Read the following scenario and respond to the questions below.
Tower 4 West is a 36-bed medical unit. The nurse leader, Renee, is a new leader, and her performance is evaluated based on the number of medication errors reported on her unit. As a result, she has told everyone very clearly that she will tolerate no errors and that she wants the unit to have zero medication errors each month. When an error does occur, she meets individually with the nurse, writes up the nurse’s error, and puts a report in the nurse’s performance review files. She has put two nurses on performance probation. As a result, the nurses on the unit are afraid to report when an error occurs, and they have begun to cover for each other and not report errors. You are a staff nurse on the unit, and you want to serve as a leader in creating a blame-free environment.
•What’s wrong with Renee’s approach to medication errors?
•What first steps would you take to change the culture?
•How do you think the ANA Code of Ethics applies, or does not apply, to this situation?
Support your response with references from the professional nursing literature.
Course Text: Effective Leadership and Management in Nursing (8th ed.)
◦Chapter 6, “Managing and Improving Quality”
Text: Guide to the Code of Ethics for Nurses