Patient Safety - QSEN Initiative Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Patient Safety - QSEN Initiative - Term Paper Example To enrich the quality of treatment given to patients, it was realized that nursing standards need to be raised and standardised. ‘Innovation in nursing education is the key to improving quality and safety.’(Enhancing Quality and Education in Nursing Education, 2012) Hence, the basic need was to provide nurses with the Knowledge, skills and Attitude (KSAs) by training the nursing faculties through the help of medical institutes.The nursing faculties then formally train the nurses, thus, improving nursing performance and quality. To resolve this issue, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) laid foundations for a project, Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) via phase-wise funding.Through RWJF, strategies and policies were developed and implemented to ensure that‘future nursing graduates develop competencies in patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, safety, and informatics’.(Enhancing Quali ty and Education in Nursing Education, 2012).According to ‘Integrating QSEN Competencies’, The QSEN project is categorized into three phases of action. 2005-2007 Phase I Pre-licensure Education 2007-2009 Phase II Graduate Education and Pilot School Collaborative 2009-2011 Phase III Faculty Development to Achieve Curriculum Integration The concern today is that there is stilllack of qualified, good-quality nursing staff in general (Hinshaw 2001). That can be roughly depicted as the growth in number of patients is much higher than the growth in patient-centered nursing staff. This lack extra burden on the existing system of nursing staff and institutions. Thus, during this shortage, it becomes a bigger challenge to conduct QSEN processes and ensure quality maintenance. The issue of shortage not only concerns the nursing staff, but it also exists in the number of nursing faculty that trains the nursing staff while utilizing QSEN standards. A future issue which can cause in efficiencies and counter-productivity is keeping in-check the size and number of trained nurses. When an institute produces its products in terms of trained individuals, credibility is often judged by quality of performance by the alumni. Hence, if there ever exists a period of low performances by nurses, the whole process will become counter-productive and might cease to be perceived as viable any more. The nursing leaders aim to take this initiative forward by stressing the importance of role-models in the nursing staff. During practical duty hours, role models are the figureheads who channel the treatment objectives and quality standards in the right way. They should be able to correct inappropriate processes while bringing the whole environment a positive air. It also serves to instigate a feeling of self-fulfilment in the nurses. Another step taken to enhance nursing environment is to allow nurses to take ownership of their specific wards. That means nurses can be allowed more control of their own wards and the nursing operations in the dedicated premises (Ford 2009). The very idea to develop and introduce the QSEN program to the nursing schools and healthcare system is a very commendable step. The three-phased project encircles the needs of the patients, the nurses and the faculty as well. For the betterment of patients in hospitals and hospital care, in general, it is of great significance Feedback and opinion-taking surveys area good inclusions to the QSEN project. This