It is essential for the chief nursing officer (CNO) to possess an understanding of quality and safety to pinpoint concerns and advocate the execution of quality and safety developments as the they guide the organization. Therefore, leaders need to accept quality as a continual organizational goal, which starts with the end in mind (Roussel, Thomas, & Harris, 2016, pp. 363-364). Furthermore, Batalden (2010) identifies three intricately interconnected goals:
“a. reducing the burden of illness for individuals and for them as a population; b. improving system quality, safety and value performance; and c. developing and maintaining a lifetime of professional competence, pride and joy in the daily work that includes making these gains”. (367)
…show more content…
For instance, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) engages in the testing and reporting of safety improvement strategies and makes significant research accolades to determine the best evidence for safety and effective practice guidelines that use the best clinical evidence available for a treatment of action for a particular disease or prevention strategy (AHRQ, 2013). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also places a focus on promoting quality and safety through providing guidelines to eliminate central line associate bloodstream infections (CLABSI), catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), and ventilator associated pneumonias (VAP). The heightened attention toward quality healthcare delivery and the transparency of HAI rates through mandated public reporting have notable economic and reputational implications for healthcare organizations. The workflow of my current role as the infection preventionist requires a significant allocation of time to perform surveillance, the process of data collection, aggregation, analysis, and reporting is arduous and time consuming. Therefore, it is essential that CNOs become more involved in information technology to identify the effects technology has on the healthcare delivery organization (Roussel, …show more content…
Therefore, CNOs will need to provide information to patients that are clear, beneficial, pertinent and readily available. In order to improve the quality of care that patients receive, the CNO needs to engage physician participation to be successful in public reporting initiatives. Although this may be a challenge, encompassing physicians in the hospital’s vision will gain their buy-in and harvest favorable results for the organization, while promoting quality performance. Additionally, CNOs need to involve staff within the organization to outline the culture and organizational needs. Innovative tactics such as empowering staff, enhance measureable worth to the organization to include patient satisfaction and safety. Furthermore, as CNOs motivate change and react to the assortment of mandates enforced by outside shareholders, they must remain mindful of how one accomplishment will directly and indirectly affect the organization as a whole (Roussel et al., 2016). The CNOs leadership imperative is to ensure that care is coordinated and quality and safety are achieved in a manner that contributes to the overall success of the organization, while expanding the delivery of care to the patient in a healthcare
SGH has been plagued with patient quality issues, therefore SGH finds itself in a situation which is inherently antithetical to the mission of the hospital. The costs of healthcare continue to rise at an alarming rate, and hospital boards are experiencing increased scrutiny in their ability, and role, in ensuring patient quality (Millar, Freeman, & Mannion, 2015). Many internal actors are involved in patient quality, from the physicians, nurses, pharmacists and IT administrators, creating a complex internal system. When IT projects, such as the CPOE initiative fail, the project team members, and the organization as a whole, may experience negative emotions that impede the ability to learn from the experience (Shepherd, Patzelt, & Wolfe, 2011). The SGH executive management team must refocus the organization on the primary goal of patient
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
The role of the Chief Nursing Officer is a complex position. Educational preparation for the CNO role range from a Master’s in Nursing to a degree outside of the profession such as an MBA or a degree in a related area of study (Kerfoot, 2012, p. 38-39). As L. Horton’s role of the CNO for Select Specialty Hospital, the duties required by h...
As a nurse we are responsible for the safety and overall health promotion of our patients. Competency in the nursing field is what ensures patient safety and decreased hospital acquired injury. Continued competence ensures that the nurse is able to perform efficiently and safely in a constantly changing environment. Nurses must continuously evaluate their level of skill and find where improvement needs to be made in order to keep up to date with the expected skill level set by their
Safety is non-negotiable. Because of nurse leader's perspective on the causes of errors and their prevention, they are an indispensable part of a multidisciplinary team that finds innovative solutions to improve safety that ultimately benefits the patient.
Safety competency is essential for high-quality care in the medical field. Nurses play an important role in setting the bar for quality healthcare services through patient safety mediation and strategies. The QSEN definition of safety is that it “minimizes risk of harm to patients and providers through both system effectiveness and individual performance.” This papers primary purpose is to review and better understand the importance of safety knowledge, skills, and attitude within nursing education, nursing practice, and nursing research. It will provide essential information that links health care quality to overall patient safety.
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.
Retrieved from: Ashford University Library Boaden, R., & Joyce, P. (2006). Developing the electronic health record: What about patient safety? Health Services Management Research, 19 (2), 94-104. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/236465771?accountid=32521.
In today’s health care system, “quality” and “safety” are one in the same when it comes to patient care. As Florence Nightingale described our profession long ago, it takes work and vigilance to ensure we are doing the best we can to care for our patients. (Mitchell, 2008)
The overall goal for the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) plan is to meet the challenge of educating and preparing future nurses to have the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are essential to frequently progress the quality and safety of the healthcare systems in the continuous improvement of safe practice (QSEN, 2014).Safety reduces the possibility of injury to patients and nurses. It is achieved through system efficiency and individual work performance. Organizations determine which technologies have an effective protocol with efficient practices to support quality and safety care. Guidelines are followed to reduce potential risks of harm to nurses or others. Appropriate policies
The first nurse to introduce quality improvement was Florence Nightingale, who through gathering data on the positive effects of keeping adequate hygiene, nutrition and proper ventilation on the mortality rate during the Crimean War (Hood, 2014, p. 490-491). The initiatives towards improvement of quality lead to formation the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals (JCAH), which is now known as The Joint Commission (2007). The Joint Commission is non-profit organization which gives accreditation to hospitals for recognizing their efforts to deliver quality health care with an added advantage of being eligible for the Medicare reimbursement program. Moreover, the Joint Commission also rolled out the Hospital Patient Safety Goals (2013) to prevent patient safety errors. Nursing professionals are essential for health care organizations to achieve and maintain the patient-safety goals as their work directly impacts the quality and safety of the patients. For instance, using two patient identifiers during medication administration to avert errors. Nurses have the distinct skills and responsibility towards patient safety and hence the need for Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) is the rational step towards quality improvement. Through the years, the QSEN has developed in Phases to ascertain the areas of competency requirements for nurses to deliver safe, efficient and excellent health care
...s and measurement to decrease healthcare- associated infections. American Journal Of Infection Control, pp. S19-S25. doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2012.02.008.
The Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Program is an essential force maximizing quality, patient centered care, and safety throughout the Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care System (VANTHCS). The VANTHCS “... is a progressive health care provider in the heart of Texas ... we serve more than 117,000 Veterans and deliver 1.4 million outpatient episodes of care each year to Veterans in 38 Texas counties and two counties in southern Oklahoma” (“VA North Texas,” 2016, para. 1). The purpose of the IPC Program is to guide a facility-wide approach toward identifying, preventing, controlling, and eliminating healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). This approach is facilitated through infection control (IC) practitioner’s role-modeling behaviors of assessing, supporting, guiding, and/or directing healthcare providers (HCPs) in the application of evidence-based practices (EBPs) to prevent HAIs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HAIs are often preventable adverse events that pose a major threat to patient safety (“Centers for Disease,” 2016). As a result, IC practitioners recognize the importance of preparing nurse faculty to engage clinical staff in the application of EBPs to prevent infections.
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is reshaping the health care system in the United States at an accelerating rate. In earlier times US Healthcare system was more focused on intervention of diseases, but now it is moving more towards preventive approach and I see Health IT as the most important tool that can lead this change. I strongly believe that my professional goals, range and depth of my experience and knowledge is an asset and my enthusiasm for the field makes me an ideal candidate for the Master of Professional Studies in Technology Management (Health Information Technology) program at Georgetown University.
Whether you are developing products, implementing projects or designing processes, you need trusted independent inspection to ensure that both your legal obligations and the high standards you expect are met at every stage. Our comprehensive range of world-leading inspection services helps you to reduce risk, control quality and quantity, and meet all relevant regulatory requirements across different regions and markets.