Reflection Paper On Professional Concepts In Nursing

The six Quality and Safety Education for Nurses competencies that were developed for pre-licensure and graduate nursing programs are patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice (EBP), quality improvement (QI), safety, and informatics.

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).

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

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.

A professional is characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession (2) : exhibiting a courteous, conscientious, and generally businesslike manner in the workplace. Being professional should be a subconscious effort in the fact that it should always be applied. When employees are professional it helps the system run more efficiently and safely. A person must me a certain criteria when being evaluated on professionalism, a person is judged based on the clients; Attitude, Values, Communication techniques, and approachability. Clients who display a committed, dependable attitude will benefit more from work exerted, and overall be rewarded with incentives. Although professionalism may be in the eye of the

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.

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).

Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) was developed with the purpose of providing professional nurses with the knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA) necessary to continuously improve the quality and safety of the health care systems within which they work (QSEN, 2014). However, since its implementation and integration in nursing education, studies show little progress in improving quality and safety in health care delivery (Dolansky & Moore, 2013). The purpose of this article critique is to evaluate the cause analysis and recommendations made by the authors.

In 1994 the American Nurses Association (ANA) started the Patient Safety and Quality Initiative. It was a pilot program designed to evaluate the links between nurse staffing and quality care (Montalvo, 2007). The program outcome was a set of nursing-sensitive indicators used to evaluate quality care for patients in the acute setting and the start of the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI). The NDNQI is a

I agree with your statement about student nurses. However, one concern I have is for nurses of the future (student nurses), it is my analogy that they will face great challenges in the future related to health professionals sharing a common understanding of patient safety standards and practices. Many students are left in the hands of even higher degree nurses who have heavy complex assignments and feel they do not have sufficient time to share with students the concept of interprofessional education and learning approach they need, which is collaborative learning. Collaborative learning refers to practice, procedures and situations in settings which learners engage in a common task where each individual is accountable to

The CNO outlined professional standards for nurses to comply with. The seven that are outlined are accountability, continuing competence, ethics, knowledge, knowledge application, leadership, and relationships. “A standard is an authoritative statement that sets out the legal and professional basis of nursing practice” (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2009, p. 3). Although each standard has different meaning, they all work together in order to provide the best possible patient care.

American Nurses Association (ANA) Standards of Professional Performance explains how all registered nurses do their work and activities consistently according to their professions that promote the wellbeing of their patients and communities (ANA, 2010a). The standards provide a mechanism to patients that they are been taken good care of and that the nurses know exactly what to do so as to provide high-quality care and the measures are in place to determine whether nursing care meets the standards. These activities are related to performance like ethics, quality of practice, education, communication, resources, leadership, environmental health, professional practice evaluation, and evidence-based practice and research. Registered nurses are responsible for their professional actions to themselves, their patients, their peers, and the community at large.

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.

As a competent registered nurse, my career goal is to become a healthcare quality improvement leader, a position that would enhance my commitment in promoting patient safety. I not only believe in enhancing the capacity of other care providers, but also in improving the quality of the healing environment for the benefit of both patients and their care providers. This means not only promoting collaboration with the multidisciplinary teams, but also building the necessary healing partnerships with our patients. To enhance the quality of the healing environment, I aspire to continue analyzing researches for evidence based practices and advocating for their actualization. I will continue focusing my time and energy in encouraging other nurses to improve their skills through formal education, so they can empower themselves as advocates of quality improvement for the benefit of their patients and coworkers.