Quality and Safety Measures in Nursing Science

Nursing science is a discipline that is centered on the understanding of human health and the application of knowledge for influencing the state of human health. Key demands in nursing science include integrating theories, paradigms and frames into nursing as a means of improving comprehension of health issues (Taylor, Lillis & Lynn, 2015). In the current era, in nursing, patients’ safety and improvement of the quality of the health services have taken the center stage with more supportive policies being enacted (McSherry, McSherry & Watson, 2012). In Affordable Care Act, one of the current policies running the affairs of the health sector, the call is for the healthcare providers to utilize a model that is quality-centered rather than the previous model of volume (Rawal, 2016). In the same spirit, the reimbursement of the insurance covers of the hospitals is now based on the total number of quality services delivered rather than on the number of clients served (Rawal, 2016). Under the Healthy People 2020, the aim is to ensure there is an improvement of safety in the use of medical products accompanied by boosted patients’ treatment (ODPHP, 2016). The spirit of enhancing safety and quality is now the norm in the nursing science and highly reflected in its both curriculum and practice.

Quality and Safety Measures

Quality and safety measures in nursing are a combination of efforts aimed at improving the patients’ outcome and welfare while being under the care of qualified and registered nurses. Moreover, quality and safety measures are well-outlined policies aimed at both enhancing the caregiving and, at the same time, reducing the cost of caring for the patients (Weston & Roberts, 2013). These measures are now an integral part of nursing and even reflected in the curriculum. Nursing students are now engaged in the way of applying the best evidence-based approach in their practice (Dolansky & Moore, 2013). This is a method that appreciates the need to avail care in a manner that utilizes the current knowledge on the matter together with the information availed by the patients and the general symptoms. The major role of safety and quality measures are setting the agenda of research to be undertaken in nursing science.

A Contemporary Example of How Quality and Safety Measures Are Applied in Nursing Science

In the line of analyzing and understanding human health, the element of safety and quality availed to the patient is highly demanded in nursing science. These two aspects are now the primary variables of interest in any nursing research, and they are also elements that are highly agitated in nursing (Dolansky & Moore, 2013). Currently, a good example of how these measures are being applied in the field of nursing science is the increased research undertakings. They are all aimed at developing the best way of improving primary level of care as a mean of enhancing the quality of caregiving and caution the health sector from high costs incurred under the secondary and tertiary level of care.

The Quality Components Needed To Analyze a Health Care Program’s Outcomes

For quality to be judged as attainable, the primary condition necessary is that the intended goal is reached with minimum or no harm to the recipient of the service. Similarly, there are the relevant components in analyzing the outcome of the quality of health care program.

Patient and Family Centeredness

A high-quality health care program outcome must be in line with the spirit of upholding the practice that avails care in a way that safeguards the interest of the patients and their families. The health care sector is now realigning its services to be more patient and family friendly (Taylor, Lillis & Lynn, 2015). This is, therefore, one of the critical components in the analysis of the outcomes of any health care program quality.

Adherence to Ethics and Consumer Rights

A quality program needs to be in line with all relevant ethical behavior and corresponding consumer rights. Quality can only be present in health programs if the total compliance to the ethical behavior in the area of interest is accompanied by upholding any consumer right governing the nature of the program (Sherwood & Barnsteiner, 2012). An excellent retrospective audit needs to be done to ensure all points of interest are considered together with conducting an accurate quality analysis.

Compliance with the Law and Regulations

A quality health program must follow a path that is defined by laws and regulations. All quality services and programs are only guided by appropriate laws and regulations demanding that the program demonstrates total compliance to the stated guidelines (Weston, Roberts, 2013). Therefore, there is a need to evaluate every sub-stem of the program to ensure that the program is lawful.

Performance and Accountability

Lastly, the quality program must also demonstrate the element of accountability and attainability of its primary goal. All the variables of interest and the used resources are easily accounted for in a program of high quality (Sherwood & Barnsteiner, 2012). Moreover, it must reach the goal that it was intended to accomplish during its inception. These are the variables that mostly form the basis for quality analysis in many health programs.

Conclusion

Quality and safety are now key variables in nursing science, and they profoundly influence many of its undertakings. Thus, quality and safety measures significantly affect the nature of the research being done in nursing science. Moreover, for any health program to be termed as of quality, it must demonstrate the element of adhering the spirit of patient, following all rules, being family-centered, ethically driven, , and successful in meeting the goals. Thus, it is clear that upholding the quality and the safety in the health sector is a norm that is now firmly controlled by the discipline of nursing science.