Exploring Core Nursing Competencies: A QSEN Perspective

Transition to Practice
The main goal of the Quality and Safety for Nurses are to have in preparation prospective nurses who will possess the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to enhance the quality and safety of the healthcare system within their employment jurisdiction (QSEN) Institute, 2014). The six core nursing competencies are patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, safety, and informatics. (Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) Institute, 2014). QSEN competencies were formed and based off using the Institute of Medicine five core competencies. The five competencies of the Institute of Medicine are provided patient-centered care, work in interdisciplinary teams,

Effective team functioning improves and achieves quality patient care (QSEN Institute, 2014). Being aware of own strength and limitations as a team member is a skill that can prevent ineffective team functioning (QSEN Institute, 2014). Nurses who integrate evidence-based practice when providing care can identify efficient and effective search strategies to retrieve reliable sources of evidence, and which results in delivery of optimal care (QSEN Institute, 2014). Quality improvement utilizes improvement methods to create and test changes that would improve the quality and safety of health care systems (QSEN Institute, 2014). As a novice nurse with knowledge of this competency they will possess or eventually gain the skill of utilizing findings from root cause analyses to propose and implement improvements where necessary (QSEN Institute, 2014). Safety, as defined by QSEN, is minimizing the risk of harm to patients and providers through individual performance and both system effectiveness (QSEN Institute, 2014). Skills that a novice nurse would exhibit to implement safety when providing care are using patient identification barcodes, to prevent medication errors and identifying patient before

Select Specialty provides specialized care for high acuity patients who need more time to recover. Each nurse I was ever assigned to work one on one with was beyond exceptional. Many patients at Select Specialty cannot sustain effective breathing on their own when they arrive at the hospital. Being at Select was a challenge for me at first because most were on ventilators and needed consistent suctioning and monitoring. But once I observed how the interdisciplinary team collaborated and communicated I realize I was surrounded by health care providers who sometimes were unsure or needed to do more research before they can further initiate a plan. This is when I felt confident and told myself its ok to not know the answer or be unsure. What is not okay is being unsure and not doing proper research or knowing of appropriate, accurate resources to retrieve the best current evidence base practice before providing care. Select Specialty was great at making sure every health care provider employee was on the same page and up to date on any changes or improvements that were to be implemented. The health care providers were informed of any new changes or concerns through daily meetings. After speaking with a few nurses who worked for Select Specialty for over five years, I found out that all new employees must complete a diversity training to help ensure care is patient-centered and culturally sensitive. From the handful of nurses