused by catheters, bloodstream infections caused by the central line placements, patient falls due to individual and environmental factors in the community, pressure ulcers acquired during hospitalization, surgery to the wrong patient or body part and blood transfusion with the wrong type of blood.

On occurrence, the never events lead to adverse patient outcomes and it also derives negative effects to the organization. Never events cause catastrophic harm to the patients as they can lead to patient's dissatisfaction with the care provided. These events lead to lengthened hospital stay and this automatically translates to high hospital costs. The never events affect the nurse leaders' decision-making as their decisions are centered on preventing the occurrence of these events (Bowman et al., 2023). It is the responsibility of the nurse leaders to provide the necessary support and attention to make meaningful improvements in healthcare. This reduces the risk of occurrence of the never events.

1. Discuss one future health-related projection and its implications for nursing practice.

One of the future-related health projections is the utilization of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Up to now, AI technologies are continually being developed, tested, evaluated, and applied in healthcare. AI technology has become more accurate, advanced, effective, practical, and efficient in providing nursing care. The advancement of AI technology presents an opportunity and it applies pressure to the use of AI technology in nursing care. The major purpose of AI technology is to solve problems in nursing care and make any improvements in care provision (Pailaha, 2023). For instance, the use of AI technology for speech recognition speeds up the communication process and improves efficiency and accuracy in care provision. Also, it reduces the occurrence of medical errors and shortens the time taken to complete nursing documentation. AI technologies such as machine learning have five algorithms and they visualize the best models using web calculators and nomograms that help nurses the cancer status of the patients (Pailaha, 2023). Machine learning technologies reduce in-hospital mortality using early warning scores. Thus, in the use of AI, there is a need to consider the challenges that are faced in healthcare and how AI can solve these problems.

References

Bowman, C. L., De Gorter, R., Zaslow, J., Fortier, J. H., & Garber, G. (2023). Identifying a list of healthcare 'never events' to effect system change: a systematic review and narrative synthesis. BMJ Open Quality, 12(2), e002264. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10314656/#:~:text=Never%20events%20continue%20to%20occur,language%20used%20to%20describe%20them.

Pailaha, A. D. (2023). The impact and issues of artificial intelligence in nursing science and healthcare settings. SAGE Open Nursing, 9, 23779608231196847. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/23779608231196847

Torrey, T. (2023). Medicare and its Hospital Acquired Condition (HAC) Policy. verywellhealth. <https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-medicares-never-events-policy-2615384#:~:text=Never%20Events%20and%20Medicare,-The%20original%202008&text=The%20list%20of%20these%20types,acquired%20while%20in%20the%20hospital>