Bringing Quality to the Bedside: The Evolution of the Nurse Quality Champion

Purpose:
Nurses do not always know the implications of their care on outcomes. Our goal was to create a role for direct care nurses to be more involved in unit-based quality improvement initiatives and to be a liaison between staff and management. Hence the role of nurse "Quality Champion" was created.

Significance:
As healthcare reimbursement is linked to outcomes, it is imperative that nurses understand the implications of the care they deliver. By including a direct care nurse as the Quality Champion, quality initiatives that are identified are more meaningful to staff and they are more engaged in projects.

Strategy and Implementation:
As part of a nursing strategic plan, the nurse "Quality Champion" (QC) role was created. The purpose of this role is to have a direct care nurse, who is given dedicated quality time, to drive quality improvement in the patient care areas. In order to get approval from nursing leadership, several steps were taken: 1) a literature search was conducted which identified the approximate costs of hospital acquired conditions (HAC) (blood stream infections, urinary tract infections, pressure ulcers); 2) the cost of HAC per unit from the previous year were calculated; 3) the cost of the dedicated time for the QC was calculated and compared to the cost of the HAC. Approval was obtained for each QC to have 12 hours per month dedicated to quality work. The QCs participated in a "Foundations of Quality" curriculum and are part of a unit-based quality triad. The QCs comprise the Nursing Quality Council of our Shared Governance Model.

Evaluation:
There are currently 21 Quality Champions. Their projects range from infection prevention, to cost containment, to patient satisfaction. They work closely with the nurse manager and unit-based medical director to improve quality in their patient care areas.

Implications for Practice:
This presentation will contain content that is translatable to other organizations as the Quality Champion role could be implemented in any healthcare setting.