Quality and Safety Education for Advanced Nursing Practice - Essay

This essay discusses the importance of incorporating Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) essentials into nursing education to enhance patient-focused care, problem identification, best practices, and lifelong learning. It highlights how QSEN-trained nurses develop a safety mindset, support each other, and proactively prevent errors, leading to higher job satisfaction and a healthier work environment. While acknowledging limitations such as healthcare system gaps and workforce reductions, the essay emphasizes the need for nurses to stay updated with the latest research and address challenges like limited access to technology. It concludes by advocating for educators to integrate quality and safety education into curricula and practices, and shares observations of advanced practice nurses who effectively uphold QSEN competencies in their clinical settings.

Running head: QUALITY AND SAFETY EDUCATION
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Quality and Safety Education
Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Quality and Safety Education
It is essential to incorporate QSEN essentials in nursing education. The QSEN
essentials provide tools for evaluating, acknowledging, and supporting good work done by
nurses; hence enhancing the establishment of work environments that uphold quality and
nurses’ fulfilment. Incorporating the QSEN essentials in the curriculum ensures that nurses
bring mindfulness and attention into their work, deliver patient-focused care, identify
problems in the process of care delivery and seek possible solutions, utilize the best
practices and engage in life-long learning (Sherwood & Zomorodi, 2014). Nurses who pay
attention to the QSEN essentials also develop a safety mindset, monitor situations and scan
their context and environment to take informed actions, and offer mutual support to each
other. Further, the nurses who understand QSEN essentials uphold the spirit of inquiry and
question their actions to ensure that they are either best practice or evidence-based. They
also identify safety issues in clinical environments and are proactive in the prevention of
error. They are capable of fostering continuous quality improvement, address failures in
healthcare systems, and contribute to the development of new processes. The nurses have
higher job satisfaction, longer job retention, and can maintain a healthy work environment
(Sherwood & Zomorodi, 2014). There are no prominent disadvantages of quality and safety
education. However, it is limited by gaps in the healthcare system resulting in lack of
support for development and education, prejudice against advancement of practice and
issues of reduction in workforce (Correa-de-Araujo, 2016).
Maintaining familiarity with the latest research is essential for incorporating quality
and safety education into everyday practice. Pauly-O'Neill and Cooper (2013) cited that
patient care is optimized when nurses have access to the latest research and have the
knowledge, skill, and attitudes (KSAs) necessary to make judgments founded on a

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consensus of the expert viewpoints. The most recent research is critical in informing nursing
practice.
Limited access to technology such as electronic medication administration records is
a significant challenge in healthcare practice that may alter the quality of care or pose a risk
of medical error. However, access is often denied due to privacy and security concerns
(Pauly-O'Neill & Cooper, 2013). As a nurse leader or working in the advanced practice role,
it is essential to support other staff members to access the information manually or
electronically, while upholding the security and privacy of patients and other healthcare
stakeholders. Consequently, quality and safety are upheld.
Educators need to incorporate quality and safety education in their practices and
curricula (Cronenwett et al., 2009). The integration can be achieved by making changes in
quality and safety education necessary in the education system, systematic and periodic
mentoring of the educational progress and integrating QSEN contents in the curriculum
(Djukic et al., 2013). The initiatives ensure that nurses are prepared to deliver quality and
safe care.
I have witnessed advanced practice nurses who uphold QSEN competencies in their
practice. They are proactive in addressing challenges in the clinical setting, often enrol for
short courses and are conversant with clinical contexts. The nurses also support colleagues
to adopt a safety culture.

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References
Cronenwett, L., Sherwood, G., Pohl, J., Barnsteiner, J., Moore, S., Sullivan, D. T., ... &
Warren, J. (2009). Quality and safety education for advanced nursing
practice. Nursing outlook, 57(6), 338-348.
Correa-de-Araujo R. (2016). Evidence-Based Practice in the United States: Challenges,
Progress, and Future Directions. Health care for women international, 37(1), 2–22.
doi:10.1080/07399332.2015.1102269
Djukic, M., Kovner, C. T., Brewer, C. S., Fatehi, F. K., Bernstein, I., & Aidarus, N. (2013).
Improvements in educational preparedness for quality and safety. Journal of Nursing
Regulation, 4(2), 15-21. doi:10.1016/S2155-8256(15)30152-6
Pauly-O'Neill, S., & Cooper, E. E. (2013). Addressing gaps in quality and safety education
during pre-licensure clinical rotations. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice,
3(11), 65-70. doi: 10.5430/jnep.v3n11p65
Sherwood, G., & Zomorodi, M. (2014). A new mindset for quality and safety: The QSEN
competencies redefine nurses’ roles in practice. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 41(1),
15-22.