Current Issue in Nursing - Annotated Bibliography Example

?Introduction: Nursing is one of the most challenging professions in health care industry. Over the past several years, quality improvement of the hospitals is becoming a subject of public and political interest. Quality of patient care and problem resolution is now a major concern in health policy agendas of several health care organizations. Quality improvement policies and activities evolve as a result of need/concern in specific areas of patient care. These quality improvement needs can only be addressed by nurses who are directly involved in patient care. Nursing administrators should have excellent quality improvement skills as they significantly influence care and efficiency of patient treatment and outcomes. They bear a greater responsibility in recent times due to limited staff resources and diminishing quality of care. Nursing administrators can implement any quality improvement policies or standards than any other health care worker as they are primary care takers of patient. This article focuses on the role of nurses and nursing administrators in quality improvement of a hospital and the relationship of nursing workforce to patient treatment and care. The barriers for successful implementation of quality improvement policies in a health care setting and remedial strategies to overcome those barriers. In addition, the importance of involvement of nursing managers in policy and decision making process is also argued. Annotated Bibliography Chao, S. (2007).Advancing quality improvement research: challenges and opportunities. Institute of Medicine (U.S.).Forum on Science of Health care quality improvement and implementation.National Academies Press, Washington DC.4-19. Nurses at every level play a key role in quality improvement (QI) of health care delivery. The book is a summary of workshop held by Institute of Medicine’s Forum on Science of health care quality and improvement. Major emphasis of the workshop was to discuss QI and its strategies by gaining opinions from professionals of various arenas. Also, the current research pertaining to nursing and hospital perspective was integrated. Barriers in implementation of QI practices have been recognized and different approaches to successfully overcome them are also discussed in this book. Draper, D. A., Felland, L. Liebhaber, A. and Melichar, L. (2008).The role of nurses in hospital quality improvement. Centre for studying health system change. Research brief no. 3. www.hschange.com/CONTENT/972/972.pdf Improvement in health care quality and patient safety are major concerns of today’s health industry. With currently limited resources hospitals are striving for high standards of quality, patient care and efficiency through QI processes. Nurses are integral to QI measures as they significantly influence quality of care and efficiency, patient treatment and outcomes. This paper focuses on QI activities, role of nursing administrators in these activities, factors affecting nursing involvement and advancement in role of nurses in hospital QI. Kelly, P. (2009). Essentials of Nursing leadership and management.Cengage learning. U.S. 299-303. The book is a guide for nursing students during leading and managing patient care. It utilizes conceptual frame work for nursing leadership and management and challenges associated with it along with case studies and practical reviews. Chapter IV argues about the significance of QI activities and evidence based nursing care in making an organization more effective. Proper administration and support of nursing staff by nursing leaders and managers in such activities are vital in promoting patient care and thus competence of a hospital. Krogstad, U., Hofoss, D., Veenstra, M., Gulbrandsen, P. and Hjortdahl, P. (2005).Hospital quality improvement in context: a multilevel analysis of staff job evaluations. QualSaf Health Care. 14:438-442. www.qshc.com. The aim of this study was assessment of different features of hospital works associated with implication of quality improvement strategies from nursing perspective. Data for this survey was collected from 15 hospitals across Norway and a total of 66% of the nurses responded. The authors concluded that identification of QI goals can be identified through multilevel modeling of staff work experiences at an organizational level. Therefore, QI efforts should be directed towards each particular aspect of work. QI strategies aimed at micro organizational levels i.e. hospital nursing staff rather than macro organizational level, can prove valuable for a hospital setting. In contrast, on national level, improving quality of hospital care has always been focused on macro organizational levels such as financial system, ownership and board. The involvement of nurse leaders and mangers in decision making bodies may greatly influence the hospital QI in terms of patient care and recovery, as they are directly involved in daily patient capacity and challenges of wards. Mastal, M., Joshi, M. and Schulke, K. (2007).Nursing leadership: championing quality and patient safety in boardroom.Nursing Economics. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FSW/is_6_25/ai_n24946894/ Authors suggest a gap in comprehension of challenges in QI activities and patient safety concern. Therefore, this paper aims at difference of perspectives of nursing executive, CEO’s and board members on QI activities and proposing strategies that might help in understanding and implementing activities that improve the quality of nursing care and patient safety. Data was collected through interviews from hospital administrators and chief nursing officers. The results suggest vast differences in CEO and chief nursing officer perspective in QI of hospitals. Thus nursing management has a great responsibility to exercise leadership skills to bridge this gap. Moran, M. and Johnson, J. (1992).Quality improvement: The nurse’s role. American Nurses Association Publications (NP-807.5M): 45-61. Quality assurance and problem resolution are the key points in QI actions of an organization. The authors infer that it is a continuous process which should involve all the departments and work force of a hospital. Study evidence suggests that the best person in bringing a change in QI of a hospital is nursing administrator as most of nurses are involved in direct patient care. Nursing executive presents vision and deployment of necessary resources in organization’s quality improvement efforts, thereby reshaping the health care environment. The study suggests integrated utilization of quality circles, quality councils and quality improvement forums in facilitating the synchronization of QI strategies and their effective implementation. Needleman, J. and Hassmiller, S. (2009). The role of nurses in improving hospital quality and efficiency: Real world results. Health Affairs 28, no. 4. Pp. 625-633. The engagement of nursing staff and front line workers in efforts to concurrently improve hospital quality and enhance care and efficiency is the concept of this paper. Therefore, there is a need to synchronize hospital quality improvement measures with nursing care, efficiency and cost effectiveness. Examples from hospitals employing front line staff driven performance improvement programs such as Transforming Care at bedside and magnet accreditation programs, clearly illustrate the nursing administrator’s role in QI activities. Discussion is designed in three points; i.e. recruitment and organization of hospital nursing affects quality and cost, nursing administrators must be actively involved in QI and efficiency process, research in emerging models for engagement of hospital leadership and front line staff in QI policies. Stanley, J., Gannon, J., Gabuat, J., Hartranft, S., Adams, N., Mayes, C., Shouse, G., Edwards, B. and Burch, D. (2008).The clinical nurse leader: a catalyst for improving quality and patient safety. Journal of Nursing Management, 16, 614-622. The clinical nurse leader is a novel concept introduced by American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). This paper describes the role of clinical nurse leader in patient outcomes, cost effectiveness in recently diminishing resources and QI. For a successful nursing administrator QI skills are crucial to identify the gap between current care and best practice. Also, clinical nurse leader role in participating in effective administration of QI practices involves planning, implementing, testing and evaluating changes. In the era of deteriorating health care system, nursing leaders have an exciting and challenging opportunity to implement quality improvement strategies and patient wellbeing across all the health care settings. Read More