1,000th Hospital Joins ANA National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators Program
Hospitals use NDNQI® reports to improve the quality of nursing care
Silver Spring, MD - The American Nurses Association announced that the 1,000th hospital joined its National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI®) program this week. “The growth of NDNQI® from less than 30 hospitals in 1998 to 1,000 this month is a clear indication of NDNQI’s growing success as one of the most powerful research based tools available to nurse executives for promoting patient safety,” said American Nurses Association President Rebecca M. Patton, MSN, RN, CNOR.
“This milestone underscores NDNQI’s clear leadership role on the critical status of the quality of nursing care in the United States. As NDNQI® is the only national database that collects nursing-sensitive indicators and RN satisfaction, ANA’s premier and truly unique database sets us apart from all the rest,” said Linda J. Stierle, MSN, RN, CNAA,BC, Chief Executive Officer, ANA.
NDNQI®, a national database program that collects nursing-sensitive quality indicators affecting outcomes for patients has two primary goals: first, to provide comparative information to health care facilities for use in quality improvement activities and second, to develop national data on the relationship between nurse staffing and patient outcomes. NDNQI® is the only national unit-level tool available today for nurse executives and other health care professional concerned with quality improvement. And most importantly, participants see positive improvements as a result of better staffing and better patient outcomes.
“NDNQI® reports provide nursing executives with a method of comparing, on a national basis, such indicators as nurse staffing, falls, pressure ulcers, and nurse satisfaction on a unit-by-unit basis. The NDNQI® provides quarter-by-quarter and unit-by-unit comparisons and trends of nursing care rather than a one-time isolated snapshot of performance,” Patton reported.
The program’s nursing indicators are regularly being updated and reviewed. Indicators currently under development include those for a Practice Environment Scale that would be an option for the RN Satisfaction Survey, Restraints, RN Turnover and Nurse Musculoskeletal Injuries. The measurement process is three pronged, looking at process, structure and outcome indicators, which is a comprehensive approach to evaluating quality.
Membership in the program is voluntary but does satisfy the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet Hospital program requirement and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations’ report on staffing effectiveness standards. Hospitals of all sizes participate, from less than 100 beds to more than 500 beds.
Conceived in 1994 by the ANA governing body, NDNQI® was established in 1998 as part of the American Nurses Association’s Safety and Quality Initiative. The program funded by ANA, is implemented through the University of Kansas School of Nursing via contract. The NDNQI® program is part of ANA’s National Center for Nursing Quality (NCNQ®), which includes research, continuing education, and data resource activities.
A ground-breaking conference “Transforming Nursing Data into Quality Outcomes” will be held January 30-31, 2007 at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hospital chief executive officers, nurse executives, NDNQI site coordinators, researchers and quality improvement professional will hear the latest research on how nurse staffing affects patient outcomes and learn how hospitals use NDNQI® reports to improve the quality of nursing care. For more information visit the NDNQI® website at www.nursingquality.org.
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The ANA is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.9 million registered nurses through its 54 constituent member nurses associations. The ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the rights of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public. ANA initiated efforts to collect and evaluate nursing-sensitive indicators in the early 1990s and provides ongoing support for database development activities through the National Center of Nursing Quality TM.
University of Kansas School of Nursing provides ongoing nursing-sensitive indicator consultation and research-based expertise to the NDNQI. Located in Kansas City, Kansas, the School of Nursing primarily conducts research on clinical and health policy topics in two areas – Health care effectiveness and health behavior. It ranks among the top 24 nursing schools in the nation in National Institutes of Health funding for nursing research.