Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN)
Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) aims to provide the required requirements for ensuring that nurses are prepared with the competencies that will lead to the continuous development of nurses' quality and safety in the healthcare system in which they operate. These competencies, according to Cronenwett et al, could be given through ensuring that nurses achieve competency, and respectful features in their pre-licensure education along with the specific KSAs developed for each competency (2007).
What are the QSEN competencies?
The QSEN competencies involved the proposition of definitions on the six IOM competencies; patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, safety, and informatics describing the features that best describe a competent and respectful nurse (Cronenwett et al., 2007). Along with each QSEN competency, a KSA has been developed that should be incorporated during the pre-licensure education for student nurses.
What is the difference between the KSA for each of the competencies?
The KSA for patient-centered care lets the patient or designee be in control during the care delivery where his/her preferences, values and needs are highly respected. Teamwork and Collaboration require nurses to function effectively within the nursing profession among each other and have an effective communication, respect, and willingness to share upon decision making (Cronenwett et al., 2007). Evidence-based practice (EBP) advocates for reliance on the current expertise in nursing with the patient's preferences to ensure the health provider is optimal. Quality improvement KSA requires data reliability in the decision making processes with tests and methodologies used to improve quality. Safety requires patients to be minimally exposed to risk while the Informatics require the use of information and technology to communicate, apply knowledge, to resolve errors and make a decision in the healthcare (Cronenwett et al., 2007).
Body
What are at least two competencies that you have applied in your role as an RN?
In my role as an RN, Teamwork, and Collaboration, and Evidence-based Practice (EBP) were applied. In the competency for teamwork and collaboration, I was required to be able to explain personal strengths, weaknesses the values and their applicability as a reliable member of the healthcare training (Cronenwett et al., 2007). I had also to know the scope of my practice, the management of roles and overlaps, and assist members of the team to achieve a collective goal. I was required to apply these skills in the action as an RN to provide valuable leadership and membership team in the healthcare and uphold the importance of every member of the health team (American Nurses Association, 2015). With respect every member’s contribution the team prospered.
In addition, Evidence-based and Practice (EBP) data was collected and analyzed analytically with my contribution in the center stage of the actions where real facts of the research were gathered through effective data collection and they believe of evidence-based practice upheld as the most reliable source of decision making. Further, the line had to be drawn between opinions and research were reliable sources of data and information accompanied research as opposed to opinion (Cronenwett et al., 2007). Physical reading of the research materials was highly recommended and carried out with an aim of continuous improvement of the clinical knowledge with current developments put to action.
How do you or can you share these competencies in your current experiences as a professional nurse?
In my role as a professional nurse, the competency on Teamwork and Collaboration is applicable in many areas. Firstly, when am supposed to assume my roles fully when assigned to duty or to the leadership roles of the different tasks of the health center. I should, therefore, be aware of the different roles of every member and have know-how of dealing with delays of absconding to duty while remaining on the alert for the right mitigation measures. Every other member of the team at the health center or any other collectively assigned task is made aware of their roles while at the same time they are allowed ample environment to exercise their capability (American Nurses Association, 2016). The members are called upon readiness to help team members who may seem incapable of delivering the target goal as required within the time frame. The patients and their parents are given full respect while solutions to the medical issues are sought. Regularly, the right communication is passed across so that the nursing process is effective between the patient, family members and the team of nurses.
The competency of Evidence-based Practice (EBP) scientific research to mitigate patient’s problems forms the basis for decision making the process highly reliable. Decision-making process is based on evidence of scientific sources and theories to provide patients the best advice in healthcare improvement (Cronenwett et al., 2007). Efforts are always in place to improve the nursing performance on a daily basis at the center with occasional research and evidence-based provision of solutions to problems.
What competencies are especially difficult to apply to your practice or setting? Explain how the challenges can be changed to implement
Informatics is the competency that is difficult to apply at practice and in my setting. Innovation in information technology is happening at a very high rate with new opportunities and challenges opening every new day. As such, skills on informatics require one to always familiarize with the new advancements. In the event of acquiring a new system that supports database management of data, hardware equipment, and tools, the cost required has always been high and taking a lot of time. This makes upgradability and scalability a slow process making some of the decision making processes a challenge. Despite the fact that reliability in information technology adds to the privacy of the data and information, it requires the assistance of full-time employee assistants who are lacking. Furthermore, the costs for training of the existing personnel are so high and time-consuming such that in most cases, the management is usually slow in implementing information and technology.
The management at the various health centers should put in place a plan to have information and communication technology installed at their centers so that data and information can be stored electronically thus improving quality and safety in nursing practice.
Describe an occurrence when the competencies were or were not applied to your nursing practice
Occasionally, emergencies happen, members fail to cooperate, patients and their families refuse to cooperate with the nurses at the health care, and misbehavior of member nurses occurred. When an emergency happens, the process of mitigation may require an application of such quick action such that some of the competencies may be overlooked. For example, the required participation of the nurse on duty shall not require waiting for his/her input for a need that happens without their presence (American Nurses Association, 2016).
In case a patient is suffering in a way that requires an immediate response to save their lives, the nurses should consider such actions as immediate as possible, and the process, the evidence-based research may be violated.
When a trend in certain kinds of patient behavior is noticed or reported, the center should commit to conducting research where the right data is collected to mitigate further on the behavior and understand the root cause so that a lasting solution can be found. As such, an experiment shall require being designed, and the application of the right data collection procedures to come up with the true data representing a true scenario. After the analysis, the findings are relied upon to make the decisions enabling the application of evidence-based research.
Conclusion
Describe the importance and relevance of applying QSEN in your practice area
At the core of nursing, every practitioner is required to be willing to apply QSEN to ensure quality and safety for patients. When nurses apply QSEN competencies in their practice on a daily basis, it shall help nurses to learn better services delivery making them love more what they do (American Nurses Association, 2016).
Moreover, through the application of QSEN competencies, the quality and safety of nursing practice shall be improved, making the nurses be more secure while ensuring the patients receive quality services. The application of QSEN shall enable the nurses to practice nursing at will, application of ideas as elicited by the training at the nursing practice, and be part of a practical change at their health centers in an effort to offer quality and safety practice.
How will the use of QSEN competencies improve your knowledge, skills, and attitudes as a nursing professional?
QSEN competencies shall enable nursing in the understanding of the different dimensions of patient-centered care like observing the preferences of the patient, being capable of eliciting the patient values and different needs in their clinical interview, administration of a care plan, and their evaluation. The nurses shall be able to observe the expected high ethical standards while dealing with the clients as well as owe the expected respect to them at all levels (American Nurses Association, 2015).
In addition, QSEN shall enable the nurses to acquire the required communication techniques and enable them to be capable of communicating the same information to colleagues to deal with the needs of the patients (Cronenwett et al., 2007). They shall be capable of evaluating the points of need, therefore, seeking further training and education to improve their expertise.
Further, when nurses get equipped with knowledge on teamwork and collaboration, they shall be able to logically work within their scope of practice while allowing colleagues to be part and parcel of the solution sought with a value attached to the contribution of every team member.
Again, when the nurses acquire basic research practices, they shall be capable of fully participating in the various data collection, recording, analyses, and presentation of health data and information while at the same time noting the strengths that come with research as well as the weaknesses.
Moreover, QSEN encourages nurses to be capable of appreciating the importance of information and technology skills and their reliability in offering essential patient care. Besides, they shall be capable of applying the relevant technology and information management techniques and equipment to support care activities (Sherwood & Zomorodi, 2014). They shall also participate wholly in the design, proposition, and the implementation of information technology techniques in support of nursing care.
References
American Nurses Association (2015).Nursing: Scope and standards of practice (3rd ed.), Silver Springs, MD: Nursesbooks.org.
American Nurses Association. (2016). Code of ethics with interpretative statements. Silver Springs, MD: Nursesbooks.org.
Cronenwett, L., Sherwood, G., Barnsteiner, J., Disch, J., Johnson, J., Mitchell, P.Warren, J. (2007). Quality and safety education for nurses. Nursing Outlook,55 (3) 122-131.
Sherwood, G., & Zomorodi, M. (2014). A new mindset for quality and safety: the QSEN competencies redefine nurses' roles in practice. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 41(1), 15.
