NR 451 Week 4 Discussion - Evaluating Quality Patient Outcomes

NR 451 Week 4 Discussion - Evaluating Quality Patient Outcomes How can data provide information to evaluate quality patient outcomes? Give an example of data that can reflect poor quality in care. How can quality improvement be a daily task in patient care? Why does continuous quality improvement need to be associated with change? Last week we spoke about decision making and communication. How do these two processes lead to quality (or not so quality) outcomes for the patient? There are several questions to be answered. Make sure that address each of these questions individually for full credit. * How can data provide information to evaluate quality patient outcomes? * Give an example of data that can reflect poor quality in care. * How can quality improvement be a daily task in patient care? * Why does continuous quality improvement need to be associated with change? This question brings to mind the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) which is a database containing data collected at the nursing unit level. My facility participates in the NDNQI for pressure ulcer training which helps to provide quality patient outcomes by improving care. More recently my facility participated in an RN Satisfaction Survey. This survey helped to learn more about the climate in which RNs work and patients receive care. Some of the indicators currently being collected are Nursing Turnover, Patient Falls, Pressure Ulcer Rates, Restraints, and Nosocomial Infections, just to name a few. (N, 2013) The data collected can improve care resulting in quality patient outcomes. An example of data that can reflect poor quality in care would be reports of a high number of hospital acquired pressure ulcers on the NDNQI which is an indication that daily tasks in patient care are not being adhered to such as turning and positioning the patient every 2 hours and offloading the patient’s heels off the bed. Continuous quality improvement is associated with change in this case because we are responsible to identify problems that occur in day-to-day patient care in order to improve patient care. American Nurses Association. (2010). Nursing: Scope and standards of practice (2nd ed.). Silver Spring, MD: Author. Retrieved from: About The Database The National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI®), a repository for nursing-sensitive indicators, is a program of NCNQ®. NDNQI is the only database containing data collected at the nursing unit level. As you peruse this site, you will be able to obtain information on its history, a menu of NDNQI nursing-sensitive indicators, NDNQI enrollment procedures, samples of quarterly reports to participating facilities, and examples from facility nurse liaisons of how NDNQI reports have been used to improve care.