Research Brief: Effect of NQF Safe Practices on Patient Outcomes

Led by Richard Lindrooth and John Welton, an interdisciplinary team at the Medical University of South Carolina examined how adoption of the National Quality Forum safe practices affects nursing sensitive patient safety outcomes. Barriers to adoption of these practices were also explored. This team took a step beyond existing literature by testing whether the implementation of safe practices leads to more effective use of nurses, and whether this leads to better performance on patient safety outcomes.

Access the research brief.

Histogram of Adoption of Safe Practices, 2004-2006

This post is part of a series to provide the public with research briefs on INQRI-funded projects across a range of interests.

INQRI Team Finds that Better Environments for Nurses Mean Fewer Medication Errors

The findings of an INQRI study led by Linda Flynn were published in the Journal of Nursing Scholarship recently.  The article explains that nurses’ error interception practices—including independent comparisons between the medication administration record and patient record at the beginning of a nurse’s shift; determining the rationale for each ordered medication; requesting that physicians rewrite orders when improper abbreviations are used; and ensuring that patients and families are knowledgeable regarding the medication regimen so that they can question unexplained variances—are associated with lower rates of nonintercepted medication errors, further quantifying the important role of nurses in enhancing patient safety.

Click here to read more about the study.

Click here to read coverage on this study by Equities.com.

Click here to read the coverage on PharmaLive.

Empowering Nurses to Implement Technology

Yesterday, Sandra Ng of advanceweb.com discussed how nurses are critical players in the success and meaningful use of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs). Ms. Ng asserts that nurses should be involved with both the planning and implementation stages of EMR utilization as it will make the system tailored to the needs of frontline workers; many of whom we will be responsible for inputting data.

Click here to read Ms. Ng's fascinating blogpost

Linking Processes of Nursing Care and Patient Safety Outcomes: An Analysis of the Cause and Effect of Safe Practice

Part 1: Dr. Richard Lindrooth (University of Colorado) presents the study, "Linking Processes of Nursing Care and Patient Safety Outcomes: An Analysis of the Cause and Effect of Safe Practice" at INQRI's 4th Annual Meeting.



Part 2: Dr. Lindrooth (University of Colorado) presents the findings.



Part 3: Drs. Richard Lindrooth (University of Colorado) and John Welton (Medical University of South Carolina) respond to comments from Leapfrog CEO Dr. Leah Binder and questions from Dr. Nancy Donaldson (CalNOC) after their presentation.




Project Description: This interdisciplinary team has examined how adoption of the National Quality Forum (NQF) safe practices affects nursing sensitive patient safety outcomes. Barriers to adoption of these practices was also explored. This team has taken a step beyond existing literature, testing whether the implementation of safe practices leads to more effective use of nurses, and whether this leads to better performance on patient safety outcomes.