Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Importance of quality improvement in nursing
Importance of quality improvement in nursing
Importance of quality improvement in nursing
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Importance of quality improvement in nursing
Importance and Benefits of Quality Improvement
Quality improvement (QI) involves the regular and constant actions that enable measurable improvement in health care. QI results in enhanced health services, organizational efficiency, quality and safe care to patients, and desired health outcomes for individuals and patient populations (U. S. Department of Health and Human Service, 2011). A successful quality improvement program is patient-centered, a collaboration of teams, and uses data in systems. QI helps to develop a culture of excellence in nursing, identify and prioritize areas of improvement, promote communication and collaboration, collect and analyze data, and encourage continuous evaluation of systems and processes (American Academy
…show more content…
Quality improvement is critical in primary care services where patient-centered quality health care and safety are prioritized, to achieve improved patient experiences and outcomes, improve the health of the identified population, and reduce costs of health care. The collaboration of nurses with other medical professionals, quality improvement organizations, insurance companies, medical suppliers, and other stakeholders is critical to ensuring that primary care is of high quality. New skills are required, especially among nurses who are at the center of primary care to meet quality improvement goals and objectives. Some of the required skills are how to identify areas for improvement, understanding data, planning and implementing changes, as well as evaluating performance to inform quality improvement (Taylor et al. …show more content…
The recommendations would lead to increased costs, but again, the benefits in quality of primary care and efficiency of nursing practice that will result from this far outweighs the financial resources put in, into the long-term. The result will be a nurses’ commitment to patient-centered, quality, safe, and reliable care, as well as improved efficiencies in health care
Leaders recognize improving clinical quality will have many benefits for both, residents and the organization. For example, it will benefit residents by improving satisfaction, reducing complications, and improving their quality of life. It will benefit NCH by reducing turnover, improving occupancy rates, attracting top talent, and enhance employee satisfaction (Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes, n.d.). Increasing professional development opportunities will be key for improving clinical quality. Professional development enhances the clinical staff’s competencies and will decrease turnover, which will enable NHC to experience a greater financial return on their development
Young, W. B., Minnick, A. F., & Marcantonio, R. (1996). How wide is the gap in defining quality care?: Comparison of patient and nurse perceptions of important aspects of patient care. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 26(5), 15-20.
The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN’s) goal is to prepare future nurses with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) that are needed to continuously improve the quality and safety of the healthcare systems within which they work. QSEN focuses on six main competencies; patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, safety, and informatics. As we have learned in earlier classes these competencies and their KSAs offer a base to help us and other nurses as we continue our education and become RNs. As we will learn in this class these KSAs go hand in hand with health assessment.
As defined by the American of Nurses Association (ANA, 2002), “Nursing-Sensitive Indicators are those indicators that capture care or its outcomes most affected by nursing care.” The ANA uses the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) to statistically test the relationships between nursing interventions, staffing levels, and positive patient outcomes (Nursing Quality - NDNQI, 2016). These indicators utilize unit specific data enabling action planning and intervention according to the unit if improvement is needed (Nursing Quality – NDNQI, 2016). The purpose of this paper is to show how Good Samaritan Medical Center’s 5th floor, pavilion 2, Medical Surgical/Oncology unit uses nurse sensitive indicators such as pain management,
Nursing provides the best quality of care by exercising six models formulated by QSEN: patient-centered care, teamwork, and collaboration, evidence base practice, quality improvement, safety and informatics (Competencies, n.d.). Following the competencies set forth by QSEN decreases errors and gives patients the care they desire and
In most aspects of life the saying “less is always more” may ring true; however when it comes to providing quality care to patients, less only creates problems which can lead to a decrease in patient’s quality of life as well as nurse’s satisfaction with their jobs. The massive shortage of nurses throughout the United States has gotten attention from some of the most prestigious schools, news media and political leaders. Nurses are being burnt out from their jobs, they are being overworked and overlooked. New nurses are not being properly trained, and old nurses are on their way to retirement. All the while the rate of patient admissions is on the rise. Nurses are reporting lower satisfaction in their job positions and hospital retention rates are at an all-time low, conversely this is affecting all patients’ quality of care. As stated in the article Addressing The Nurse Shortage To Improve The Quality Of Patient Care “According to an Institute of Medicine report, Nurses are the largest group of health care professionals providing direct patient care in hospitals, and the quality of care for hospital patients is strongly linked to the performance of nursing staff”.
Nurses are pivotal in hospital efforts to improve quality because they are in the best position to affect the care patients receive during their hospitalization. Data collection and analysis is the core of quality improvement assisting in understanding how the system work, identifying potential areas in need for improvement, monitoring the effectiveness of change and outcome. Nurses are also the eyes and ears of the hospital to positively influence patient outcome. For example, nurses are the ones catching medication errors, falls, and identifying barriers to delivering care. In this nurse’s facility, in order to minimize patient falls the hospital implemented a falls risk assessment tool called, “The Humpty Dumpty Scale” upon admission
According to institute of medicine (IOM) report of 2010, the United States has the opportunity to renovate its health care system to provide affordable quality care that is reachable to all and leads to improved health outcomes (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2010). The impact on nursing of the 2010 institute of medicine formulated with the purpose of producing a report that would make endorsements for an action oriented design for future of nursing profession. The major transformation of the nursing profession is needed to achieve the upgraded health care system through nursing practice, education, and leadership. Overall, the main goal is to provide safe, quality, patient-centered care that is manageable and reasonable to all and enhanced health outcomes. The IOM report offers recommendations that collectively serve as a plan “to ensure that nurses can practice to the full extent of their education and training, improve nursing education, and provide opportunities for the nurses to assume leadership positions and to serve as full partners in health care redesign and improvement efforts, and improve data collection for workforce planning and policy making” (IOM, 2010 p.1).
Lemak, C., Cohen, G. R., & Erb, N. (2013). Engaging primary care physicians in quality improvement: Lessons from a payer-provider partnership. Journal of Healthcare Management, 58(6), 429-443.
Quality improvement initiatives are effective only when the organizational structure and culture are aligned with a similar vision for the provision of quality care delivery and a commitment to continuous improvement. Organizations must take an active approach to measure, assess, and improve processes creating an environment supporting quality improvement initiatives (Spath, 2014). The creation of this type of environment should be evident from the top tier of leadership to the front-line employees, creating a culture supporting the delivery and sustainability of quality care. The following paragraphs will identify and discuss the authority structure of the quality improvement plan including the roles and responsibilities of the members involved in the plan implementation. Additional discussion will include the roles of communication, education, and evaluation of the quality improvement plan. Finally, identification and discussion of the impact external entities have on the project and the strategies needed to overcome potential challenges to the project implementation.
Nurses are key components in health care. Their role in today’s healthcare system goes beyond bedside care, making them the last line of defense to prevent negative patient outcomes (Sherwood & Zomorodi, 2014). As part of the interdisciplinary team, nurses have the responsibility to provide the safest care while maintaining quality. In order to meet this two healthcare system demands, the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) project defined six competencies to be used as a framework for future and current nurses (Sherwood & Zomorodi, 2014). These competencies cover all areas of nursing practice: patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice, quality
Our nation’s healthcare system requires constant monitoring for quality and innovations and guidelines for increasing the quality of care. This process is difficult and complex and requires many separate organizations with differing approaches and objectives in order to be effective. Fortunately, there are many such organizations that strive to continuously increase the health care standards and practices in our nation. They also assist the consumer in making educated decisions on which medical facilities will best suit their needs. Reviewing a few of these quality improvement organizations and the roles they play will increase our understanding of their roles within our nation’s healthcare system.
In this reflective essay, I will be using the Driscoll’s model of reflection to talk about how my knowledge of quality nursing care has improved since the commencement of this module. Quality nursing care has helped me develop various nursing strategies that will guide me in my first placement and throughout my career in nursing. Furthermore, it has taught me about communicating effectively with patients, I have learnt about verbal communication such as paraphrasing when communicating with patients to ensure that what said is properly understood. I have learnt not to make assumptions about patients and putting them in the middle of their care, taking into account their preferences.
Maintenance and promotion of quality improvement initiatives are essential for the successful growth and development of the health care industry. Nurses are key to all quality improvement initiatives as they are in the frontlines and have the most contact with the healthcare consumers. Therefore, nursing professionals are good at putting in their valuable inputs for quality improvement efforts. On a daily basis nursing professionals strive to deliver safe, efficient, effective, patient-centered care in a timely manner. With the growth and development in the health care industry, there is an increased need to provide competent and high quality services. Nurses are equipped with distinctive proficiency required for delivery of patient care
Understanding quality measurement is essential in improving quality. Teams need to be able to understand whether the changes being made are actually leading to improved care and improved outcomes. For data to have an impact on an improvement initiative, providers and staff must understand it, trust it, and use it. Health care organization must understand the measurement of quality provided by the Institute of Medicine (patient outcomes, patient satisfaction, compliance, efficiency, safe, timely, patient centered, and equitable. An organization cannot improve its performance if it does not know how it is performing. Measuring quality improvements is essential as it reflects the quality of care given by the providers and that by comparing performance