QSEN Competencies Paper

The overall goal through all phases of The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) is to address the challenge of preparing future nurses with the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to continuously improve the quality and safety of the healthcare systems in which they work. In order to accomplish this goal, six competencies were defined. These competencies from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) are patient centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, informatics and safety. Over a decade has passed since the Institute of Medicine’s reports on the need to improve the American healthcare system. The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses

Over time the health care industry has become more complex. Health care is rapidly evolving and continuing to complicate our delivery of care, which in turn has the same effect on quality of care. This steady evolution and change results in nursing shortages and an increase in the prevalence of errors being made. In hopes of preventing these errors and creating safe and high quality patient care, with the focus on new and improved ways of thinking, The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) initiative was developed. The QSEN focuses on the following competencies: patient-centered care, quality improvement, safety, and teamwork and collaboration. Their initiatives work to prepare and develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are necessary to make improvements in the quality and safety of health care systems (Qsen.org, 2014).

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has recognized five key core competencies (CCs) that all healthcare professionals should be aware of during practice. The initial competency described concentrates on patient-centered care. Throughout history, the nursing community has continued to evolve, both in the practicing aspect and in level of caring for patients. During this evolution of nursing care, nurses providing hands on care to patients must refer to the Institute of Medicine, peer reviews and/or evidenced-based research to guide them properly as it applies to the core concepts of nursing. The first core competency according to the IOM is patient-centered care.

Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) is evidence based tools for healthcare professionals to optimize patient health outcomes using various teamwork skills. Interprofessional Grand Rounds provided opportunity for me to learn different cultures and responsibilities of Nursing, Medical and other healthcare professions through demonstrating effective communication during the 2-hour session. Prior to the session, I attended a seminar last year about how TeamSTEPPS is used in Rapid Response Team at Jefferson hospitals. From the previous seminar, I learned teamwork between healthcare professionals is essential for patient care and effective communication is crucial. TeamSTEPPS session last week helped me

Out of the six QSEN Competencies I believe patient-centered care is the most important. As you talked about in your discussion post, nurses should always give patient’s choices regarding their care. If patients don’t feel comfortable or want to accept treatment then that is their right. “Training patients to be more assertive and involved in the medical encounter has been shown to be effective in increasing patient involvement in their own care and in producing better health outcomes” (Spath, 2011, p. 235). The more a patient understands the care they are receiving the more at ease they will feel throughout the entire experience. To me that is extremely important because we are there to make our patients feel at home and that they are in a

Teams working in a hospital or other healthcare setting may consist of several physicians, nurses, medical assistants, referral coordinators, pharmacists, therapists, and students among others. Such large teams can provide comprehensive care for complex and chronic illnesses, but when they fail to work well together, they

The Quality and Safety for Nurses (QSEN) project, developed in 2005 from recommendations made by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), addresses issues pertaining to how to better prepare future nurses with knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) to continue to improve the safety and quality of care provided by the healthcare organizations in which they work (Billings & Halstead, 2016; QSEN, n.d.). The mission of QSEN emphases the collaboration of all healthcare professionals focusing on education, practice, and scholarship to improve the healthcare system. With the partnerships of national nursing organizations and schools of nursing, QSEN has been developed from IOM reports and integrated into pre-licensure and graduate student’s

Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) is an evidence-based system designed to optimize patient care by improving communication and teamwork skills among health care professionals (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ], 2015). TeamSTEPPS® was developed by Department of Defense’s Patient Safety Program in collaboration with AHRQ and is scientifically rooted in more than 20 years of research (AHRQ, 2015). The TeamSTEPPS model develops knowledge, skills, and attitudes that influence team outcome success in the areas of leadership, communication, mutual support, and situation monitoring (Persily, 2013, p. 198). The TeamSTEPPS curriculum is customizable to any health care setting and

Patients, in any healthcare setting, deserve respect and care that is centered on their unique needs. Nurses and health care are required to assist them to achieve this goal. Changing the health care system will require us to reestablish our

Quality and Safety Education in Nursing (QSEN) was started around 2005 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. QSEN's main goal is to “prepare future nurses with knowledge, skills and attitudes (or KSAs) necessary to continuously improve the quality and safety of the healthcare system,” (QSEN, 2017). “Integration of clinical skills with the intellectual capacity to safely manage the complexity of nursing work in key to quality care in a time of diminishing resources,” ( Dolansky, 2013). “It is vital for schools of nursing to meet the needs of today's complex health care systems by including principles of quality and safety throughout the curriculum,” (Lewis, 2016). Within the KSAs are six main categories; patient-centered care, teamwork

“Team-based health care is the provision of health services to individuals, families, and/or their communities by at least two health providers who work collaboratively with patients and their caregivers—to the extent preferred by each patient— to accomplish shared goals within and across settings to achieve coordinated, high-quality care,”(1) according to the National Academy of Medicine (2012). Team-based care is a transformation of the healthcare system in order to improve effectiveness, quality of care, and outcomes for patients. Interprofessional team-based care may take place in many different settings such as hospitals, long term care facilities, homes, outpatient clinics, or community pharmacies. Wherever there is a patient need, team-based

Working in a team is an important responsibility by understanding each other’s role which may include doctor, nurse, occupational therapist, physiotherapist and many more. Team members divide the work based on their scope practice such as acute care, metal health care, homecare etc. Interprofessional collaboration practice is decision making and communicating between individuals for their patient’s health based on their knowledge and skills. It helps to promote habits, maximizing health resources, leading care to be safer with patient’s satisfaction and Canada’s health care (Kenaszchuk, Reeves, Nicholas, & Zwarenstein, 2010).

The five core competencies identified by IOM and the sixth added by QSEN, safety, are believed to be necessary to improve both quality and safety of the healthcare system within which nurses work (Multimethod teaching). The six core competencies outlined are patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, informatics, and safety (Diffusing Qsen). While all competencies are significant to the healthcare system, patient centered care is vital to positive patient outcomes and focuses on the patient’s perspective within the healthcare system.

In October 2005 the Quality and Safety Education for Nursing program was established. This program is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. QSEN was developed specifically for future nurses to understand and be aware of key challenges such as the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are essential to constantly advance the quality and safety of the way healthcare systems work. The goal for QSEN is to reshape the identity of nursing so it includes the recommendations by the Institute of Medicine so there is a commitment to the quality and safety proficiency (Dycus, 2009).

Nurses and physicians would get no input from the patient on their wishes for treatment and care (Giddens, 2016). Health Care has recently advanced by adopting the patient and family centered care model which was designed to “recognize the patient or designee as the source of control and full partner in providing compassionate and coordinated care based on respects for the patient’s preferences, values, and needs” (Knuths, 2017). This model allows patients to have a voice on what happens to their bodies and allows them to actively participate in their care. It has also allowed the patient’s family and loved ones to be involved. This involvement has given the patient a strong support system with their best interest in mind. Moving towards this concept has made nurses more aware of patient’s cultural differences, spiritual differences, family preferences, and personal values. This system has lead to better overall care and patient satisfaction. Care has become about the patient and not the provider (Knuths, 2017).