COVID-19 has been a major focus for healthcare organizations for more than a year now, but when asked about what other issues need to be emphasized moving forward, 75.9% of respondents felt staff retention was the biggest concern.
This article was originally published May 13, 2021 on PSQH
As part of National Nurses Week, PSQH reached out to our readers with a few questions about how nursing impacts patient safety and healthcare quality.
The Quick Poll had a total of 83 respondents.
Strengthening Nursing’s Role in Quality and Patient Safety
Asked about how their organizations can help strengthen nursing’s role in quality and patient safety efforts, 77% of respondents said more education and training is needed. In addition, 60.2% said mentoring from leadership was necessary, while 39.8% called for increased emotional support and 28.9% said more leadership opportunities for nurses would be helpful.
Post-COVID focus
COVID-19 has been a major focus for healthcare organizations for more than a year now, but when asked about what other issues need to be emphasized moving forward, 75.9% of respondents felt staff retention was the biggest concern. Other issues that deserve focus include care transitions between settings (53%), diagnostic errors (32.5%), and dealing with the opioid crisis (20.5%). Respondents also filled in specific issues including Just Culture, respect between departments, community health, surrogate support for isolated residents, burnout, continuing education, and specimen re-collects.
Workplace violence
Asked about their level of concern about workplace violence in their organization, 21.7% of respondents said they were very concerned, 24.1% were concerned, 30.1% were somewhat concerned, and 24.3% said they were not concerned.
Optimism in a post-pandemic world
Survey respondents were optimistic about the state of patient safety once the pandemic ends (whenever that is). A total of 49.4% of respondents said they were optimistic, with another 40.1% indicating they were somewhat optimistic, while 9.6% said they were very optimistic.
