Nurse Sensitive Indicators

Peter Crosta M.A (2014) says that nursing is a healthcare profession focused on caring for the service user and their families giving the best possible quality of care to a service user no matter their condition until death. It will allow the service user to recover from illness, control their illness or reach an optimal status of health that they can control. Hunt et al (1994) suggests that the profession of a nurse would place great importance on nurse training and states that a nurse cannot be competent at something unless they have specific training on an area.

A. Nurse sensitive indicators are factors that are directly impacted by nursing.  There indicators fall into three categories; structure, process and outcomes of nursing care.  The structure indicators are the organizational piece of nursing care. These relates to the amount of staff on duty at a given time, how many RN's are on duty and experience level of the staff. For example, evidence indicates institutions with a higher number of RN’s possessing a Bachelor Degree in nursing result in improved patient outcomes. The process indicators measure nursing care such as patient assessment, patient care and intervention. These are the organizational policies and procedures of nursing.   The patient outcomes are indicators directly related to

The knowledge of nursing sensitive indicator can be helpful in providing the patient care which meets the quality and ethical standards. Nursing sensitive indicators rely on evidence to take patient care decisions (Patrician, 2010). According to Patrician (2010), Evidence Based Nursing is the use of personal expertise and research to take decisions on patient care. In case of Mr. J, there is a clear lack of evidence based nursing. Mr. J was kept in restraint without considering that Mr. J was not trying to get out of bed by himself. When the pressure ulcer was identified, the nurse

Nursing sensitive indicators reflect the structure, process and outcomes of nursing care. The structure of nursing care is indicated by many factors such as supply of staff, education level and quality of care provided. Process indicators measure aspects of nursing care such as assessment, intervention, and RN job satisfaction. Patient outcomes that are determined to be nursing sensitive are those that improve if there is a greater quantity or quality of nursing care (Nursing world, 2013). In 1999, the American Nursing Association recognized a total of 10 indicators that apply to hospital based nursing care (Americansentinel.edu, 2017). Indicator such as pressure ulcers, patient falls and nosocomial infections are recognized in this list and are considered preventable with proper nursing action. Knowledge of these indicators could have assisted the nurses in several ways involving this case study involving Mr. J.

indicators are outcomes that increase the quality and safety in patient care. Some indicators are patient falls,

By measuring nursing sensitive indicators hospital wide and collecting this information, quality patient care in hospitals can be advanced due to the administrators knowing which areas of practice nurses need to improve. All organizations, including hospitals have institutional cultures, these cultures can potentially have a positive or negative effect on desired outcomes. In the case of hospitals this would be the quality of patient care. If the institutional culture of nurses in the hospital promotes negligence in care, lack of respect for patient autonomy, or poor prioritization, the nursing sensitive indicators should reveal it as for example: negligent care would lead to higher rates of falls and complications acquired during the patient stay.

Nursing-sensitive indicators reflect the structure, process, and outcomes of nursing care. (Nursing-Sensitive, 2014.) The skill level of the nursing staff, the supply of nursing staff, and the education or certifications of the staff are all used to measure the structure of nursing care given to any given patient. Patient outcomes, which are improved by a greater quality of care, are said to be nursing sensitive. Some examples of

Nursing-sensitive indicators consist out of three categories that include the following: Structure, process and outcome. Structure refers to the organizational aspect of nursing that is made up of staffing levels; experience vs inexperience; educational levels or the make-up staffing at any point on the unit or facility. The Process is aspect of policies and procedures at the facility and Outcomes are determined when greater levels of nursing care and quantity are involved with better patient outcomes (ANA, 2015).

Nursing care is focused on the assessment, nursing diagnoses, planning, implementation, and evaluation of patients. This nursing process can also be implemented in aspects outside of nursing and on the nursing field as a collective group. The nursing role is evolving, following the process the outcomes have to be evaluated and put into perspective. Research is being completed the conclusions are all the same, the higher education of nursing care the better the patient outcomes.

Two types of data were collected through surveys, both before and after implementation of the combined approach (Sand-Jecklin and Sherman,2014). The first data was on nurses’ point of view with regards reporting process, and the second on patients view regrading nursing care. The baseline survey included 233 patients and 148 nurses, while the survey three months into the implementation period included 157 patients and 98 nurses. The final survey, 13 months into the impanation, was completed by 154 patients and 54 nurses. The patient survey also included responses from patient families. These were 70, 72, and 53 responses for baseline survey, three-month postimplementation surveys, and 13-month postimplementation surveys.

Over the past decades, various studies world-wide have been conducted on the connection of nursing quality indicators and their outcomes. The

American Nurses Association, Inc. (2014). Nursing Sensitive Indicators. Retrieved January 2014, from American Nurses Association, Nursing World: http://www.nursingworld.org

Without the right attitude, nurses would not react effectively to patient care, a situation that may jeopardize the entire nursing profession. Effective nursing care should therefore be incorporated into the nursing development plan as it would save more lives and increase accountability among the graduate nurses.

Studies have shown strong correlations between nurse sensitive indicators or nursing quality indicators and patient outcomes. Nursing sensitive indicators are performance measures that can measure outcomes of nursing care. Nursing indicators can include nursing hours per patient day, patient falls, pressure ulcer prevalence, restraint

Nursing care delivery is defined as the way task allocation, responsibility, and authority are organized to achieve patient care. Tiedeman and Lookinland (2004) suggested that systems of nursing care delivery are a reflection of social values, management ideology, and economic considerations. (Tiedeman&Lookinland, 2004) According to Fewer (2006), the quality of nursing care delivery systems affects continuity of care, the relationship between nurse and patient, morale, nurse job satisfaction and educational preparation.(Fewer, 2006) Nurses are essential human resources to provide medical services with professional knowledge and skills in the healthcare setting. However, the registered nurse turnover rate has increased in recent years resulting