Week 6 Discussion

This week provides an opportunity as you end the course to put all your reading and thinking about quality and safety together.  You have read IOM reports from the last 20 years and have reviewed a variety of nursing and health care quality and safety initiatives.  Describe the current state of informatics, quality, and safety in health care today. What is working?  What is not working?  What needs to be changed/added to promote best care?  What is necessary to improve the health of the United States population?  Do you believe that the necessary changes can be achieved?

What have you learned about the role of nurses in quality and safety improvement in your place of employment?  What do you think is the role of nurses in the national efforts to improve the patient experience?  Do the national documents reflect the responsibilities of nurses in this effort?

Review the Nurse Practice Act and the Code of Ethics for Nurses (websites are posted in the course calendar).  What are the responsibilities of nurses as encompassed in these documents?

Finally, discuss what you can do as an individual nurse and a member of the nursing profession to improve the quality and safety of patient care.

Readings:
Chapters 3, 4, and 16 in the textbook (3rd edition)
Chapters 16 and 17 in textbook (2nd edition)

Systems thinking:
https://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-18-2013/No3-Sept-2013/Quality-and-Safety-Education-for-Nurses.html

Oldland E., Botti, M., Hutchinson, A. M., & Redley, B. (2020). A framework of nurses’
responsibilities for quality healthcare: Exploration of content validity. Collegian, 27, 150-163.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2019.07.007

Aiken, L. H., Sloane, D. M., Barnes, H., Jarrin, O. F., & McHugh, M. D. (2018). Nurses’ and
patients’ appraisals show patient safety in hospitals remains a concern. Health Affairs, 37(11).
https://doi.org/10.1377/Hlthaff.2018.0711

An Overview of the National Quality Strategy: Where Do Nurses Fit?
https://ojin.nursingworld.org/table-of-contents/volume-18-2013/number-3-september-2013/national-
quality-strategy/

Minnesota Nurse Practice Act available at: https://mn.gov/boards/nursing/laws-and-rules/nurse-
practice-act/

ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses available at: https://www.nursingworld.org/coe-view-only