Institute:Office of National Coordinator (ONC) Workforce Training Curriculum
Component:The Culture of Health Care
Unit:Nursing Care Processes
Lecture:Nursing process including clinical judgment and patient assessment; legal and societal expectations; and roles in improving patient care
Slide content:The Nurses Role in Quality Improvement Nurses can serve many roles in improving healthcare: Develop standards of care Participate in institutional reviews Report medication errors 20
Slide notes:Because most nurses interact often with patients, they often have experience and insights that can enable them to help improve the quality of health care. Nurses can develop standards of care for institutions or help measure the quality of care that patients receive. For example, nurses might help an institution review patient charts, interview patients about their care, and observe interactions between health care providers and patients to measure the quality of patient care. Many institutional accrediting and licensing agencies also look at the rate of medication errors when rating an institution. Researchers have found that medication errors are often caused by poor systems and poor communication within hospitals and other organizations. By reporting medication errors, nurses can help remedy such problems and protect patients. 20