Analyzing Quality Data: Empowering Nurses & Patients in Healthcare

This discussion board post explores strategies for nurse empowerment and supporting patient rights to improve the quality of care. It emphasizes the importance of providing patients with information on treatment options and empowering them in decision-making. The post also discusses how data from the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) can be used to empower both patients and nurses. Key strategies for nurse empowerment include open communication, empathy, providing reliable health information, and advocating for patient needs. Institutions can further support nurse empowerment through education, policy development, partnerships, and fostering a leadership environment where nurses are viewed as equal decision-makers. The ultimate goal is to improve health outcomes and ensure cost-effectiveness in patient care.

Running Head: NURSE EMPOWERMENT 1
Nurse Empowerment
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation
Date of Submission

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Nurses need to be open about the treatment patients are receiving and the specific drugs.
They should ensure that patients operate from the point of knowledge because it empowers and
comforts a patient in addition to giving the clinic a good reputation (Metcalf, 2018).Nurses
should purpose to provide excellent customer service and engage the patients with quality
standards in mind. The nurses should find out what makes their patients comfortable and build
good rapport with them. Patients should get a personal touch from all clinic/hospital staff
(McCorkle et al., 2017)Patients need to be the center of attention for nurses. They need to listen
to patients needs and react accordingly. Open communication is empowering to parents. Nurses
need to be the voice of the patients and actively educate them.
When patients come to the hospital, they are disturbed or in pain; The nurses can
empower term by being empathetic. The nurses need to understand what the patients are going
through and attend to them with care. Sometimes the patient feels lost when they are not feeling
well. The nurses should encourage the patients to know that they are the source of their ability to
heal. The patients play a significant role in their ability to improve. The patients are the common
denominators (Wesley, 2016).Knowledge and health literacy is very essential in empowering
patients. The internet is incredibly a very democratic way for the patients to conduct issues that
affect their health. Unfortunately for the patients, consulting Google can be very frightening for
the patients. It is the role of the nurse to provide sites that are reliable and sites where they can
access the information (Benard et al., 2018).
As a nurse I have empowered patients through the following ways: I have provided a list
of trusted, authoritative online information charts that they can access information online. By
empathizing with the patients and walking with them throughout their journey of ailment. Also

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by offering transparent communication to the patients about any information they may need. I
am also responsive to the patient's needs. My first priority is making patients the centers of my
attention .I also engage the patients in any questions that they may have with regards to the
treatment they are having.
Institutions can improve data by offering education and in-service pieces of training for
nurses. The organizations should come up with policies to ensure that health outcomes are
reached, and cost-effectiveness is ensured. The institution should develop meaningful
partnerships with other health care institutions to improve the capacity of nurses. Institutions
should also encourage investment in promoting the growth of the nursing workforce.
The data can back up the quest to empower nurses by: giving nurses a voice particularly
in matters of decision making and communication. Giving the nurse's control over decisions that
they are mandated to do at the workplace. Have sufficient authority to go about their professional
duties. By creating a leadership environment, nurses need to be empowered as servant leaders
who can be used to drive the hospital's goals and objectives. Viewing nurses as equal decision
makers rather than being seen as second to physicians and empowers the nurses. Nurses should
be considered to be in being in a position to make decisions without being viewed as second
class decision makers.

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References
Bernard, A., Karlekar, M., Hixson, R., & Shifrin, M. (2018). Empowering Key Players: A Pilot
Intervention to Improve Nurses’ Perceived Confidence and Ability to Utilize Palliative
Care Communication Strategies (QI818). Journal of Pain and Symptom Management,
55(2), 709.
McCorkle, R., Ercolano, E., Lazenby, M., Schulman‐Green, D., Schilling, L. S., Lorig, K., &
Wagner, E. H. (2017). Self‐management: Enabling and empowering patients living with
cancer as a chronic illness. CA: a cancer journal for clinicians, 61(1), 50-62.
Metcalf, C. (2018). Stoma care: empowering patients through teaching practical skills. British
Journal of Nursing, 8(9), 593-600. Rheumatoid arthritis: A qualitative study. Nursing &
health sciences, 8(3), 133-139.

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Wesley, Y. (2016). Gaining Equity in Health Care: Building the Pipeline of Black Nurse
Leaders. The Ashgate Research Companion to Black Sociology, 203.