Importance Of QSEN Competencies In Nursing

Back in September 2014, I decided to take a huge risk and change careers in the nursing field. I went from being a skilled nursing manager at a long term care facility to an emergency room staff nurse with no prior emergency room experience. Basically, I left my comfort zone to broaden my knowledge in the vast field of nursing. After reviewing the QSEN competencies, I quickly realized how imperative each one was in the emergency department setting. QSEN consists of six competencies which are: patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence based practice, quality improvement, safety, and informatics. Nurses start learning about the QSEN competencies in nursing school; these competencies are designed to improve the quality and safety of patient care. Honestly, I could talk about a few different work experiences I have had involving some of the QSEN …show more content…
Patients that present with chest pain and acute coronary symptoms are taken very seriously. Chest pain protocol order sets are put into place quickly upon the patient's arrival to the hospital to see if the chest pain is cardiac or non cardiac related. The chest pain protocol is driven by evidence based practice to increase patient safety and expedite care. At my place of employment (a rural ER without a cardiac cath lab), the chest pain protocol consists of: performing an EKG within 10 minutes from patient's arrival time, IV access, lab draw (Troponin, CBC, CMP, INR, PTT), chest x-ray, oxygen, cardiac monitor, pulse ox, and Aspirin 324mg unless contraindicated. Using evidence based protocols when a patient is experiencing chest pain will help reduce delays in critical interventions such as thrombolytic therapy (if not contraindicated) for a patient experiencing a STEMI. Thrombolytic therapy, such as TNKase, can be used when transferring a patient from a Non-PCI to PCI facility if the intervention time will exceed ninety