Contributions Nurses Can Make

Nursing professionals try to provide high-quality care to meet patients’ needs and ensure the best patient outcomes. One of the ways nurses at our hospital use to achieve this goal is close collaboration with peers and different healthcare professionals. We work in cross-functional teams in close contact with physicians, pharmacists, and home nurses. This approach is consistent with the third colleague and key message of the Institute of Medicine that is formulated as follows: “Nurses should be full partners, with physicians and other health care professionals” (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2010, p. 3). My colleagues and I provide patient-centered care, which is facilitated by our advocacy. We advocate for the improvement of diverse aspects of care. One of our projects was the development of an effective program for the transition from primary to secondary and tertiary care.

I also believe the second key message is central to the improvement of the US healthcare system. I am a lifelong learner who tries to utilize different opportunities to gain new skills and knowledge through participation in conferences and workshops, on-the-job and formal training, as well as research. For instance, I am currently focused on learning more about ways to address one of the six chasms identified by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, which is making care efficient (Institute for Healthcare Improvement, n.d.). I am trying to identify the causes of waste at our hospital that have the most significant negative effect on the provision of care. We work in a team, so we can consider different aspects of care delivery, which can help us detect the major flaws and develop an appropriate plan to address these malfunctions. Clearly, we also pay attention to different ways to improve the quality of care and patient safety.

References

Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (n.d.). Across the chasm: Six aims for changing the health care system. Web.

Institute of Medicine. (2010). The future of nursing. Leading change, advancing health. Web.