Providing Quality Patient Care Essay -- Nursing Essay, Patient Satisfa

Nursing is an art, and if it is to be made an art, requires as exclusive a devotion, as hard a preparation, as any painters or sculptors work... (Nightingale, 1868) In todays health care system, forest and safety are one in the same when it comes to patient care. As Florence Nightingale described our profession long ago, it takes work and vigilance to ensure we are doing the best we can to care for our patients. (Mitchell, 2008)The World Health Organization outlines 6 areas of quality that help shape our definition of what makes quality care. Those areas are (1) Effective using evidence bases practice to improve health outcomes based on necessarily of individuals and communities. (2) Efficient healthcare that maximizes resources and minimizes waste. (3) Accessible timely care that is provided in a setting where the skills and resources are appropriate for the medical need and is geographically reasonable. (4) Acceptable/Patient-Centered healthcare that considers individual need s, preferences, and culture. (5) Equitable healthcare quality that does not vary because of race, gender, ethnicity, geographical location, or socioeconomically status. (6) Safe healthcare that minimizes harm and risks to patients. (Bengoa, 2006)Another factor organism looked at in quality of care is patient satisfaction. There has been some debate as to whether the patients perception of their care truly reflects the quality of care. I feel like this can be looked at from both angles. The nurse to patient ratio certainly factors into this as well as the acuteness of the patients which can vary dramatically. Just stepping onto the floor we have a long list of to dos for our patients doctors to call, test results to look for, protoco... ...de of sentinel events. Nursing Management, 37(5), 20.Lippincott , Williams, & Wilkins, (2012). guide event alert spotlights nurse fatigue. Clinical Rounds, 42(3), 27-29. doi 10.1097/01.NURSE.0000411416.14033.f5Mitchell, P. H. (2008). Defining p atient safety and quality care an evidence-based handbook for nurses. Rockville,Maryland Hughes. DOI //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2681/Bengoa, R. (2006). Quality of care a process for making strategic choices in health systems.. Geneva World Health Organization.Wall, Y., & Kautz, D. (2011). Preventing sentinel events caused by family members. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, 30(1), 25-27. doi 10.1097/DCC.0b013e3181fd02a0The Joint Commission. (2013). vigil events. Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Hospitals, Retrieved fromhttp//www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/6/CAMH_2012_Update2_24_SE.pdf