Quality and SafetyEducation for

NursesThe QSEN Project

Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality (IOM, 2003)

All health professionals should be educated to deliver patient-centered care as members of an interdisciplinary team, emphasizing evidence-based practice, quality improvement approaches, and informatics.

QSEN Grant project funded by the Robert Wood

Johnson Foundation. Primary Investigator: Linda Cronenwett,

Professor and Dean at the School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

6 co-investigators from across the nation

Purpose Address the challenges of preparing pre-

licensure nurses with competencies necessary to become active workforce participants in national quality and safety goals and initiatives.

Research Base The QSEN faculty members adopted the Institute

of Medicine’s competencies for nursing Developed definitions and statements of

knowledge, attitudes, and skills that should be included in pre-licensure nursing education.

Identified competencies include: Patient Centered Care Teamwork & Collaboration Evidence-based Practice Quality Improvement Safety Informatics

QSEN Competencies Patient-centered Care

Recognize the patient or designee as the source of control and full partner in providing compassionate and coordinated care based on respect for patient’s preferences, values, and needs

Teamwork & Collaboration Function effectively within nursing and inter-professional

teams, fostering open communication, mutual respect, and shared decision-making to achieve quality patient care

QSEN Competencies Evidence-based Practice

Integrate best current evidence with clinical expertise and patient/family preferences and values for delivery of optimal health care

Quality Improvement Use data to monitor the outcomes of care processes and

use improvement methods to design and test changes to continuously improve the quality and safety of health care systems

QSEN Competencies Safety

Minimize risk of harm to patients and providers through both system effectiveness and individual performance

Informatics Use information and technology to communicate, manage

knowledge, mitigate error, and support decision making

St John’s College of Nursing Responded to a national call for proposals

for participation in the QSEN Pilot School Learning Collaborative

Our College was chosen as 1 of 2 Associate Degree Programs nationwide to be included in the project

Overall, 15 proposals were selected for funding from a pool of 53 applicants.

St John’s Pilot Team Tonyha Sumners, Associate Professor Rebecca Miller, ASN Program Director Teresa Russell, Associate Professor

Pilot School Learning Collaborative Goals

Produce curricular maps for learning activities related to quality and safety competencies in nursing prelicensure programs.

Generate and evaluate teaching strategies associated with the targeted knowledge, skills and attitudes of each quality and safety competency.

Describe the faculty development approaches and resources that lead to desired curricular change.

Our Goals Educate faculty regarding QSEN

competencies Introduce QSEN competencies to students

within the 1st two weeks of the nursing program

Build learning activities that highlight competencies throughout the curriculum

Faculty Education Resource book placed in faculty lounge QSEN highlight at each faculty meeting Seminar for faculty Systematic Evaluation now references

QSEN teaching strategies used in each course

Students Introduction to QSEN competencies

Process Audit tool First TouchTM education

Evidence-based Practice Information Simulation Teamwork & Collaboration

Ethics Grand Rounds Medication Safety Committee

Resource Quality and Safety Education for Nurses