Healthcare facilities need to think beyond numbers on a chart when talking about improving patient outcomes. They need to consider the bigger picture of what is important to the patients. Ensuring better patient results extends to the community and the core purpose of a hospital or practice. Nurse leaders are considering improving patient outcomes just like they work to ensure patient satisfaction, improve individuals’ health, and meet insurance standards of care. This article discusses six ways in which nurse leaders can improve patient outcomes. Here they are:
Patient safety and mortality
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), adverse health outcomes result from medical errors that lead to one out of ten death cases globally. Medication errors, diagnostic mistakes and infections are issues that threaten the patient’s safety. These errors can be minimized by:
- Diagnosing health concerns quickly and properly
- Ensuring uniform safety procedures
- Increasing health records’ compatibility
- Coordinating efforts between pharmacists and care providers
Out of 6 studies, four show that leadership is linked significantly to patient mortality. Resonant and transformational leadership are linked to lower patient mortality in 3 studies. One of the findings suggests that managers who have more controlling power may have the ability to support the nursing staff directly. Whereas, based on another finding, the lower mortality is related to higher nurse burnout.
Nurse leaders highlight the issues that emerge due to medical errors or improper services of healthcare organizations and then form a plan of action to correct them. This is easier for leaders who have earned a doctoral nursing program and have honed their decision-making skills and clinical expertise. If you need to know more about what you can do with a DNP, it would be best to research the program and explore its various benefits.
Nurse engagement and collaboration
Nurse engagement is one of the most important aspects of patient outcomes. Infact, research studies have shown that sometimes it is the key to achieving desired patient outcomes. Nurse leaders play a vital role in promoting it. Observation reveals that staff who stay engaged and supported provide the outcomes that one wants compared to those who are not valued, supported, and respected.
Furthermore, nurse leaders can positively influence healthcare quality and the work environment. They can create a positive culture where team members can grow by doing meaningful work.
Adverse events
Nine studies have addressed ten types of patient outcomes in this category.
Out of five, four studies have shown that leadership and medication errors are inversely related. Transformational leadership, trust in leaders and manager support are directly linked to lower medication errors.
Two out of four studies examining patient falls have shown that transformational leadership is related to a significant decrease in the number of patients falls.
Nurse leaders are associated with a lower incidence of pressure ulcers in one out of three studies. The other two show that positive leadership and decreased restraint use in healthcare departments are significantly related.
In addition to that, transformational leadership is associated with lower infection (pneumonia and urinary tract infections) rates in two out of three studies done on examination of hospital-acquired infections.
Value-based care strategies
Value-based care (VBC) is a payment alternative for healthcare reimbursement to replace fee-for-service. Since its introduction, it has grown to a large extent. It incentivizes ensuring patients’ health instead of giving rewards to practitioners for checking a lot of patients. Studies commissioned by Change Healthcare and conducted by ORC International reveal that VBC decreases costs by up to 7.5% and improves care quality.
Implementation of VBC strategies by nurse leaders creates a positive culture in the healthcare department in which nurse leaders can spend time and collaborate with the patients and grow in their positions. Furthermore, positive organizational culture is also linked to decreased mortality rates, patient falls, and hospital-acquired infections.
Analyze data
Nurse leaders can also improve patient outcomes by evaluating data about patient populations and medical procedures. They can determine the areas where hospitals and other healthcare facilities can grow through the information gained. They can use this information to set a baseline for improving patient outcomes. For instance, patient satisfaction surveys and electronic health records provide data to track costs and results.
Patient healthcare utilization
Another category in patient outcomes is patient healthcare utilization. This includes hospitals’ numbers, readmissions and length of stay in hospitals. Nurse leadership is directly associated with these outcomes, related to the work environment. These measures reflect the staff’s resources and services in managing patients’ healthcare requirements.
According to a study, the frequency of hospital readmission rates reflects a poor patient safety procedure. This means that hospitals with inadequate safety measures might show increased hospital readmissions.
Nurse leaders play a vital role in promoting and improvinghealthcare and nursing quality measures. Patient outcomes vary differently according to various leadership patterns. Nurse leaders can work to enhance or reduce the existing gap in healthcare. Addressing this gap helps in constituting the goals of healthcare in society. Healthcare organizations need to ensure professional expertise, positive culture, growing capacity and balanced leadership priorities.