US hospitals' safety records accessible

Pam Windle
Pam Windle
Emphasis on quality in United States hospitals means patients can compare the safety records of individual doctors and hospitals online before choosing where to be treated, visiting post anaesthetic care nurse specialist from Texas, Pam Windle, says.

In Dunedin to address the two-day national post anaesthetic care nurses conference, Mrs Windle, a leading educator of perianaesthesia nurses in the United States, said the attitude to this had changed considerably since she entered this area of nursing in 1984.

Details available to patients today could include how many surgical procedures had been carried out by a doctor, how many mistakes had been made, how mistakes were addressed, quality measures in place and patient satisfaction survey results.

While this could mean extra work for staff monitoring data such as recording the number of falls, pressure ulcers and medication errors, it was worthwhile in the long run because such information could be used to improve the quality of care.

Because of the insurance-based health system in the US, hospitals had recognised that improving quality tied in with their reimbursement and was in their interest.

The American Nurses Credentialling Centre also had a "magnet" recognition programme to recognise organisations providing nursing excellence described as providing "consumers with the ultimate benchmark to measure the quality of care that they can expect to receive".

Mrs Windle said the prestige of "magnet hospitals" meant they found it easier to attract and retain staff.

There had been increasing collaboration between staff during her time in the profession, with current emphasis on the healthcare team rather than "people working in their own silos".

Post anaesthetic care nurses were being encouraged to speak up more and there was greater recognition of the knowledge they had.

Today, there was also much more contact with family members so nurses needed to have both clinical skills and good communication.

Mrs Windle said if she was choosing a nurse in the field, her first concern would be whether they were flexible and nice to patients and their families.

Skills could be improved by training, but "you can never change the behaviour of a very strict nurse who is unfriendly".

Mrs Windle is addressing the conference, being held at the Dunedin Art Gallery, on several topics including the role of the perianaesthesia nurse, safety and communication and collaboration between nurses and physicians.

- elspeth.mclean@odt.co.nz

 

Add a Comment

 

Advertisement