All nursing profession practitioners are bound by rules and regulations that govern how they go about their duties. In addition, they are always expected to show a prominent level of professionalism and etiquette while doing their jobs. According to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement website, there are rules and guidelines that all nurses must conform to, which ensure that they provide quality services to all their patients. Cowen & Moorhead assert that the main indicators used to evaluate the quality of service rendered by nurses are Patient-Focused Outcome, Process of Care and Structure of Care.
These policies (also known as quality indicators) reflect on the quality of nursing practice in the following ways:
- They are used to determine the level of attention that each patient should receive depending on the severity of his/her condition.
- Also, they help the nurses in ensuring that they consider the patients’ needs regarding their preferred mode of treatment and other preferences pivotal to their recovery.
The importance of these indicators as tools to measure quality cannot be understated. Nurses are now able to select a healthcare structure that is most suitable to the needs of the clients. For example, the PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) cycles have played a pivotal role in improving the quality of healthcare services forwarded to the patients. Through this model, healthcare providers can test the efficiency of their healthcare system and make corrections where needed. This reduces any chances of conflicts or errors in the nursing practice and ensures that the services rendered are of high quality.