ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Meeting recommendations that nurses should partner in leading health care change is hampered by the lack of ambulatory care nurse-sensitive indicators (ACNSIs). This scoping review was conducted to identify evidence regarding ACNSI identification, development, implementation, and benchmarking. METHODS: Following the PRISMA-ScR reporting guide, we performed PubMed/MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library searches for the period January 2006 to March 2021. RESULTS: Twelve of the 1984 articles from 6 countries met inclusion criteria. All focused on identifying, developing/pilot testing indicators, and included structure, process, and outcome indicators. Seven articles were level II and all were at least grade B quality. Leverage points involved leadership support, automated data extraction infrastructure, and validating links between nurses' roles/actions and patient outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: While high-quality work is ongoing to identify clinically meaningful and feasible ACNSIs, knowledge in this field remains underdeveloped. Prioritizing this work is imperative to address gaps and facilitate national strategic health care goals.
Subject(s)
Ambulatory Care , Leadership , Humans , Nurse's RoleABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate scientific acceptability, feasibility, utility, and value of ambulatory care nurse-sensitive quality indicators (ACNSIs) in military outpatient clinics. BACKGROUND: Optimizing healthcare quality and cost requires scientifically sound metrics. However, ACNSI development and measurement have lagged behind inpatient nurse-sensitive indicators. Validated and reliable ACNSIs are urgently needed to maximize nurses' efforts to improve healthcare quality. METHODS: Two staffing and 4 patient-centered ACNSIs were pilot tested in 5 military clinics over a 6-month period using a mixed-methods design. RESULTS: Reliability and validity were generally acceptable. Most ACNSIs demonstrated feasibility, utility, and value for performance measurement. Challenges to using ACNSIs include absence of standardized administrative and clinical processes, infrastructure, and leadership and technological support. CONCLUSIONS: These ACNSIs show promise as valid performance metrics. Provider- and nurse-level metrics may synergistically improve practice, enhancing the team approach so critical to ambulatory care.
Subject(s)
Ambulatory Care , Quality Indicators, Health Care , Humans , Reproducibility of Results , Quality of Health Care , Patient-Centered CareABSTRACT
Dynamic nursing leadership and engagement of nursing at all levels are critical to effective care delivery. During the COVID-19 crisis, many organizations suspended non-COVID-related meetings, including professional governance councils where practice decisions are made. This article highlights how shared or professional governance was leveraged during this global pandemic at a large academic medical center and community hospital effectively sustaining autonomous nursing practice while responding to a rapidly changing environment and impacting quality patient care.
