Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN)

Krishanda Decker, RNBrooke Heater, RN

Sarah Knoll, RNBrittany Pharo, RN

It is a project started to prepare future nurses with the proper knowledge, skills and attitude (KSA’s) for quality and safety for the healthcare areas they will be working for (About QSEN, 2012).

What is Quality and Safety Education for Nurses?

QSEN began in 2005. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)

funded the project by contributing $590,000 Led by Dr. Linda Cronenwett The project had three phases between 2005

and 2012.

Who Founded QSEN?

An interdisciplinary team formed key concepts to be implemented in nursing programs to improve quality and safety of the nursing field.

Phase 1

Fifteen schools assimilated the six competencies into their current classrooms, labs and clinical curriculums. Monitoring of these pilot schools was performed to evaluate this new curriculum's effectiveness and develop and test teaching strategies

Phase 2

Building on the first phases, two grants were awarded to continue the development and evaluation of methods to assess student learning associated with six competencies. One grant was given to University of North Carolina and the other to American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).

Phase 3

Pre licensure competencies were defined and given targets for KSA’s.

Completed national surveys to see if people believe the competencies are included in current curricula. The surveys also gauged the level of satisfaction with student competency achievement and gauged the level of faculty expertise in teaching the competencies.

Drafts of proposed KSA’s and targets for graduate education were made with help from representatives of organizations that represent advanced practice nurses.

“Funded work with 15 pilot schools who committed to active engagement in curricular change to incorporate quality and safety competencies” (About QSEN, 2012).

Initiatives

Patient-centered Care Teamwork & Collaboration Evidence-based Practice Quality Improvement Safety Informatics

Six Competencies

Patient-centered care focuses on the patient and the individual’s particular health care needs. The goal of patient-centered health care is to empower patients to become active participants in their care. (Reynolds, 2009)

Patient-Centered Care

Function effectively within nursing and inter-professional teams, fostering open communication, mutual respect, and shared decision-making to achieve quality patient care. (Nursing, 2012)

Teamwork and collaboration

Use of data to monitor the outcomes of care processes and use improvement methods to design and test changes to continuously improve the quality and safety of healthcare systems. (Nursing, 2012)

Quality Improvement

Integration of best current evidence with clinical expertise and patient/family preferences and values for delivery of optimal health care.

Evidence Based Practice

Minimize risk of harm to patients and providers through both system effectiveness and individual performance. (Nursing, 2012)

Safety

Use information and technology to communicate, manage knowledge, mitigate error, and support decision making. (Institute, 2012)

Informatics

“QSEN has continuously strived to bridge the gap between practice and academia to develop practitioners who are knowledgeable and capable in demonstrating these critical competencies.” (Brown, Feller, & Benedict, 2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-LzIlm2b2U

Short QSEN video

Put your patient first. GET INVOLVED! Know the policies and procedures for your

unit. Utilize your resources (books, computers,

charts, physicians, each other) Attend seminars and educational forums. Check, check, check your work.

How can Nurses bridge this gap in our day to day practice?

The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) National Forum is designed to attract innovators and nurture faculty and nursing leaders for the improvement of quality and safety education through sharing of:

•Innovations in curricular design and teaching strategies that accomplish QSEN competency development

•Research related to quality and safety education in pre-licensure, advanced practice programs, and clinical practice

http://qsen.org/conferences/2013-qsen-national-forum/

2013 QSEN National Forum

“In my current practice area of medical/surgical nursing, QSEN practice standards influence my nursing practice by allowing me to feel comfortable and prepared with the patients I take care of. I’m able to give quality care and do it safely with the knowledge, skills, and attitude that QSEN promotes.” –Brooke Heater, RN

“ Quality and safety education plays in integral role in my nursing capacity as I have learned through the educators at Spectrum Health to triple check my work before administering any form of treatment to my patient. It may have evoked a “scare tactic” but I feel confident that I am practicing safely and within my scope of practice.” – Sarah Knoll, RN

“The practice standards set forth by QSEN influence the way nursing students are taught with the focus on safety and quality. The goal is to decrease health care errors, and focus on patient’s overall safety. In my current position as an emergency department nurse, the QSEN practice standards influence my nursing by incorporating continuing education for safety and quality nursing practices. Also, as my individual education continues, the competencies set forth by QSEN continue to be included. A large component of continue education is evidence based practice. This is changing the overall care of patients based on actual studies proving the effectiveness or in-effectiveness of certain aspects of care and I foresee that it will over my career. “ – Krishanda Decker

"In my position as an Emergency Department nurse, I try to encourage my patients to feel like we are partners in his or her care. I take the time to listen to his or her question and explain what I'm doing. Nobody comes to the ER because they're feeling well, but by following the QSEN practice standards I am providing my patients with safe, quality care and I am constantly striving to make my patients' ER experience the best that it can be." - Brittany Pharo, RN

About QSEN. (2012). Retrieved April 22, 2013, from QSEN Institute website: http://qsen.org/about-qsen/

Brown R., Feller L., Benedict L., 2010. Reframing nursing education: the quality and safety education for nurses initiative. Journal of Nursing Education. 5. P 115-118.: doi: 10.3928/01484834-20091113-10

Hawk, A. (N.D.). Qualtity and safety education in Nursing. Retrieved April 26, 2013 from www.ehow.com/facts_7392552_quality-safety-education-nursing.html.

Institute, Q. (2010). QSEN Informational Video, part 2. Retrieved from youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-LzIlm2b2U

Nursing, A. C. (2012). QSEN Competencies: Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes. Retrieved from QSEN Education Consortium: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/faculty/qsen/competencies.pdf

Reynolds, A. (2009). Patient Centered Care. American Society of Radiologic Technologists, 81(2), 133-147.

References