Dean of Nursing Publishes New Book on Patient Safety

Deborah Hunt ’86, CNR ‘90, Ph.D., RN, associate dean and professor of nursing, will publish her fourth nursing book from Springer Publishing in July titled, "Fast Facts for Patient Safety in Nursing: How to Decrease Medical Errors and Improve Patient Outcomes.”

Hunt was motivated to write the book due to new evidence that hospital errors are increasing. “It's very concerning that the error rates have increased so drastically, despite all the effort and attention to prevent that from happening,” said Hunt. “That’s why I decided to write a book to highlight the issue and discuss what can be done.”

Published by Springer Publishing’s Fast Facts series, Hunt’s book makes the content practical and actionable with case studies and stories in which nurses share medical errors they made or nearly made along with their reflections on what they learned from the experience. The book’s intended audience includes nurse educators and leaders, student nurses, new nurses and even experienced nurses who want to refine their skills.

Hunt believes that one of the primary solutions to reducing medical errors is to develop nurses’ critical thinking skills, logic and clinical judgment, which aligns with the current thinking of many experts. In the book, she discusses how nurse educators and leaders can develop those skills in their nursing students and nurses—and how nurses can develop those skills in themselves. “It really is everybody working together to promote positive patient outcomes and investing in continuing education, development and quality improvements,” she explained.

“I know this is only one book, but I really am hoping that it's going to make a difference,” Hunt said. “If we save one patient's life, that's what really matters.”