Nursing Practice Update » Environment of Care

Influencer: The Power to Change Anything (Webinar)

Karen A. Benson, Ph.D., MS, MN, RN — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 20:41:28 +0000

From the people who brought you The New York Times bestseller, Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, the American Nurses Association (ANA) presents another exciting webinar from Vital Smarts on Influencer: The Power to Change Anything, Thursday, September 15, 1-2:15pm ET, 10:00 – 11:00a.m. PDT.

» Learn More & Register

Four New Serious Reportable Events Approved by NQF for Endorsement

Karen A. Benson, Ph.D., MS, MN, RN — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 20:17:16 +0000

The National Quality Forum board has announced that it has approved for endorsement a list of 29 serious reportable events in healthcare. The list includes four new events, along with 25 updated events from an earlier endorsement in 2006.

The four new serious reportable events are:

• Radiologic events that cause the death or serious injury of a patient or staff associated with the introduction of a metallic object into the MRI area;

• Death or serious injury of a neonate associated with labor or delivery in a low-risk pregnancy;

• Patient death or serious injury resulting from the irretrievable loss of an irreplaceable biological specimen, and;

• Patient death or serious injury resulting from failure to follow up or communicate laboratory, pathology, or radiology test results.

The recommendations are outlined in the report Serious Reportable Events in Healthcare–2011 Update: A Consensus Report. The full list of events will be available for a 30-day public appeals process closing July 7.

Wash Your HandsingTon – a Washington State DOH flu education campaign

Karen A. Benson, Ph.D., MS, MN, RN — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 20:10:28 +0000

Wash Your HandsingTon – where everyone washes their hands, covers their cough, and gets a flu vaccine! Wash Your HandsingTon is a flu education campaign by the Washington State Department of Health that started the first week of December. This campaign includes radio ads, a YouTube video, online banner ads, bus cards, billboards, and print materials. All materials are available online at: http://www.doh.wa.gov/FluNews/handsington.htm.

IOM Issues New Report on The Future of Nursing

Karen A. Benson, Ph.D., MS, MN, RN — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 18:56:17 +0000

With more than 3 million members, the nursing profession is the largest segment of the nation’s health care workforce. Working on the front lines of patient care, nurses can play a vital role in helping realize the objectives set forth in the 2010 Affordable Care Act, legislation that represents the broadest health care overhaul since the 1965 creation of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. A number of barriers prevent nurses from being able to respond effectively to rapidly changing health care settings and an evolving health care system. These barriers need to be overcome to ensure that nurses are well- positioned to lead change and advance health.

In 2008, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) launched a two-year initiative to respond to the need to assess and transform the nursing profession. The IOM appointed the Committee on the RWJF Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the IOM, with the purpose of producing a report that would make recommendations for an action-oriented blueprint for the future of nursing. Through its deliberations, the committee developed four key messages:

Nurses should practice to the full extent of their education and training.
Nurses should achieve higher levels of education and training through an improved education system that promotes seamless academic progression.
Nurses should be full partners, with physicians and other health care professionals, in redesigning health care in the United States.
Effective workforce planning and policy making require better data collection and information infrastructure.

The United States has the opportunity to transform its health care system, and nurses can and should play a fundamental role in this transformation. However, the power to improve the current regulatory, business, and organizational conditions does not rest solely with nurses; government, businesses, health care organizations, professional associations, and the insurance industry all must play a role. Working together, these many diverse parties can help ensure that the health care system provides seamless, affordable, quality care that is accessible to all and leads to improved health outcomes.

IOM’s news release: http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12956

Link to the IOM website (you may download the prepublication PDF of the report; final copies are available for sale). http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12956

To view the Washington Center for Nursing’s statement in response to this report, go to: http://www.wcnursing.org/the-latest-news/WCNs statement on the IOM.pdf.

Institute of Medicine Core Competencies

Karen A. Benson, Ph.D., MS, MN, RN — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 17:02:33 +0000

Five core competencies that all clinicians should possess, regardless of their discipline, to meet the needs of the 21 st – century health system:

Provide patient-centered care

Identify, respect, and care about patients’ differences, values, preferences, and expressed needs; listen to, clearly inform, communicate with, and educate patients; share decision making and management; and continuously advocate disease prevention, wellness, and promotion of healthy lifestyles, including a focus on population health.

Work in interdisciplinary teams

Cooperate, collaborate, communicate, and integrate care in teams to ensure that care is continuous and reliable.

Employ evidence-based practice

Integrate best research with clinical expertise and patient values for optimum care, and participate in learning and research activities to the extent feasible.

Apply quality improvement

Identify errors and hazards in care; understand and implement basic safety design principles, such as standardization and simplification; continually understand and measure quality of care in terms of structure, process, and outcomes in relation to patient and community needs; and design and test interventions to change processes and systems of care, with the objective of improving quality.

Utilize informatics

Communicate, manage knowledge, mitigate error, and support decision making using information technology.

–From Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality. Institute of Medicine, 2003.

AONE – ARAMARK research examines nursing and support service relationships

Sally Watkins, PhD, RN — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:53:15 +0000

Research conducted jointly by the AONE Institute for Patient Care Research & Education, ARAMARK Healthcare, and the Studer Group was presented this week at the American College of Healthcare Executive’s 2008 Congress on Healthcare Leadership. The study, which examined nurse perceptions of hospital support service functions, reveals key behaviors for collaborative relationships between these groups and identifies areas in which service can be improved. Findings show that nine key themes are important to nurses when working with support service groups: communication; team work and adaptability; availability and accessibility of staff and resources; timeliness of response; compassion, consideration, positive approach and professionalism; knowledge of the job; proactive behavior; coordination of care; and responsibility and accountability. The research was designed to augment The Guiding Principles for Relationships among Nursing and Support Services in the Clinical Setting, a series of principles driven by AONE and ARAMARK Healthcare, aimed at helping hospitals improve relationships among nurses and support service groups. (AONE, press release, 3/12/08)

Anti-complaining campaign improves working environment

Sally Watkins, PhD, RN — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 22:52:10 +0000

Staff at Canada-based Windsor Regional Hospital are participating in a voluntary anti-complaining, anti-negativity campaign. Workers noticed an improvement in staff morale within a few days and said the program helped ease tension, made the hospital more peaceful and united workers. “We try to be positive and take care of patients and sometimes we don’t take care of each other,” one RN said.