This project will establish consensus on a set of evidence-based measures for evaluating the performance of nursing in acute care hospitals. It also will address the implementation of these measures within healthcare organizations to improve nursing care and patient outcomes, as well as designate a subset of measures that are appropriate for public reporting.
Nursing care is critical to the quality of patient care and the success of any healthcare delivery system. Given the importance of nursing care, the absence of standardized nursing care performance measures is a major void in healthcare quality assurance and work system performance. The need for such measures is intensified by the national nursing shortage. Furthermore, as new ways to deliver patient-centered care are developed, standardized ways to measure the performance of care teams will be essential to evaluating the effectiveness of these new practices.
The project will:
While the project will emphasize nursing care in acute care hospitals, the framework for general measurement will recognize the need for measures to be compatible across settings of care.
This project is supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
For more information, contact Ellen Kurtzman, RN, MPH at 202.783.1300, or by email at info@qualityforum.org.