Instrumental Strategies to Achieve Outcomes of a Nurse-Driven Quality Council incorporating the ANCC Magnet Model

Purpose:
In 2008, WVUH realigned the Nursing Stragetic Plan with the new ANCC Magnet Model. As a result, the Nursing Quality Council (NQC) was added to the shared governace structure to improve the process in which staff nurses analyze and review nursing-sensitive indicator data.

Significance:
National benchmarks (NDNQI) are utilized to gain a comparative perspective about the organization's clinical performance and nurse staff satisfaction. The NQC provides a multidisciplinary, staff-driven forum that fosters a shared decision-making approach and promotes sustained improvment in care.

Strategy and Implementation:
Nursing administration and staff nurses share equal responsibility in monitoring and evaluating nursing-sensitive quality indicators. The NQC is responsible for identifying quality measures, reviewing and analyzing data, and developing action plans to improve patient outcomes and nursing satisfaction indicators. In addition to quarterly meeting, nursing staff are responsible for: 1) reviewing WVUH NDNQI quarterly Nurse Sensitive Quality indicators and annual Nurse Satisfaction indicators, 2) identifying strategies for improvement and development of recommended actions at the unit level to positively impact outcomes and 3) fostering communication systems to keep staff informed about WVUH NDNQI and Nurse Satisfaction outcomes in contrast to various benchmark comparison groups. Utilization of technology with the unit specific web pages has improved nursing staff engagement in quality indicators that has led to systematic improvements over the past two years.

Evaluation:
Integration of the NQC into existing shared governance model, utilization of web pages by nursing staff to access current NQNQI data and improved outcomes with nurse sensitive indicators, specifically falls and restraints, highlight achievements toward WVUH nursing strategic outcomes.

Implications for Practice:
The use of a nurse-driven quality council, incoporating ANCC Magnet Model, is a proven strategy to achieve and sustain improvements in care practices. This strategy can be easily replicated in other health care organzations, with NDNQI data as a key partner in the quality improvement process.