Quality and Safety
Education for
Nurses
The QSEN Project
Health Professions Education: A
Bridge to Quality (IOM, 2003)
All health professionals should be educated
to deliver patient-centered care as
members of an interdisciplinary team,
emphasizing evidence-based practice,
quality improvement approaches, and
informatics.
QSEN
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Grant project funded by the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation.
Primary Investigator: Linda Cronenwett,
Professor and Dean at the School of
Nursing, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill.
6 co-investigators from across the nation
Purpose
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Address the challenges of preparing prelicensure nurses with competencies
necessary to become active workforce
participants in national quality and safety
goals and initiatives.
Research Base
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The QSEN faculty members adopted the Institute
of Medicine’s competencies for nursing
Developed definitions and statements of
knowledge, attitudes, and skills that should be
included in pre-licensure nursing education.
Identified competencies include:
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Patient Centered Care
Teamwork & Collaboration
Evidence-based Practice
Quality Improvement
Safety
Informatics
QSEN Competencies
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Patient-centered Care
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Recognize the patient or designee as the source of
control and full partner in providing compassionate and
coordinated care based on respect for patient’s
preferences, values, and needs
Teamwork & Collaboration
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Function effectively within nursing and inter-professional
teams, fostering open communication, mutual respect,
and shared decision-making to achieve quality patient
care
QSEN Competencies
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Evidence-based Practice
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Integrate best current evidence with clinical expertise and
patient/family preferences and values for delivery of
optimal health care
Quality Improvement
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Use data to monitor the outcomes of care processes and
use improvement methods to design and test changes to
continuously improve the quality and safety of health care
systems
QSEN Competencies
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Safety
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Minimize risk of harm to patients and providers through
both system effectiveness and individual performance
Informatics
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Use information and technology to communicate, manage
knowledge, mitigate error, and support decision making
St John’s College of Nursing
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Responded to a national call for proposals
for participation in the QSEN Pilot School
Learning Collaborative
Our College was chosen as 1 of 2
Associate Degree Programs nationwide to
be included in the project
Overall, 15 proposals were selected for
funding from a pool of 53 applicants.
St John’s Pilot Team
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Tonyha Sumners, Associate Professor
Rebecca Miller, ASN Program Director
Teresa Russell, Associate Professor
Pilot School Learning Collaborative Goals
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Produce curricular maps for learning activities
related to quality and safety competencies in
nursing prelicensure programs.
Generate and evaluate teaching strategies
associated with the targeted knowledge, skills
and attitudes of each quality and safety
competency.
Describe the faculty development approaches
and resources that lead to desired curricular
change.
Our Goals
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Educate faculty regarding QSEN
competencies
Introduce QSEN competencies to students
within the 1st two weeks of the nursing
program
Build learning activities that highlight
competencies throughout the curriculum
Faculty Education
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Resource book placed in faculty lounge
QSEN highlight at each faculty meeting
Seminar for faculty
Systematic Evaluation now references
QSEN teaching strategies used in each
course
Students
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Introduction to QSEN competencies
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Process Audit tool
First TouchTM education
Evidence-based Practice Information
Simulation
Teamwork & Collaboration
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Ethics Grand Rounds
Medication Safety Committee
Resource
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Quality and Safety Education for Nurses