Claiming the Future of Nursing Through Nursing ...

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... identified as being corre- lated with high-quality nursing care. The theo- retical underpinnings of the Report Card rest in the work of Dr Avedis Donabedian.5 ...
NursAdminQ Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 273-284 @ 2003 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

Claiming the Future of Nursing hrough Nursing-sensitive Quality Indicators Rita Munley Gallagher,

PhD~

RN,C; Patricia A.

Rowel~ .PhD~

Rl'>l

Although many of the changes in today's health care arena have been beneficial, there continues to be persistent dissatisfaction with the nation's health care delivery system. The provision of outcome-oriented, cost-effective health care is no longer a goal. It is a mandate. To accomplish this ma..~date, the relationship between the costs, quality and desired outcomes of care, and the processes involved in providing care must be reexamined. This article describes factors stimulating the American Nurses Association to develop nursing-sensitive quality indicators, details development of the National Database for Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQ][), and discusses the implications of nursing-sensitive indicators and NDNQI for nurse administrators. Nursing's quality indicators can be of value in the development of evidence-based health care report cards and can be used to direct cha.c'lge. We must move forward together in claiming the future of nursing through nursingsensitive quality indicators. Key words: nursing, patient safety, quality, quality indicators

LTHOUGH many of the changes in today's health c;u·e arena in the United States have been beneficial, there continues to be persistent dissatisfaction with the nation's health care delivery system. Patients and other constimers are overwhel'med by limited access to care, escalating costs, the complexity of the system, and the fragmentation of the care received. Providers are equally ovlt::fVITh