Sat Medicine Task 1: Nursing Quality Indicators

SAT TASK 1: Nursing-Quality Indicators
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The nursing-quality indicators help evaluate the quality of health processes, structure and outcomes using facts to improve patient care, quality improvement requires scientific rigor sine nurses are expected to use the best evidence available when providing care. High-quality evidence is required to inform the nurses’ clinical decisions. Nursing-quality indicators are directly linked to patient safety as nurses provide care in accordance with defined standards depending on their competency and professional practice (Evangelou et al., 2018). Furthermore, the quality indicators improve patient satisfaction reduce healthcare costs and stay in hospital. Since the indicators are quality measurement instruments aimed at checking and evaluating results, the difference in patient outcomes and the quality of nursing services are useful to assess the effectiveness of the nursing-quality indicators.
The indicators ought to reflect the different aspects of nursing care and the structural indicators are important to provide competent care. Nurses will use their knowledge, skills and competence to enhance care and this depends on their experience and education levels as well as nurse staffing. Thus, adequate nurse staff mix plays an important role in facilitating provision of high-quality care. The nurse quality indicators help identify issues that affect patient care as the nurses use their knowledge and skills to evaluate changes in the patient’s health when they identify the patient characteristics, and this is especially in settings where their experience and skills are utilized. Ideally, nurses ought to advocate for change if there are challenges in the nurse practice environment and this helps to support the nurses’ work and their ability to intervene as well as practice to the extent of their education.
Patient outcomes are the most common criteria to assess the effectiveness of quality indicators and nurses ought to have knowledge on interpreting the indicators and prevention bundles. For instance reducing pressure ulcers and patient falls are quality indicators that are considered during nursing care and discharge planning to improve patient outcome and safety. When dealing with patient outcomes is one of the first things to assess and record the risk factors in the patient, which facilitate nurse interventions, based on the risks. This is followed by integrating patient safety protocols interventions and is necessary to improve patient safety and quality of care. It is necessary to report on the risks and guidance on patient safety. Furthermore, reassessing nursing interventions according to the patient’s situation prevents their health deteriorating where patient safety measures are prioritized (Merkley et al., 2018).
Audits of quality objectives and dissemination of information on the nursing-quality indicators helps to identify areas that require movement and nurses are involved in improving the quality of care. For instance, when there are protocols know the incidence of adverse effects in health care, this allows detection of patients at risk and nurses follow protocols and procedures to improve outcomes. Nursing goal evaluatio...