Nurses as Barometers of Quality Patient Care

Source: Fisk.edu

Without doubt, nurses spend more time with patients than other healthcare workers so their opinions on patient safety should matter.

It now appears that nursing assessment of patient care is statistically associated with improved patient outcomes.

Investigators from the University of Pennsylvania assessed hospital quality by aggregating hospital nurses' responses to report on quality of care.  The results are published here. 

The result? A 10% increment in the proportion of nurses reporting excellent quality of care was associated with lower odds of mortality and failure to rescue; greater patient satisfaction; and higher composite process of care scores for acute myocardial infarction, pneumonia, and surgical patients. 

Ask the nurses about patient safety and quality of care, their opinions matter.