Another Way to Improve Patient Outcomes - Nurse Job Satisfaction

INQRI-funded researchers have developed a significant body of evidence regarding the impact of nursing practices and processes on patient outcomes, even going so far as to examine the impact of nurse education, staffing, and work environment on the quality of patient care.

Now, data from the American Nurses Association's National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) reveal that nurses' job satisfaction does more than affect their intent to stay in their jobs, it also can translate to improved outcomes for patients.

 The data show that a 25 percent increase in job enjoyment and a 29 percent increase intent to stay was associated with an increase in overall quality of care of 5 to 20 percent. That quality of care included reductions in the incidence of injuries caused by falls, hospital acquired pressure ulcers, and infection rates -- all issues that have been addressed in INQRI-funded studies.

The story was reported in ADVANCE for Nurses.

An infographic on the new data is available here.

NDNQI tracks up to 18 nursing-sensitive measures and is used by 2,000 hospital nationwide to improve quality.

ANA Recommends APRNs be Included Providers in Plans on Insurance Exchanges

The American Nurses Association (ANA) has recommended to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that health insurers looking to offer plans on state health insurance exchanges include a certain number of advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) in their network of health care providers for the plans to qualify. Given the millions of uninsured and underinsured individuals that seek primary care through these exchanges and the fact that research continually demonstrates that APRNs provide safe, high quality patient care, the ANA maintains that private insurers should not continue to exclude APRNs from their networks of providers.

To learn more, check out this recent story on the Advance for Nurses site.

ANA: Care Coordination Should be Fully Funded

The American Nurses Association recently released a statement noting the importance of nurses in successful coordination of care delivered in hospitals.  They believe that fully funding these services will lead to improved health care quality and better patient outcomes.

Click here to read, "ANA: Care coordination should be reimbursed" on Nurse.com.

Click here to read about the Lamb-Sainfort INQRI project on care coordination.

60th National Student Nurses Association Convention's Keynote Speech Focused on Closing the Nurse Safety Gap

Last week, the National Student Nurses Association (NSNA) convened for their 60th anniversary conference in Pittsburgh, PA. Mary Foley, PhD, RN, director at the Center for Nursing Research and Innovation at the University of California San Francisco School of Nursing and a past American Nurses Association president, served as the keynote speaker and addressed the issue of nurse safety to the many future and currnet nurses in attendance. While nurse safety has always been an issue in the health care sector, Dr. Foley told the attendees that there is little work actually being accomplished on the ground for nurse safety to improve. Dr. Foley also promoted her work with the safety group, Safe in Common, which just launched a new Needlestick Safety Advocacy national tour and education campaign.

Click here to read HealthLeadersMedia coverage of the conference, which also includes a short interview with Dr. Foley (on pages 2 & 3).