Informatics and Nursing Sensitive Quality Indicators

Name

Institution

Date

Course

1|Page
 Informatics and Nursing Sensitive Quality Indicators

Hello, my name is…and it’s a pleasure sharing my presentation on nursing sensitive

quality indicators. This presentation is focused on ensuring a substantive growth in nursing as a

profession and hope you will gain insights and knowledge that will promote nursing practice and

improve patient care in healthcare facilities.

What is the NDNQI?

Let us begin this presentation by acknowledging what the National Database of Nursing

Quality Indicators (NDNQI) is. NDNQI is a database with quarterly and annually reported

processes, outcomes and structure indicators that can be used in the analysis of patient care. This

database was established in 1998 by American Nurses Association and is used by 1100 care

facilities currently in the United States of America to provide information concerning unit level

performance. Nursing sensitive indicators can be affected by nursing care directly and they

determine the effects of nursing and patient care. Over the years, nursing sensitive indicators

have been integrated as a valid and reliable tool because of its ability to inform decision-making,

improve clinical practice and the provision of objective assessment.

2|Page
 Nursing sensitive indicators reflect outcomes, structure and process of nursing care.

Examples of structural indicators include; nursing staff supply, nursing staff skills level and

certification. Furthermore, process indicators evaluate patients’ assessment and nursing

interventions. On the other hand, outcome indicators reflect the results influence by quantity and

quality of nursing care hence it is important for one to familiarise him/herself with them because

of the critical nature of information in the provision of patient care which is the most important

objective for professionals and care facilities. Aspects that may influence care therefore need to

receive more attention during different care adjustments and facility implementations.

Falls is the chosen quality indicator and is a major health hazard especially amongst

adults above 60 years of age. Globally, approximately 37.3 million falls happen each year that

are lethal enough to cause medical attention. A fall may lead to fractures, lacerations and internal

bleeding which requires the use of healthcare facilities because of their constant and direct

interactions during patient care. A nurse may have the ability to implement strategies and

ideologies that will have direct impact on patients and thus influencing the likely chance of falls.

Some measures that can be executed include; patient education on falls, identification of patients

with greater risks of falls and providing more attention and educating patients on the precautions

that should be looked into alongside installation of bed alarms. Falls make patients incur extra

costs by prolonging their stay in the facility thus making the knowledge of this indication

essential.

Collection and Distribution of Quality Indicator Data

To get more understanding and information on the ways through our facility get and

collect data on falls, I conducted an interview with one of the facility’s Quality Improvement

3|Page
Practitioners where I got a detailed explanation of the entire process. First, when a patient falls at

a care facility, the nurse first ensures that the patient is in a stable state. Through an online

reporting database, a registered nurse is required to send a report that includes the patient’s

health condition and age. This report informs the quality improvement practitioner to prompt a

comprehensive review of the patient chart. For instance, the Jacobi health institution uses Epic to

document patient interventions. Certified Nursing Assistants, Licensed Practical Nurses and

Registered nurses then key in interventions such as hourly rounding, patient orientation, MORSE

Fall scale for fall risk assessments, bedside sitter and assistance needs and ambulation abilities

into Epic which is a an electronic health system and the data is kept available for analysis when

required. After the professional reviews data in the chart, the fall is then reported to the state

Database.

Moreover, an interdisciplinary meeting is held every Wednesday and is led by the Quality

Improvement Practitioner. An analysis of the falls that may have occurred during the week is

undertaken in the meeting to evaluate the reasons that may have caused the falls and the possible

solutions for the prevention of future occurrence of other falls. The varying views from different

interdisciplinary members that are directly involved in patient care are considered for the

determination of an effective course of action. Nurses perform a critical role in the reporting of

accurate data by ensuring that the information shared via Epic fully depicts the occurrence of a

fall. The interaction between nurses and patients is more as compared to other professionals

hence the actions taken are influenced positively by their input. For example, some patients may

have been administered drugs with side effects like dizziness that may cause falls when the

affected patients aren’t monitored more often. As nurses therefore, ensuring the safety of patients

is the most essential duty assigned to us.

4|Page
 Conclusion

Nurses play the most crucial role in the prevention of falls by ensuring strategies meant to

prevent falls are executed in healthcare facilities. Nurses lead the frontline in ensuring patients

and their families or guardians realize the possible assistance required as well as the side effects

of drugs. They also ensure proper documentation of different falls and occurrences within a

healthcare facility because the data is essential for the determination of a course of action. In

addition, properly documented falls and occurrences ensures a healthcare facility make positive

progress that will result in the improvement of patient care quality and outcomes. Our

involvement as nurses makes it possible for the reduction of falls therefore providing better

healthcare.

Thank you very much for engaging in this training. I hope this presentation has been

educative and you have improved your understanding on NSQI and NDNQI. Feel free to ask or

raise relevant questions and concerns. I wish you great professional growths in nursing as a

profession. Thank you.

5|Page