NURS 8302 Week 1 Assignment: Foundations of Quality and Patient Safety in Healthcare

NURS 8302 Week 1 Assignment: Foundations of Quality and Patient Safety in Healthcare

Week 1: Foundations of Quality and Patient Safety in Healthcare

You are a DNP-prepared nurse working in the ICU of your local hospital. A patient is struggling with balance, and you indicate this patient is a “fall risk” in your charts. However, after a long night, caring for many patients, you forget to indicate this risk on the patient’s door, which is procedure at the hospital. You complete your shift and go home for the night.

The scenario presented highlights how easy it is for an error to occur in healthcare. Humans are prone to error, and DNP-prepared nurses are no exception; however, certain policies and procedures can be enacted to improve patient safety and minimize errors.

Almost all occupational fields rely on safety and quality practices to ensure employees, customers, etc., are in a safe environment. These quality and safety practices help organizations to limit errors and improve performance; the field of nursing is no different. It is important for the nurse leader to recognize that quality and safety measures help to improve patient safety by installing processes and workflows into nursing practice that may result in fewer errors.

This week, you will examine foundations of quality improvement in healthcare, as well as explore patient safety. You will also review your experience with these practices and consider your role as a future DNP-prepared nurse.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Analyze quality and safety for nursing practice
• Analyze quality and safety for healthcare delivery
• Analyze the role of the DNP-prepared nurse as a function of quality and safety
• Analyze the concept of just culture in healthcare organizationsNURS 8302 Week 1 Assignment: Foundations of Quality and Patient Safety in Healthcare
• Analyze how a just culture impacts healthcare organizations
• Analyze the role of the DNP-prepared nurse in supporting environments for just culture in healthcare organizations

Learning Resources

Nash, D. B., Joshi, M. S., Ransom, E. R., & Ransom, S. B. (Eds.). (2019). The healthcare quality book: Vision, strategy, and tools (4th ed.). Health Administration Press.

• Chapter 1, “Overview of Healthcare Quality” (pp. 5–47)
• Chapter 2, “History and the Quality Landscape” (pp. 49–74)