Alyssas Story: Including Patients and Families in Delivery of Care: Case Study

Alyssa, a nine-year-old girl, died because of several medical errors performed by the hospital staff, as it was reported by her mother Carole Hemmelgarn and described in the case. Hemmelgarns main emphasis is on the fact that patient safety should be a priority for all medical settings. In this particular case, healthcare providers failed to recognize a hospital-acquired infection, use laboratory results appropriately, and react to the girls symptoms effectively (Daley, 2015). All these medical errors could be avoided, but the specifics of working with multiple patients in a hospital did not allow healthcare providers to pay much attention to the case and disease signs. Furthermore, it is important to state that medical workers always have a moral and professional responsibility to prevent and overcome such mistakes (Butts & Rich, 2016; Pozgar, 2016). Therefore, this case can be used as an illustration in order to accentuate the critical role of patient safety in medical facilities, especially when working with pediatric patients.

In addition, it is possible to assume with reference to the case description that the hospital had rather ineffective protocols to follow in order to address similar critical situations. There was a certain barrier for nurses and other medical staff to effectively react to the patients symptoms because of a hierarchy and inefficient protocols (MedStar Health, 2014). It is possible to admit that when nurses could notice the error and wanted to act morally and professionally, they could not be proactive because of the hierarchy and duty issues. As a result, Hemmelgarns goal is to work as an advocate for patients in order to ensure they are protected in terms of safety at hospitals and educated regarding medical errors.