William Osler once said that the trained nurse has become one of the greatest blessings of humanity, occupying a place beside the physician and the priest. His quote reflects the significant roles nurses discharge in clinics and their overall impact on the society. A typical nursing job entails managing a patient and ensuring their safety among the many duties nurses discharge daily. However, registered nurses are required to follow the standard practices, which define the minimum level of performance expected from them. Clinics usually expect nurses to empower themselves and patients for quality improvement purposes. Hence, nurses provide information to patients to help them make informed decisions relating to their health care. Other strategies they can use to empower patients and their colleagues informing them about the medical risks they face, beliefs and alternative treatment available. In addition, NDNQI and other dashboards provide nurses with data to enhance practice which also leads to job satisfaction
Strategies to Empower Nurses/Patients
According to an article published by the American Hospital Association (2003), nurses make decisions about a patient's health care before they go to a clinic. Quick decisions are supposed to be made especially during emergencies. Consequently, it essential that a nurse empowers a patient by informing them about the benefits and risks of each treatment recommended, what the family members need to do during the treatment and the expected outcomes from a treatment procedure. Such decisions are critical in empowering patient's make an informed decision which helps in better patient management (Neuhauser, 2011).On the other hand, nurses should be empowered to understand a patient’s predicament so that they can manage them better. Providing other nurses with patient’s information relating to previous treatments, hospital stays, illness, allergies drugs prescribed or dietary supplements is essential for a nurse to understand the medical background of a patient and to determine the appropriate treatment procedures and patient's needs.
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NDNQI Data
The concept of evidence-based practice has gained momentum in the recent past. Hence, there are various ways NDNQI data from dashboards or quality improvement data may be used to support nurse empowerment in clinical practice. According to Izumi (2012), the dashboards avail national comparative data for internal use purposes especially quality improvement. The author suggests that the data may be used for benchmarking purposes. Therefore, clinics can adopt best practices implemented by other health facilities as one of the ways of improving service delivery. Also, clinics are taking management science approaches for quality improvement (Neuhauser, 2011). Dashboard systems are used to collect clinical information then analyzed using computer systems. The process is then used to evaluate areas of weaknesses. Clinic administrators can use the data generated to determine nurse’s areas of weakness and determine capacity building approaches to empower the staff.
Personal Experience
The empowerment of nurses and patients requires management support. The leaders play a significant role in creating an environment where patients and patients can be empowered by providing the necessary support. I work in a clinic where nurses are allowed are allowed to communicate their personal opinions. The opportunity gives nurses a chance to voice their opinions and speak about issues that concern them or patient for quality improvement purposes. The management also allows nurses to see patient needs and respond to them appropriately. I once informed a patient how she could ensure she is safe at the clinic by pressing the emergency button when in distress. One day, while working on a night shift, an alarm rang from her room, and I responded immediately. I found an intruder in her room and called the security team. The patient was grateful because o investigation it was discovered the person intended to harm her.
Conclusion
The term might seem complicated, but it takes little things to empower a patient or a nurse. Empowering others could take the forms of sharing critical information, training, or influencing. Nurses have the responsibility of using available data to empower others for quality improvement purposes. By empowering others they ensure mistakes are not repeated, both patients and nurses understand processes and better patient management. Hence, clinics that promote empowerment of nurses and patients stand a better chance of improving their services.
References
American Hospital Association, (2003). The Patient care partnership: Understanding expectations, rights, and responsibilities. Retrieved from: https://www.aha.org/system/files/2018-01/aha-patient-care-partnership.pdf
Izumi S. (2012). Quality improvement in nursing: administrative mandate or professional responsibility?. Nursing Forum, 47(4), 260-7.
Neuhauser, D. M. (2011). Impact of staff engagement on nurse satisfaction/retention and patient outcomes of patient satisfaction and NDNQI® indicators (Doctoral dissertation, Western Carolina University).
