In your business experience, have you observed major errors as a result of false assumptions?

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My experience while working at a nursing home sheded some light to how false assumption could lead to making of errors. The environment, as I experienced presents unique challenges given the physical and mental state of people being cared for. Perhaps the biggest assumption that was noticeable was the belief that old people do not care of their dignity and modesty as much. Bathrooms and most facilities were shared by both genders.in additions, in some instance nurses cared for old people of opposite gender. As I later learnt, this assumption was utterly false. Most of those I closely interacted with expressed their discomfort. This assumption has led to injuring of dignity and self-esteem of many. Their families also in some occasions complained of this. Most felt that their loved ones were being degraded. Another noticeable assumption concerns their security in the event of fire on any other accident. Alarms were installed for this purpose. The assumption being that they will understand the meaning of the ringing of alarm and take precaution. But the fact is, some of them are too frail while others are senile and couldn’t understand the alarm warnings. Their false assumption could endanger their lives
In one of the instances, the family of one of the old people demanded that he should be treated with respect and dignity he deserved. They wanted him to be intimately assisted only by male nurses and attendants. At that moment, it was drawn to the attention of management of the home that modesty of the old people had to be upheld. New measures were introduced that recommended for gender sensitivity in handling the old unless where it was utterly necessary.

References

Medical Patient Modesty. (n.d.). Elderly Patients and Modesty in Medical Settings. Retrieved from http://patientmodesty.org/elderlypatients.aspx

Strahan, G. W. (1997). An overview of nursing homes and their current residents: Data from the 1995 National Nursing Home Survey. US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics.