Introduction: Nursing-Sensitive Quality Indicator
The National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators is a resource database that was established in 1998 by the American Nurses Association. It aimed to add to the existing information gathered from previous studies that linked nurse staffing and patient outcomes. The purpose of this addition was to improve the quality of care provided to patients (Gray-Miceli et al., 2022). It gives healthcare organizations access to information that enables them to evaluate their performance with the national average. Nursing quality indicators are the evidence-based standards used to evaluate the care provided by a nursing service (Gray-Miceli et al., 2022).
To evaluate clinical performances and patient outcomes, they are utilized in conjunction with data on inpatients that may be quickly acquired and kept by a healthcare organization. They reflect features of nursing care, such as the nursing process, the nursing structure, and the nursing outcomes. Inpatients are included in the scope of the initial nursing-sensitive indicators. During this session, the patient’s fall indication will be discussed.
Monitoring patient falls is critical for better patient outcomes, especially for elderly patients who frequently suffer from falls while in nursing homes or hospitals. In the case of elderly people, a fall can cause them to become less active, which in turn can cause them to lose strength and become reliant (Lee et al., 2017). They make the patient’s stay in the hospital longer and cause the hospital to consume more of its resources, which might negatively impact the outcomes for other patients.
They have been linked to acute injuries and even mortality (Lee et al., 2017). As a result, keeping tabs on patient falls is crucial to ensuring better patient outcomes and higher marks in organizational performance reports in the form of fewer injuries and deaths (Lee et al., 2017). New nurses need to be educated on the topic of patient falls so that they may take measures to reduce such accidents and boost healthcare facilities’ overall efficiency and the health of their patients.
Collection and Distribution of Quality Indicator Data
The gathering of data in a healthcare institution is an activity that crosses disciplinary lines and involves participation from multiple stakeholders in the company. Nursing gathers data on patient falls through observation and questioning the patient and the patient’s friends, relatives, or other individuals close to them. Clinicians will also talk to the nurses who are providing care for the patient.
In addition, data is gathered through consultations with nursing charting systems, electronic medical records, and paper medical records. The information gathered is entered into the organizational patient information systems, such as EMR, by the nurses, clinicians, or nursing informatics personnel (Morley & Cashell, 2017). The data entry process is improved when nursing informaticists do it or whenever they are contacted to aid in acquiring correct data, from which correct information is obtained after analysis. This, in turn, facilitates the making of sound medical decisions, which in turn results in enhanced patient outcomes and enhances organizational performance reports.
Nurses’ contribution to the maintenance of accurate reporting and the quality of outcomes is significant. First, they ensure that the data on patient falls is collected immediately after the falling event and before the patient is discharged. This allows them to observe and interview the patient or the involved stakeholders firsthand and on time, which results in the acquisition of more accurate information (Regan et al., 2017). Accurate reporting of the patient’s condition is required of nurses, including providing truthful information about the circumstances behind the patient’s fall, even if the nurses were to blame for the incident (Regan et al., 2017). They play an important role in interdisciplinary collaboration in consultations, which is necessary to ensure accurate recording and reporting of data on patient falls.
The human errors that might occur while entering the data are one of the challenges involved in the data entry process. These human errors typically involve typing incorrect numbers or characters. The correct data must not only be entered, but it must also be entered in the appropriate format for electronic data entry applications to function properly (Morley & Cashell, 2017). The recording of quality indicator data on patients requires reliable data entry, which is a critical step. The ability of the interdisciplinary team treating the patient to understand the patient relies, in part, on the accuracy of the data that is entered about the patient. The team can make the proper judgments and speed up the healing process because they use correct and accurate data. The entry of inaccurate data will result in incorrect decisions, slowing the healing process.
The results of quality improvement monitoring, in addition to other aggregate information, can be distributed throughout a health organization in many different ways, including to nurses and other staff members. The quality monitoring department is responsible for preparing the reports, and they do it with the assistance of nursing informaticists (Morley & Cashell, 2017). They contribute to the information-sharing that occurs inside social groups related to healthcare. The knowledge is disseminated through memoranda, journals, and published articles. Additionally, the healthcare organization is engaged in producing and disseminating video and audio resources, such as DVDs, CDs, brochures, and pamphlets, among other media types.
When using patient care technologies, the patient falls quality indicator helps nurses build evidence-based procedures to follow (Gray-Miceli et al., 2022). For instance, when recording the data, they should use the appropriate data gathering technology, such as the EMR; this will ensure that the data recording is accurate and secure (Regan et al., 2017). In addition, they are required to confer with members of the interdisciplinary team, such as nursing informaticists, regarding the best practices in data input. They are then required to use their most proficient talents in data collection and entry to guarantee that the data are accurate.
The utilization of technology is essential for enhancing reports of organizational performance and patient outcomes. The usage of electronic medical records, for instance, improves patient outcomes by lowering the number of medication delivery mistakes (Alotaibi & Federico, 2017). In addition, technology helps report patient falls and get a response team involved more quickly to prevent the patient’s condition from deteriorating due to the fall (Alotaibi & Federico, 2017). Nursing practice, patient outcomes, and overall organizational performance reports can all benefit from disseminating data, and instructional materials concerning nursing-sensitive quality metrics made possible by technological advancements (Gray-Miceli et al., 2022). Using patient fall vector machines, we can detect falls in advance, minimizing the likelihood of injuries and saving lives.
Conclusion
A health organization needs to monitor nursing-sensitive quality indicators since doing so helps improve patient outcomes, leading to improved organizational performance reports. It is essential for nurses and other healthcare team members to collaborate across disciplinary lines to collect and record the nursing-sensitive indicator data to ensure that accuracy is maintained and not compromised. The utilization of technology in health care also improves the precision of the information obtained from the gathered data and, as a result, the reliability of that information.
References
Alotaibi, Y. K., & Federico, F. (2017). The impact of health information technology on patient safety. Saudi medical journal, 38(12), 1173. Web.
Goldberg, E. M., McCreedy, E. M., Gettel, C. J., & Merchant, R. C. (2017). Slipping through the cracks: A cross-sectional study examining older adult emergency department patient fall history, post-fall treatment and prevention. Rhode Island Medical Journal, 100(12), 18. Web.
Gray-Miceli, D., de Cordova, P. B., Rogowski, J. A., & Grealish, L. (2022). Leading improvements in the delivery of nursing care for older adults with frailty in long-term care using Mitchell’s quality health outcome model and health outcome data. Nursing Clinics, 57(2), 287-297. Web.
Lee, H. O., Lee, B. H., & Lee, C. H. (2017). Effect of strength exercise on patient fall prevention program: Focusing on the fall high risk group elderly patients. Journal of Health Informatics and Statistics, 42(4), 338-345. Web.
Morley, L., & Cashell, A. (2017). Collaboration in health care. Journal of medical imaging and radiation sciences, 48(2), 207-216. Web.
Regan, J., Lau, A. S., Barnett, M., Stadnick, N., Hamilton, A., Pesanti, K., & BrookmanFrazee, L. (2017). Agency responses to a system-driven implementation of multiple evidence-based practices in children’s mental health services. BMC Health Services Research, 17(1), 1-14. Web.