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Expanding American Nurses Association nursing quality indicators to community-based practices
Linda M Sawyer1, Bobbie Berkowitz, Judith E Haber
1CMRI, San Francisco, Calif., USA.
Outcomes Management
|April 16, 2002
Summary
The American Nurses Association developed new community-based nursing quality indicators beyond acute care. These indicators focus on patient symptoms, therapeutic relationships, service use, satisfaction, risk, protective factors, and functional status.
Area of Science:
- Nursing Quality Improvement
- Community Health Nursing
- Healthcare Quality Indicators
Background:
- The American Nurses Association (ANA) sought to enhance patient care quality by expanding nursing-sensitive quality indicators.
- Existing indicators were primarily focused on acute care settings, necessitating broader application.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify a core set of community-based quality indicators relevant to nursing practice across the care continuum.
- To outline the processes and next steps for developing and implementing these indicators.
Main Methods:
- A committee was appointed by the ANA in 1997 to guide the expansion of quality indicators.
- The study involved defining indicator categories applicable to community-based settings.
Main Results:
- Seven key indicator categories were identified: change in symptom severity, therapeutic alliance strength, service utilization, client satisfaction, risk reduction, increase in protective factors, and level of function/functional status.
- Potential indicators requiring further research and development were also described.
Conclusions:
- The identified indicators provide a framework for assessing nursing quality in community-based settings.
- Further research and development are necessary to refine and validate these nursing-sensitive quality indicators for comprehensive care.