Critical to your QI efforts: Engaging busy bedside nurses

Improving nursing-sensitive indicators (NSI) or organizational indicators with a nursing component requires participation of direct-care bedside nurses. Quality improvement (QI) programs designed by organizational-level experts to improve patient care and driven down from the top will not succeed without buy-in from staff members closest to the patient. It is critical that nurses at the bedside are engaged in QI, carrying out the bundles, protocols, and other processes designed to improve quality and safety. Yet getting direct-care nurses involved in QI is difficult in many hospitals, as bedside nurses complain they are already too busy, they do not have enough staff members to carry out complex QI processes, or they feel QI is not in the scope of the nursing practice. Nurse leaders must create a culture of engagement in QI, keeping in mind the following concepts:

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