Quality and Safety in Nursing. Группа авторов
education about reducing falls, improving medication adherence, or increasing patient engagement in making care decisions or choices about end‐of‐life care.
Utilize scientific principles to educate community members and contacts of all ages regarding infection control practices.
Identify and create solutions for addressing mental and behavioral health concerns by recognizing, supporting, and referring to local programs and services.
Volunteer to serve on local YMCA boards, hospital boards, or other local service organizations that may be able to effect changes in services, provide access to better nutrition, or offer safer alternatives for exercise.
To impact state policy nurses can:
Demand greater clarity and compliance with CMS guidance regarding Medicaid services for children who are not receiving the supplies they need for their chronic illness, or who lack the services to keep them safe in schools or after school.
Engage with local or state chapters of professional nursing associations to coordinate advocacy for change, for modifications to practice acts, or for improved services for at‐risk populations.
Actively participate in your state nurses association lobby day, including scheduling and speaking to the legislators representing your own districts.
Actively engage in political campaigns around platforms on health care, agree to serve on state licensing boards, or attend state legislative hearings and meetings.
Develop talking points regarding policy solutions and seek platforms to communicate these to policy‐makers and stakeholder groups.
Utilize blogs, podcasts, and other tools to provide accurate factual information on health needs, causes, and disparities.
Utilize media approaches to alert consumers and professionals to proposed policy.
To impact national policy nurses must:
First keep themselves and their colleagues informed of the issues and proposed legislation.
Develop skills and expertise at representing their specialty, letting those in the specialty organization know of topical expertise.
Engage in leadership roles within their preferred professional national nursing association.
Actively participate on Expert Panels and Committees of the American Academy of Nursing and the American Nurses Association (ANA).
Attend the national Hill day sponsored by ANA or another professional association.
Take action to contact members of Congress or senators regarding passage of bills that affect their state and community.
Share stories with their representatives that highlight the need for changes in health care.
Work with their institutions to invite a member of Congress or senator to walk a day in the shoes of a nurse, in order to better understand the challenges of short staffing, limited resources, or other needs of the community.
Summary
The improvement of nursing and health care quality is the responsibility of every nurse. It can and needs to occur at every level, from the direct one‐on‐one interaction with a patient or family to the advocacy for changes in rules or regulations at every level of government, within an institution or in the local community. It takes many forms, but at its most basic level, it requires being unwilling to accept the status quo, and taking the risk to challenge practice behavior. It requires moral courage to stand up to nursing peers or physician colleagues and dissent when something begins to occur that violates basic principles of quality and safety. Even though many are working on the national level to effect policy change, at the end of the day all health care is local. It comes back to the individual nurse providing care and living in a community to articulate when a policy is being crafted, and how its implementation will improve or hinder quality of care or the safety of patients. It comes back to each nurse understanding the intent of that policy and implementing it on behalf of patients. Only then, when every patient of every race and ethnicity and gender is provided the same care we would want for our parent, or sister, or best friend, or child, will high‐quality health care be achieved.
References
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Resources
1 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: www.cms.gov
2 Hospital Quality Alliance: www.hospitalqualityalliance.org
3 Institute for Healthcare Improvement: www.ihi.org
4 National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators: https://www.pressganey.com/solutions/clinical‐excellence
5 National Governors Association: www.nga.org
6 National