Measuring what nurses do: A call to action.

Area of Science:

• Nursing Science
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• Nurses provide critical care during patients' most challenging times, fostering healing through relationships.
• The "A Call to Action: Blueprint for Change in Acute and Critical Care Nursing" redefines nursing practice domains and outcomes.
• Current nursing metrics often focus on processes or negative events, not the quality of care itself.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the importance of positive outcome measures in acute and critical care nursing.
• To advocate for a narrative shift towards metrics reflecting nursing excellence.
• To propose new nursing outcomes aligned with positive care metrics.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and analysis of current nursing outcome measurement practices.
• Discussion of the "Blueprint for Change" document and its implications for nursing metrics.
• Conceptual framework development for positive nursing outcome measurement.

Main Results:

• Identified limitations in current nursing outcome measures (process-oriented, negative events).
• Emphasized the need for metrics that capture the positive impact and excellence of nursing care.
• Proposed a new perspective on nursing outcomes focused on positive indicators.

Conclusions:

• Shifting to positive outcome metrics is crucial for accurately reflecting nursing's contribution to healing.
• New nursing outcomes should be developed to measure the presence and excellence of care.
• Adopting positive metrics will enhance the visibility and value of acute and critical care nursing.