Managing Quality of Care in Nursing
Overview
Managing quality of care is vital to any hospital or long- term care agency. Nursing plays a key role in insuring patients the best possible outcomes of their stay as well as patient satisfaction. Often it is a delicate balance that is hard to achieve. The purpose of this paper is to show the vital part nurses play to achieve healthcare institutions quality of care standards, while also treating the patient’s medical needs. The dichotomies of these issues are explored and the unrealistic goals hospitals and long term facility’s expect.
Summary of the interview
In an interview with a quality care manager Laura Karpenski at Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital, I asked Laura about some of the key quality …show more content…
Several questions in the survey are directly about the care a patient was given by their nurses as an inpatient, and the discharge home. Questions ranged from how fast a pain medication was given, to the kindness and understanding of the nursing staff. Competent knowledgeable nurses are vital in the patient’s quality of care they perceive and receive. I explained to Laura that as a nurse I felt the emphasis on “customer” service was expected to supersede the medical needs the patients require. Laura responded positively to this statement adding that expectations of higher management verses nursing expectations for patient safety and medical treatment often conflict. And she stated as a nurse and quality manager, she hoped to meld the expectations together to have a cohesive and equal understanding of patient quality and outcomes of care, can go hand and hand to produce a healthy safe and satisfied patient at …show more content…
Nurses are constantly barraged with achieving unrealistic goals set out by higher management, some of whom have never dealt with patient care and clinical outcomes in the field. Hospitals are focusing on the patient as a “customer” instead of a patient in need of acute medical care (Johansen, M. 2014). Nurses are taught to always prioritize, and in the current environment of high nurse to patient ratios the patients medical needs will be met first. This often creates an atmosphere of conflict between nursing staff and management, resulting in a conflicting stressful environment. This in turn causes tension, burnout, call outs and poor patient care. A vicious circle of staffing shortages and overwhelmed nursing staff with high patient loads (Johansen, M. 2014). A delicate balance of good “customer” service and excellent medical care has to be achieved. Implementing quality standards and measures are only effective if they are practiced consistently. A strong support system between management and staff is imperitive in the nurses ability to achieve these
Overview
Managing quality of care is vital to any hospital or long- term care agency. Nursing plays a key role in insuring patients the best possible outcomes of their stay as well as patient satisfaction. Often it is a delicate balance that is hard to achieve. The purpose of this paper is to show the vital part nurses play to achieve healthcare institutions quality of care standards, while also treating the patient’s medical needs. The dichotomies of these issues are explored and the unrealistic goals hospitals and long term facility’s expect.
Summary of the interview
In an interview with a quality care manager Laura Karpenski at Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital, I asked Laura about some of the key quality …show more content…
Several questions in the survey are directly about the care a patient was given by their nurses as an inpatient, and the discharge home. Questions ranged from how fast a pain medication was given, to the kindness and understanding of the nursing staff. Competent knowledgeable nurses are vital in the patient’s quality of care they perceive and receive. I explained to Laura that as a nurse I felt the emphasis on “customer” service was expected to supersede the medical needs the patients require. Laura responded positively to this statement adding that expectations of higher management verses nursing expectations for patient safety and medical treatment often conflict. And she stated as a nurse and quality manager, she hoped to meld the expectations together to have a cohesive and equal understanding of patient quality and outcomes of care, can go hand and hand to produce a healthy safe and satisfied patient at …show more content…
Nurses are constantly barraged with achieving unrealistic goals set out by higher management, some of whom have never dealt with patient care and clinical outcomes in the field. Hospitals are focusing on the patient as a “customer” instead of a patient in need of acute medical care (Johansen, M. 2014). Nurses are taught to always prioritize, and in the current environment of high nurse to patient ratios the patients medical needs will be met first. This often creates an atmosphere of conflict between nursing staff and management, resulting in a conflicting stressful environment. This in turn causes tension, burnout, call outs and poor patient care. A vicious circle of staffing shortages and overwhelmed nursing staff with high patient loads (Johansen, M. 2014). A delicate balance of good “customer” service and excellent medical care has to be achieved. Implementing quality standards and measures are only effective if they are practiced consistently. A strong support system between management and staff is imperitive in the nurses ability to achieve these