Quality And Safety Education For Nurses (QSEN)

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).

QSEN’s mission is to decrease the number of preventable deaths in healthcare each year. There are six QSEN initiatives. The purpose of this assignment is for you to do a critical analysis of the implementation of the QSEN initiatives in the organization, and on the unit, where you are doing your preceptorship. This should be a 12-15 pages maximum including title page and references.

Pamela F. Cipriano, President of American Nurses Association was in disbelief to see how she has tried to enforce the Nightingale pledge of keeping patients free from harm was failed because medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. As of now ANA has conducted yearlong campaign named “Safety 360 It Starts with You” in order to reduce and take measurable advances to protect the welfare of nurses and workers. It is one of campaign that the ANA comes with that is in support to both the nurses and patients. However, in the real-world nurses are stress and fatigue due to patient ratio. In my workplace, which is a state hospital, they have full time nurses on call where nurses work more than 70 hours a week. The nurses

Much of my work is proprietary to Geisinger. Special permissions may be granted to view this work if requested. Attached is an example of quality measure education for nursing, advance practitioner and physician education that was created to understand the Medicare required quality measure to prevent a downward payment adjustment in 2017. This presentation was presented to all 42 of the community practice providers and nursing staff during their monthly February or March 2016

After reviewing the six Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) Competencies I can definitely see how implementing these skills into the medical field results in improved patient care. Examining this week’s reading assignments I selected practices/ strategies that met each individual competency and they are as follows:

I reviewed the text and the video. I was impressed by many points made in them. I liked that they paired each competency with a set of knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to perform the job the best possible way and meet the goal to improve the quality and safety of the healthcare systems (http://qsen.org/about-qsen/project-overview/). That way if there is insufficiency in one or another category, it can be addressed in timely manner and positive changes implemented. It is also great that they implemented the new knowledge first in the nursing schools, so that the new nurses start on the “right track” and be trained properly in the innovative ways of care. It is also great that the school were given the opportunity and the place (QSEN.org) to exchange experiences and suggestions for teaching and improving the program.

It is essential as a Registered Nurse and nursing student to ensure that a comprehensive safe and quality of practice is achieved, resulting in goals and outcomes being met positively improving the nursing needs of people. This standard is important to my scope of practice, as being a nursing student it is for me to ensure goals and outcomes are being achieved to ensure the safety and wellness to those I am caring for.

The term quality improvement can be defined according to ones prospective in life. However, quality improvement in nursing is the steps nurses use to ensure the safety for our patients. It is also the standard in which leader’s incorporate within a medical facilities to ensure that safe patient care are been rendered. Nevertheless, It has been “estimated that 250,000 American died as a result of nurses or medical care error; which has become the third highest causes of death in the United States” (Hood, 2017, p.475).

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

If QSEN was not discussed, were quality and safety discussed in another manner? Yes, patient safety was integrated throughout the nursing program. We did not have an actual class on patient safety but it was widely enforced. In the class room, we discussed patient safety measures such as fall risk assessment, medication safety, and patient identification. In clinical we had to apply and assess for safety measures by checking arm bands, medication reconciliation, assess patients fall risk,

In the article “What Do Nurses Really Do?”, Suzanne Gordon explores what nurses truly do. She concludes that nurses “save lives, prevent complications, prevent suffering, and save money” (Gordon 2006). Nurses provide care for their patients in the physical and emotional sense. Emotionally caring for a patient and being sensitive to his or her needs result from interacting with patients while performing the skills and using the knowledge that nurses learned in school. Nurses grow in their skills, knowledge, and attitudes through practice. Quality and safety education for nursing incorporates competencies that all nurses must use in their practice. These nursing competencies include evidence-based nursing practice, quality improvement, safety, teamwork and collaboration, patient-centered care, and informatics.

In addition, I have learned that patient safety is at the forefront of nursing and the ability to think outside of the box. Before I had started the nursing program, if I was asked about patient safety my first thoughts would be, what could I do to the prevent the patient from falling, since then I have come to realize that patient safety encompasses so much more. At last my last clinical we had care of the a gentleman who spoke no English, he would just look at us and smile, If it won’t for the use of the interpreter I can see how this patient care would have been affective.

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).

The WGU nursing program helped me in developing my professional definition of quality and safety by enlightening my understanding of root cause analysis, and system failures. The IHI course was an eye opener in my understanding of quality improvement, and the processes required to enhance safety and quality improvement. The courses that really assisted me in my definition include, the Organizational Systems and Quality Leadership, the Leadership and Professional Image, and Professional Roles and Values; and the Evidence-Based Practice and Applied Nursing Research.