THE NURSE’S ROLE IN PROMOTING QUALITY HEALTH CARE ESSAY

The Nurse’s Role in Promoting Quality Health Care Essay

The Nurse’s Role in Promoting Quality Health Care

Staff nurses play a crucial role in promoting quality and fostering a just culture within the health care organization. In that case, staff nurses can advocate for the patient’s safety, participate in root cause analyses, and work alongside the leadership of the health care organization to find solutions that can improve the health care delivery system. The discussion focuses on the role of the staff nurse and organizational culture and strategies for becoming a high-performing organization.

Role of the Staff Nurse and Organizational Culture

The health care organization that I work in fosters a culture of teamwork and finding ways to enhance healthcare quality within the organization. Staff nurses contribute to the quality of care by monitoring various aspects of patient health care. Additionally, the CEO and the chief nursing officer (CNO) use a transformational leadership style to inspire staff nurses to speak up with ideas and concerns regarding the health care of the patients (Yoder-Wise & Sportsman, 2022). That is because the leadership of the organization has invested in the staff nurses by providing a budget for various initiatives that will improve the safety of the patients and staff nurses. For instance, following a root cause analysis (RCA) of various medication administration issues, the organization purchased medication administration systems for the nurses and provided additional training for the staff nurses to use these systems (Bashaw & Lounsbury, 2012). Therefore, these investments by the leaders of the organization show their commitment to ensuring that staff nurses are protected from adverse health conditions that can result from the health care system.

Strategies for Becoming a High-Performing Organization

The different strategies that the organization uses to support patient safety include approving the budgets that will be used to provide education to staff nurses, purchasing new technology in the hospital, or funding safety programs for the hospital (Bashaw & Lounsbury, 2012). For example, after the root cause analysis of the causes of medication administration errors, the hospital administration purchased medication administration systems for the nurses and trained them in their use. Some of the strategies that can be used to improve the performance of the organization include increasing the participation of nurses in quality councils, utilizing resources from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and assessing the safety of patients in the hospital (Spath, 2018). Each of these strategies will work to improve communication between departments, hold individuals to account for their actions, and enhance the quality of care.

Conclusion

Staff nurses are vital to the improvement of the health care organization and the safety of the patients and staff nurses within that organization. Therefore, by adopting the strategies and the leadership styles that are currently used within the organization, the health care facility could continue to improve the patient’s health and that of staff nurses.

References

Bashaw, E. S., & Lounsbury, K. (2012). Forging a new culture: Blending Magnet® principles with just culture.
Nursing Management
, 43 (10), 49–53. http://doi.org/10.1097/01.NUMA.0000419492.49675.25

Spath, P. (2018).
Introduction to healthcare quality management
(3rd ed.). Health Administration Press.

Yoder-Wise, P. S., & Sportsman, S.  (2022).
Leading and managing in nursing
(8th ed.). Mosby Elsevier.

The Nurse’s Role in Promoting Quality Health Care Essay

A Root Cause Analysis (RCA) team is a cross-functional group. According to Patel, the Joint Commission requires RCAs after a sentinel event to look beyond individual mistakes and focus on system and process improvements to prevent future harm (Patel, 2026). This group typically comprises frontline staff, managers, and safety experts, designed to identify systemic flaws rather than blame individuals. By combining diverse perspectives, such as operational knowledge, process understanding, and analytical skills, the team moves from fixing symptoms to finding sustainable solutions. A Root Cause Analysis (RCA) team looking “beyond error” shifts the focus from blaming individuals for mistakes to identifying the underlying systemic, process, or environmental failures that enabled the error. In this approach, human error is treated as a symptom of a deeper issue rather than the final cause.

In this scenario, the root cause analysis team consists of the nurse who administered the medication, the pharmacy technician who approved the administration, and the risk manager. The RN will provide information on the administration process and on specific issues with equipment or technology. The pharmacy technician will be able to provide the information on how the medication is filled, as well as the technical aspects of the failure. Risk management serves as a facilitator, understanding regulatory standards, safety policies, and the methodology for conducting a structured, blame-free investigation.

The Pareto chart is the most effective tool to analyze this scenario because it visually prioritizes the most frequent causes of the medication error, allowing the team to move past blame and focus on the “vital few” issues. This tool helps identify which factors (e.g., pharmacy labeling, nurses, pharmacies) are having the greatest impact, driving effective root cause analysis.

Due to a drug allergy, a medication error was found. The RCA conducted reviews using a fishbone diagram, a Pareto chart, and a flowchart. The Pareto chart is the most effective tool to analyze this sentinel event because it visually prioritizes the most frequent causes of the medication error, allowing the team to move past blame and focus on the “vital few” issues. Thus, once the team identifies the issue as systemic, it can implement solutions such as different barcode scanning procedures. Personally, as a nurse, if the label did not say the right medication, a new medication should have been administered. The flow chart starts with the pharmacy, which makes it easy to put the blame on them and, in turn, does not look beyond individual mistakes, as Patel stated the RCA does.

According to Mutair, medication errors cause adverse effects on hospitalized patients and weaken the public’s confidence in the healthcare(Mutair et al. 2021) Per Mutair, encouraging reporting, monitoring, and open discussion of medication errors is key to preventing meds action errors (Mutair et al. 2021)

The Nurse’s Role in Promoting Quality Health Care Essay

As you have noted in this course and in your practice, nurses have an integral role in promoting a just culture focused on patient safety in their health care organizations. Determining resources to prevent error and improve patient safety can often be a battle, and this scenario illustrates how one organization makes strides to make sure resources are available in the interest of patient safety. As you review the scenario, consider the nurse’s role in promoting a just culture in your practice setting.

Post a description of the role of the staff nurse for promoting quality in a high-performing health care organization. Define the organizational culture of your health care organization, or one with which you are familiar, and identify the leadership style of the CEO and CNO in your organization. Explain how your senior leadership supports—or does not support—changes that require financing/budget to support patient safety. Describe the strategies you might be able to implement to move your health care organization to a high-performing organization.

Spath, P. (2018). Introduction to healthcare quality management (3rd ed.). Health Administration Press.

Chapter 10, “Managing the Use of Healthcare Resources” (pp. 249-280)

Yoder-Wise, P. S., & Sportsman, S. (2022). Leading and managing in nursing (8th ed.). Mosby Elsevier.

Chapter 1, “Leading, Managing, and Following” (pp. 1-16)

Chapter 7, “Gaining Personal Insight: Being an Effective Follower and Leader” (pp. 163-177)

Chapter 19, “Managing Costs and Budgets” (pp. 414-439)

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2016). Surveys on patient safety culture. http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/quality-patient-safety/patientsafetyculture/index.html

Bashaw, E. S., & Lounsbury, K. (2012). Forging a new culture: Blending Magnet® principles with just culture. Nursing Management, 43 (10), 49–53. http://doi.org/10.1097/01.NUMA.0000419492.49675.25

—–Scenario—Build on RCA from Week 4 to encompass multiple departments, senior team, protects the staff nurse—Swiss cheese theory; IHI resources; Quality Council Meeting—RCA has budgetary implications that are approved by the senior teams to protect staff nurses against future errors The Nurse’s Role in Promoting Quality Health Care Essay