Informatics and Nursing Sensitive Quality Indicators Essay
Nurses significantly contribute to quality patient care and positive health outcome in clinical settings. To monitor nurses’ impact on the quality of healthcare and patient outcomes, the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) was established in 1998 by the American Nursing Association (ANA). NDNQI became a standard measure for assessing nursing performance based on patient outcomes. National organizations such as the Joint Commission (JC) use the quality measurement program to monitor healthcare organizations’ clinical performance. Additionally, the established measures compare nursing quality indicators to other healthcare organizations’ data or established state, regional, or national benchmark standards. Additionally, the Nursing-Sensitive Quality Indicator guide national organizations in establishing evidence-based practice guidelines, improving the quality of care and health outcomes in the inpatient and outpatient units. This paper presents the selected Nursing-Sensitive Quality Indicator, namely nurses’ job satisfaction and strategies for collecting and distributing quality indicator data.
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Introduction: Nursing-Sensitive Quality Indicator
The National Database of Nursing-Sensitive Quality Indicators
The National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) is a national nursing database that the ANA established to provide quarterly and annual reports concerning the processes, structure, and outcome indicators, facilitating the evaluation of nursing care at the unit level. Additionally, NDNQI compares medical facilities’ quality data attributed to nursing actions to other healthcare organizations and state, regional, and national quality standards. Therefore, NDNQI significantly improves the quality of patient care in inpatient and outpatient units.
Nursing-Sensitive Quality Indicators
Nursing-sensitive quality indicators (NSQI) were introduced as a standard measure for assessing the effectiveness of healthcare services provided to patients in clinical settings. According to Alharbi et al. (2021), nursing-sensitive quality indicators are numerical measures that provide national organizations with a basis for quantifying the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of nursing care and organization performance. Additionally, Afaneh et al. (2021) defined NSQI as the collection of data for assessing the impact of nursing outcomes on a health care system or quality of patient care. NSQI also provides patients with standardized nursing care (Afaneh et al., 2021). Thus, NSQI evaluates the effectiveness of nursing care provided to patients in a specific area. NSQI is categorized into process, structural, and outcome indicators.
Quality Indicator Selected for the Tutorial
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The quality indicator selected for this tutorial is nurses’ job satisfaction. This indicator reflects the extent to which nurses are satisfied with their job.
Why is it Important to Monitor Nurses’ Job Satisfaction?
Nurses’ job satisfaction was preferred due to its direct impact on the quality of care and patient. According to Farman et al. (2017), the nature of healthcare services nurses provides to their patients significantly depend on nurses’ job satisfaction. The quality of care is influenced by various aspects of nurses’ job satisfaction, including working environment, stress level, recognition and compensation, nurse-patient ratio, and nurses’ working hours. Therefore, policymakers and healthcare organizations’ administrators should focus on improving various areas influencing nurses’ job satisfaction. For instance, healthcare organizations should ensure appropriate nurse staffing, resulting in the recommended nurse-staffing ratio and working hours, preventing nurses from fatigue, burnout, and work-related stress. According to Dall’Ora et al. (2020), fatigue and work-related distress among nurses significantly contribute to poor-quality care and patient safety issues, including hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), medication errors, and patient falls. On the contrary, an appropriate nurse-staffing ratio and favorable working hours result in high-quality and safe patient care. Hence, healthcare organizations.
Significance of Familiarizing Nurses with a particular Quality Indicator when Providing Patient Care
Nurse quality indicators significantly influence nurses’ performance, impacting the quality of care and patient safety. Nurses ensure that the quality of care provided to the patients aligns with the organization’s quality standards and established state, regional, and national quality and performance benchmarks. Failure to comply with these guidelines might result in disciplinary actions, including one’s license being revoked. Therefore, nurses should be familiarized with a particular quality indicator to prevent quality and patient safety issues that might arise from non-compliance. For instance, nurses should be familiarized with catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) to prevent adverse outcomes associated with CAUTIs, including prolonged stay and high cost of care. The high rate of CAUTIs in the US imposes a substantial financial burden on individuals and the United States healthcare system due to costly treatment for CAUTIs (Hollenbeak & Schilling, 2018). Additionally, Hollenbeak and Schilling (2018) reported that approximately $1,000 is spent on treating CAUTI. Therefore, familiarizing nurses with CAUTIs would prevent huge expenses incurred in treating CAUTIs in healthcare organizations.
Collection and Distribution of Nurses’ Job Satisfaction Data
How would the Organization Collect Data on Nurses’ Job Satisfaction?
Healthcare organizations use various instruments in collecting nurses’ job satisfaction data. First, the hospital uses structured interviews to collect nurses’ job satisfaction data. The hospital also uses the Anxiety-Stress Questionnaire to evaluate job-related stress among nurses. Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire is also used to evaluate nurses’ resigning intention. Furthermore, the hospital uses the Index of Work Satisfaction to evaluate job satisfaction among nurses. According to Ahmad et al. (2017), the Index of Work Satisfaction is the most common tool for assessing nurses’ job satisfaction due to its superior results. Most interviewed nurses reported preferring the Index of Work Satisfaction over other tools in assessing nurses’ job satisfaction. This tool is highly reliable and valid, aligning the measure with nurses’ qualities being evaluated. Nurses added that job satisfaction evaluation should be a continuous process due to changes in job aspects that influence nurses’ job satisfaction. Healthcare organizations’ management should aim at maintaining high nurses’ job satisfaction. Thus, measures for improving working conditions and other factors influencing nurses’ job satisfaction should be adopted if nurses’ job satisfaction is relatively low. Improving nurses’ job satisfaction will result in high quality and safe patient care, leading to positive health outcomes.
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Disseminating Aggregate Data in the Organization
The healthcare organization uses an information system to share nurses’ job satisfaction data across various units. Administrators and unit managers analyze the shared data to understand the level of job satisfaction among nurses in the healthcare organization. This information is essential since nurses’ job satisfaction determines their performance, influencing the quality of care and patient safety. Hence, the management of various units should focus on improving working conditions if job dissatisfaction is reported in their respective units. Enhancing nurses’ job satisfaction then improves the quality and safety of patient care, resulting in positive health outcomes and patient experience. Patients tend to seek healthcare services from the unit in the future or give referrals once they are satisfied with the healthcare services provided to them.
Nurses’ Contribution to Reporting High-Quality Results
The selected quality indicator, nurses’ job satisfaction, directly impacts the nurses. Thus, the accuracy of reported data significantly depends on the information provided by nurses concerning their workplace environment and its impact on their job satisfaction. For instance, nurses correctly document data regarding nursing interventions utilized in a particular unit in the organization and how they impact their job satisfaction. The management then relies on this data in reporting nurses’ job satisfaction levels, leading to high-quality results.
Conclusion
Nurses significantly impact the quality and safety of patient care in healthcare organizations. Thus, nurses should consider quality indicators in their respective clinical settings to positively impact the quality and safety of patient care. However, their job satisfaction significantly influences nurses’ performance and capacity to provide high-quality and safe patient care. Healthcare organizations utilize various tools, including the Anxiety-Stress Questionnaire, Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire, and Index of Work Satisfaction, to evaluate job satisfaction among nurses working in various units. Management of various unit then implement strategies for improving nurses’ job satisfaction based on evaluation results, which leads to high-quality and safe patient care.
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References
Afaneh, T., Abu-Moghli, F., & Ahmad, M. (2021). Nursing-sensitive indicators: A concept analysis. Nursing Management, 28(3).
Ahmad, N., Oranye, N. O., & Danilov, A. (2017). Rasch analysis of Stamps’ Index of Work Satisfaction in nursing population. Nursing open, 4(1), 32-40.
Alharbi, J., Jackson, D., & Usher, K. (2020). Compassion fatigue in critical care nurses and its impact on nurse-sensitive indicators in Saudi Arabian hospitals. Australian Critical Care, 33(6), 553-559.
Dall’Ora, C., Ball, J., Reinius, M., & Griffiths, P. (2020). Burnout in nursing: a theoretical review. Human resources for health, 18(1), 1-17.
Farman, A., Kousar, R., Hussain, M., Waqas, A., & Gillani, S. A. (2017). Impact of job satisfaction on the quality of care among nurses in the public hospital of Lahore, Pakistan. Saudi J Med Pharm Sci, 3(6A), 511-9.
Hollenbeak, C. S., & Schilling, A. L. (2018). The attributable cost of catheter-associated urinary tract infections in the United States: A systematic review. American journal of infection control, 46(7), 751-757.
Prepare an 8-10 minute audio training tutorial (video is optional) for new nurses on the importance of nursing-sensitive quality indicators