Nurses Are the Key to Improving Quality Care
Quality care has always been a major focus within the healthcare industry, and all nurses play a key role; a role that will likely expand in the future.
Quality care has always been a major focus within the healthcare industry, and all nurses play a key role; a role that will likely expand in the future. The December 2008 issue of Urologic Nursing Journal features an article—“Quality and Nursing: Moving from A Concept to a Core Competency”—where the authors said that “when nurses’ efforts go beyond providing care and they actually improve the quality of care… they experience more joy in their work.”
The current roles that nurses have include not only treating patients and being part of the care team, but helping to meet the Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goals in areas like medication and patient safety and communication.
“Nurses feel valued when asked for their expert opinions, especially when making contributions to innovations and improvements for patients,” the authors said. Working as “patient advocates and participat[ing] on interdisciplinary quality improvement teams” allow nurses to add further value to their job.” Where does technology fit in?
With the development of new technology, nurses will have an even easier time to improve the quality of patient care. The cover story of the Winter 2008 issue of Oncology Net Guide: Nurses Edition focuses on the impact technology has, and will continue to have, on the way oncology nurses practice medicine. Related Articles on HCPLive:
How Does IT Affect Quality of Care? Patient-centered Care: Part 1 Patient-centered Care: Part II Other Related Articles: Identifying Patient Concerns: Improving the Quality of Patient Visits to the Oncology Out-patient Department — A Pilot Audit Innovations in Patient Care: Lessons from the Field
