C489 Task 1 Nursing Quality Indicators

C489 Task 1 Nursing Quality Indicators Amber Taylor, RN Western Governor’s University August 27, 2020 Nursing quality indicators are specific points of interest that are focused on such as patient falls, pressure ulcer prevalence, and even RN education/ certification. Data is collected on these specific points of interest and the data collected allows the healthcare facilities to continue to evaluate their performance on the points of interest so that they can ensure that they are continuing to improve patient care. (Montavio, 2007) A. Application of Nursing Quality Indicators The nursing quality indicators are also known as the nursing sensitive indicators. These are “the factors that are shown to be directly impacted by nursing. (Sauls, 2013) In the case scenario discusses there were many concerns with the care that had been given such as the red area on his spine that was not given attention when it was first noticed by the CNA that helped take the patient to the bathroom. The CNA also allowed the patient to lay on his back again after seeing the red area instead of shifting the pressure that potentially caused the beginning of the pressure ulcer on his spine. Another problem that was identified in this care scenario was that the patient received a meal that he was not supposed to have. This was brushed off and attempted to be kept quiet but when the patient’s daughter found out about it and expressed her concerns, her concerns were dismissed by the nurse caring for the patient. When the staff applies nursing-sensitive indicators it will allow then to be able to identify and report issues such as these which interfere with patient care. It will guide and assist them in situations such as these and prevent negative patient outcomes and will in turn increase patient satisfaction scores and the quality of care. B. B. How hospital data of specific nursing-quality indicators can advance patient care throughout the hospital. Using hospital data can advance the quality of patient care through the hospital in many ways. For example, in this particular situation, the patient developed a red area on his spine or a pressure ulcer. If the staff CNA would have reported this when she was informed about it, it could have been tracked and prevented from getting worse. When looking at the incidence of pressure ulcers in the hospital it can allow the staff to look at possible causes of the incidents and to come up with plans of care or improvement to set goals to lower or even get rid of these events all together. This would lead to better patient outcomes and higher patient satisfaction scores as well. C. Resolving an Ethical Issue An ethical issue noted in this scenario that stood out to me was when the patient received a meal that he was not supposed to due to his diet that involves his religion. The patient is Jewish and should have received a kosher diet which does not include pork, but instead he got a regular diet which included pork for the meat. In this case, the nurse dismissed the patient’s daughter’s concerns when she was informed of this. It was also noted that the provider of the patient was informed and told the administrator that this has happened several times over the past six months and the patients that were Jewish felt as though their requests were not respected or taken seriously by the employees of the hospital. As the nursing shift supervisor, I would first speak with the patient and family. My goal would be to reassure them that their religion and choices are valued and inform them that I would do everything I could to make sure that this did not happen again. I would then speak with the dietary manager to evaluate the cause of the reoccurring errors, and plan a goal to decrease the chances of this happening again. This might include the dietary manager re- educating the staff on the difference in diets or having a resource book for different dietary orders that will allow them a better understanding of what they entail. In conclusion, I feel that the application of nursing quality indicators prove to serve a great purpose for understanding and identifying problems within the system, and knowing how to fix them. This will lead to better patient outcomes as well as better patient satisfaction scores. References Sauls, K (Producer). (November 18, 2013). Nursing sensitive indicators. [video file]. Retrieved from Montavio, I., (September 30, 2007) “The National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators TM( NDNQI)” OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. Vol. 12 No. 3, Manuscript 2.