Column: Developing Health Care Quality and Patient Safety Linchpins through Interprofessional Education

Every organization needs linchpins…artists, with a genius for finding a new answer, a new connection, or a new way of getting things done. - Seth Godin, Linchpin, Are You Indispensable? Seth Godin pens provocative books with witty titles such as Unleashing the Ideavirus1 and Tribes.2 His most recent book, Linchpin, Are You Indispensable?3 is about the art of connection, the art of being human and the art of making a huge difference. Health care clinicians, faculty and students are well advised to read his work as they strive to master the art of meaningful interprofessional connections, so that together, they can make huge strides to improve health care quality and patient safety

Antibiotic stewardship for staff nurses: Five Key Ways you Influence Antibiotic Use

Over the past decade, antibiotic resistance has increased and spread dramatically throughout the world. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), antibiotic use is the single most important factor leading to antibiotic resistance. The CDC estimates that every year, 2 million Americans develop serious infections involving bacteria that resist one or more antibiotics, and these infections kill at least 23,000 each year. Antibiotic prescribing in U.S. acute-care hospitals is common— and often unwarranted. A 2014 study found that up to half of hospitalized patients received at least one antibiotic and in 30% to 50% of these cases, antibiotics were unnecessary or inappropriate. Such antibiotic misuse contributes to the emergence and spread of antibioticresistant organisms, such as methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant enterococci. (See Unheeded warnings.) If you’re a staff nurse, you’ve probably witnessed firsthand the consequences of inappropriate antibiotic use, ranging from development of Clostridium difficile (a well-recognized cause of healthcare- associated infectious diarrhea) to fatal infections with multidrugresistant pathogens against which no effective antibiotic therapy exists. What’s more, antibiotic-resistant infections add considerably to medical costs, with estimates as high as $35 billion a year

Doctor of nursing practice students advocating for health care access, quality, and reform: from the virtual classroom to capitol hill.

The potential for doctor of nursing practice students to inform and influence the national health care reform movement inspired faculty teaching an online Health and Social Policy course to create an assignment combining comparative effectiveness research with a trip to Capitol Hill to meet with congressional representatives. Preparing for and participating in such an assignment can present challenges for online doctoral students already busy with family and professional responsibilities. However, from both faculty and student perspectives, the lasting value and professional growth are immeasurable. Course details and the theoretical concepts of experiential education are presented, as well as trip logistics and evaluation

Interprofessional Education and Practice Implications of the Institute of Medicine Future of Nursing Report

The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, released by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) on October 5, 2010, is the latest in a series of reports that have had a significant impact on creating positive change to improve health care in the United States. The report provides a vision of a future health care system that would make high-quality care accessible to all, promote wellness and disease prevention, reliably improve health outcomes, and provide compassionate care throughout a person’s lifespan. This report, in concert with the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, must act as a catalyst for all health professions to find significant opportunities for collaboration and the impetus to play to each of our strengths to advance quality health care for all citizens

Emerging Infectious Diseases: Global to Local Implications

Infectious disease remains among the leading causes of death worldwide. With easy mobility and air travel, pathogens can move quickly and silently to any place around the globe in a matter of days. The recent Ebola crises in West Africa clearly demonstrated the increased risk of emerging infections in our highly connected world. Legal nurse consultants are well-positioned to provide guidance on deciphering public health laws relevant to responding to infectious disease threats

Multimethod teaching strategies to integrate selected QSEN competencies in a Doctor of Nursing Practice distance education program

The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) initiative identified 6 competencies for the education of nurses (patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, safety, and informatics) and the related knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) for each competency. The initial QSEN focus was on competency development during prelicensure nursing education, with subsequent attention on adapting the KSAs for graduate programs that prepare advanced practice nurses for clinical roles. Description of successful QSEN competency integration in Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs is limited. Although the ultimate goal is executing DNP programs where quality and safety is thoroughly integrated throughout the curricula, the focus of this article is on multimethod teaching strategies to integrate selected QSEN KSAs into an existing online post-master’s DNP quality and safety course

Using accreditation standards as a framework to evaluate and improve a community-based diabetes self-management education program.

Diabetes self-management education is an essential component of diabetes clinical management, and community-based programs are an effective intervention for improving glycemic control among adults living with diabetes. The National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support are designed to define quality diabetes self-management education and support, and to assist diabetes educators to provide evidence-based education and self-management support. These standards are used in the field for recognition and accreditation. This article presents the results of a program evaluation conducted by the Center for Urban Health at the Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital, examines the outcomes of the community-based diabetes self-management program, and uses the standards as the evaluation framework

A novel framework to guide antibiotic stewardship nursing practice.

BACKGROUND: There is a pervasive view among some nurses and health care disciplines that antibiotic stewardship (AS) is solely a physician or pharmacist responsibility. There is an urgent need to alter this view so that nurses can seize every opportunity to prevent patient harm from antibiotics and optimize antibiotic use. One challenge to achieving full nurse engagement as equal members of the AS team is lack of an organizing framework to illustrate relationships of phenomena and concepts inherent to adoption of AS nursing practices. METHODS: We sought to create a framework derived from the peer-reviewed literature, systematic and scoping reviews, and professional standards, consensus statements and white papers. The emerging framework went through multiple iterations as it was vetted with nurse clinicians, scholars and educators, physicians, pharmacists, infection preventionists and AS subject matter experts. RESULTS: Our evidence-based Antibiotic Stewardship Nursing Practice SCAN-P Framework provides the much-needed context and clarity to help guide local-level nurses to participate in and lead AS nursing practice. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses worldwide are ideally situated to provide holistic person-centered care, advocate for judicious use of antibiotics to minimize antibiotic resistance, and be AS educators of their patients, communities and the general public. The Antibiotic Stewardship Nursing Practice SCAN-P Framework provides a tool to do so