News and Updates
2011 Sigma Theta Tau Special Session on QSEN Slides Now Available
The slides for the Innovations for Integrating Quality and Safety in Education and Practice: The QSEN Project presentation are now available in Related Links. These slides were presented as part of a special session by Linda Cronenwett and Gwen Sherwood on October 31, 2011 at the Sigma Theta Tau Biennial Convention in Dallas, TX.
2012 QSEN National Forum opens Call for Abstracts
The 2012 Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) National Forum will take place in Tucson, Arizona from 1pm on May 30 - 12pm on June 1, 2012. As in previous years, this conference is designed to attract innovators and nurture faculty leaders for the improvement of quality and safety education through sharing of innovations in curricular design and teaching strategies that accomplish QSEN competency development, research related to quality and safety education in pre-licensure and advanced practice programs, and quality improvement or safety studies.
Abstract submissions will be accepted online between September 19th, 2011 and January 13, 2012.
AHI Announces 3rd Annual Duncan Neuhauser Curricular Innovation Awards
In an ongoing effort to encourage the development and dissemination of original curricular materials pertaining to the teaching of improvement in healthcare, the Academy for Healthcare Improvement is announcing the third annual Duncan Neuhauser Curricular Innovation Awards in Healthcare Improvement. This award, to be presented at the AHI Scientific Symposium on December 5, 2011, will recognize new curricular material that is innovative in its approach to facilitate the learning of improvement principles and methods, has the potential for significant impact in the teaching of improvement in healthcare, and has the ability to be adopted by other schools, institutions, or professions. A first prize of $500 will be awarded, with the second and third place awardees receiving $300 and $200 respectively. For more information on this opportunity, please read the a4hi.org announcement.
Register now for the University of Windsor Conference "Patient Safety Matters"
The University of Windsor would like to extend a special invitation to all faculty, instructors and students to attend the one-day conference Patient Safety Matters: Improving Patient Safety across the Continuum. The event will be held on Saturday, September 24, 2011 at the University of Windsor, Windsor Ontario. The conference hosts internationally known speakers and supports the acquisition of quality and safety competencies for nurses (QSEN). Students (undergraduate and graduate) can attend at a reduced rate.
New QSEN Learning Modules Released
A pair of new QSEN Learning Modules are now available and focus the spotlight on ways to integrate QSEN into the Intermediate and Advanced Nursing Curriculums.
2011 RWJF Article: Renowned Leader Helps Improve Health Care Quality and Safety
A new article on QSEN by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation profiles Linda Cronenwett and the origins of QSEN: Renowned Leader Helps Improve Health Care Quality and Safety by Transforming Nursing Education
2011 RWJF Sharing Nursing's Knowledge Article: QSEN Branches Out
The June 2011 issue of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation publication Sharing Nursing's Knowledge included an update on QSEN following the National Forum in Milwaukee. The article, QSEN Branches Out, covers highlights from the conference and details about the online learning modules available on www.qsen.org.
2011 QSEN National Forum Presentation Files Now Available
The 2011 QSEN National Forum is over and by all accounts was a great success. The many excellent presentations have now been posted online as a refresher for attendees and for those who weren't able to come to the conference. You can find the presentations in the 2011 Conference section. Thank you all for your interest and participation!
NETNEP 2012 - Call for Abstracts
NETNEP 2012, the 4th International Nurse Education Conference has issued a call for abstracts. The conference will take place in Baltimore on 17-20 June 2012. We encourage you to submit your QSEN-related work for this conference!
Changing the landscape for nursing and healthcare education: evidence-based innovation, policy and practice
Abstracts for oral presentations, poster presentations and symposia are NOW being accepted
Submit abstracts by 7 October, 2011
Join over 600 colleagues from more than 40 countries in Baltimore in June 2012 and share your latest research, knowledge, ideas, innovations and current developments within nursing and healthcare education from local, national and international regions.
Abstracts Invited for Presentation in the Following Themes:
- Continuing Professional Development/Education
- Teaching, Assessment and Learning in University and Clinical Practice
- Technology, Simulation and Education
- Faculty and Practice Partnerships
- Research for Education, Policy and Global Developments
This conference is for anyone involved in the delivery, development and organization of nursing and healthcare education. The conference particularly welcomes contribution from faculty, nursing and midwifery educators, academic administrators, senior education managers, practitioners, researchers and students.
For more information, see the NETNEP 2012 website email NETNEP2012@elsevier.com.
Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare Tackles Miscommunication Among Caregivers
The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare has teamed up with a group of ten leading U.S. hospitals and health care systems to use new methods to find the causes of and put a stop to dangerous miscommunications between caregivers when responsibility for patients is transferred or handed-off.
Health care organizations have long struggled with the process of passing necessary and critical information about a patient from one caregiver to the next, or from one team of caregivers to another. A hand-off process involves "senders," the caregivers transmitting patient information and releasing the care of the patient to the next clinician, and "receivers," the caregivers who accept the patient information and care of the patient.
The Hand-off Communications Project began in August 2009. During the measure phase of the project, the participating hospitals found that, on average, more than 37 percent of the time hand-offs were defective and didn't allow the receiver to safely care for the patient. Additionally, 21 percent of the time senders were dissatisfied with the quality of the hand-off. Using solutions targeted to the specific causes of an inadequate hand-off, participating organizations that fully implemented the solutions achieved an average 52 percent reduction in defective hand-offs.
For more information, read the full press release or visit the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare website at www.centerfortransforminghealthcare.org.
IHI Accepts Abstracts from VA Quality Scholars (VAQS) Advanced Fellowship Program
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement has accepted two abstracts from the VA Quality Scholars (VAQS) Advanced Fellowship Program for oral presentations at their December 5-6, 2010 annual international forum.
One abstract evaluated the discharge process as assessed by physician/nurse teams at all VAQS sites. The second examined the effect of an interprofessional team to improve access to a specialty clinic.
The process used to accomplish the work described by the abstracts represents innovative interprofessional collaboration between physician and nurse fellows, as well as between physician and nurse faculty. The acceptance of these abstracts recognizes early benefits resulting from the innovative interprofessional curriculum of the VA Quality Scholars Advanced Fellowship Program. Nursing faculty who support VAQS scholars are supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded QSEN (Quality and Safety Education for Nurses) initiative.
Over the past decade, VA's National Quality Scholars (VAQS) Advanced Fellowship has provided a two-year post-residency fellowship in healthcare quality improvement in which physicians learn to develop and apply new knowledge for the ongoing improvement of healthcare services for VA and the Nation. Six VA medical centers (Birmingham, Cleveland, Iowa City, Nashville, San Francisco, and White River Junction) participate in this program. Nurse fellows recently joined the program in July, 2009 to enhance inter-professional training.
IOM Future of Nursing Report Calls for Development of Competencies Needed to Improve Health Care
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Committee on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has released its report on the future of nursing. The report, entitled "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health" provides recommendations on how nurses' roles, responsibilities, and education should change to significantly meet the increased demand for care that will be created by health care reform and to advance improvements in America's increasingly complex health system.
"Efforts to cultivate and promote leaders within the nursing profession—from the front lines of care to the boardroom—will prepare nurses with the skills needed to help improve health care and advance their profession. As leaders, nurses must act as full partners in redesign efforts, be accountable for their own contributions to delivering high-quality care, and work collaboratively with leaders from other health professions."
To read a free PDF of the complete report, see The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health.
IHI Offers New Courses on Patient Safety
The IHI Open School for Health Professions just released two new online courses on patient safety:
PS 104: Root Cause and Systems Analysis
PS 105: Communicating with Patients After Adverse Events
With the addition of these courses, the IHI Open School now offers 13 courses on patient safety, quality improvement, and leadership, for a total of 17.75 CME, CEU, or ACPE credits.
The IHI Open School courses are a convenient and affordable way to learn about essential topics in health care improvement. Users can complete the courses anytime and anywhere they have access to the Internet.
2011 QSEN National Forum opens Call for Abstracts
The 2011 QSEN National Forum, titled "Charting the Course," will take place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on May 31 - June 2. Like previous National Forums, this conference is designed to attract innovators and nurture faculty leaders for the improvement of quality and safety education through exposure to innovations in curricular design and teaching strategies, research related to quality and safety education, and quality improvement or safety studies.
QSEN has announced the Call for Abstracts, with submissions being accepted online starting on September 20th. For more information, see the Conference Details page or contact us at qsen@unc.edu.
VA Quality Scholars Fellowship Program Now Accepting Applications
The VA Quality Scholars Fellowship Program is now accepting applications for the 2010 Pre-and Post-Doctoral Fellowship for Nurses. Nurse applicants who have a desire to learn how to do, lead, and study health care improvement should consider applying before March 1, 2010. For additional information, download the 2010 Fellowship flyer (PDF).
2010 QSEN Annual Forum Presentations Posted
The presentations from the 2010 Annual Forum have now been posted in the Conferences section, along with any available handouts, in PDF form. Please note that not all presentations are available yet due to permissions issues. If there were specific materials that you wanted but do not seem to be available, or if you are a presenter and wish to add or update your materials, feel free to contact us at segedy@unc.edu.
2nd Annual AHI Duncan Neuhauser Award For Curricular Innovation
In an ongoing effort to encourage the development and dissemination of original curricular materials pertaining to the teaching of improvement in healthcare, AHI is announcing the second annual Duncan Neuhauser Curricular Innovation Awards in Healthcare Improvement. This award, to be presented at the AHI Scientific Symposium on December 6, 2010, will recognize new curricular material that has potential for significant impact in teaching improvement in healthcare, is innovative in its educational approach, and has the ability to be adopted by other schools, institutions, or professions. A first prize of $500 will be awarded, with the second and third place awardees receiving $300 and $200 respectively.
For more information, see the full AHI announcement.
QSEN Leaders in RWJF News Feature
Several of the leading QSEN faculty were recently featured in an article from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation titled Today's Nursing Graduates Are Better Prepared for the Workforce, Experts Say. "This year’s nursing school graduates will benefit from an educational experience that is markedly better than what it was a decade ago. They will need that preparation to navigate a tight job market."
2010 QSEN National Forum Registration Now Closed
The QSEN team is pleased to announce that we have received more than double our estimated number of registrants for the 2010 National Forum! However, we have now reached the maximum number that we can possibly accomodate, and therefore registration is now closed. For those that have registered, we look forward to seeing you in June. For those that weren't able to register, we apologize for closing sooner than planned, and we hope you will consider attending the 2011 Forum.
First Faculty Self-Development Learning Module Released
Module One of the QSEN Learning Module series has been released. This module, "Appreciating the Complexity of Nursing Work: Implications for Nursing Education," explores principles of complexity science and properties of complex adaptive systems and features work by QSEN facilitators Patricia Ebright and Pamela Ironside.
QSEN Videos: Lewis Blackman Story Released
The Lewis Blackman Story, a collection of videos featuring Helen Haskell, is now available on the QSEN website. Ms. Haskell is the mother of Lewis Blackman, a 15-year-old boy who died in a hospital following routine surgery. This lecture and interviews were recorded at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing in summer 2009.
Nursing Outlook 2009 Special Issue Published
The QSEN team is pleased to announce that the 2009 special issue of Nursing Outlook on Quality and Safety is available online. If you are connecting through a university with online subscription access, the link will take you to the article. Without the subscription, access to the full article requires purchase.
Nursing Outlook Special Issue: Quality and Safety Education (Volume 57, Issue 6)
QSEN Site Awarded Sigma Theta Tau Awards
The QSEN team accepted two awards at the Sigma Theta Tau International’s 40th Biennial Convention in Indianapolis, IN. The QSEN website won both the Nursing Media Award and Information Technology Award for Knowledge Advancement.
The Josie King Story Video Now Available on QSEN
The Josie King Story, a video presentation by Sorrell King concerning the medical errors that led to her daughter Josie’s death, is now available in our Videos section.
This video has been generously made available to registered QSEN users by the Josie King Foundation. You will be required to login to your QSEN account- or create a new account if you are not already registered- before viewing the video.
Graduate KSAs Now Available
The Graduate-level KSAs have been published and are now available on our site alongside the pre-licensure KSAs. Those strategies suitable for a graduate coursework have been highlighted in each of the Competency Definition pages.
QSEN Education Consortium Institutes Open for Registration
The QSEN partner organization AACN has opened registration for our Education Consortium Institutes. Information about the 2010 institute locations and deadlines is now listed on our Conferences page, along with links for additional details and registration on the AACN site.
2010 QSEN National Forum opens Call for Abstracts
The 2010 QSEN National Forum, titled "Climbing from Good to Great," will take place in Denver, Colorado on June 2-4. This conference is designed to attract innovators and nurture faculty leaders for the improvement of quality and safety education through exposure to innovations in curricular design and teaching strategies, research related to quality and safety education, and quality improvement or safety studies.
QSEN has announced the Call for Abstracts, with submissions being accepted online starting on September 20th. For more information, see the Conference Details page or contact us at qsen@unc.edu.
University of Colorado Denver College of Nursing receives grant from Colorado Trust
The Colorado Trust, a grantmaking foundation dedicated to achieving access to health for all Coloradans, is supporting the University of Colorado Denver's College of Nursing effort to provide technical assistance and faculty development seminars to nurse education programs statewide to incorporate six quality and safety competencies, including patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, safety and informatics (i.e., using information and technology to share knowledge, mitigate errors and support decision making). The project is based on key findings from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's national pilot to implement quality and safety education in nurse curricula.
To read the Colorado Trust Grant Announcement see the "University of Colorado Denver's College of Nursing" entry on the Additional Programs page.
Related Links Section Updated
The Related Links section has been updated to add the Integrating Quality Project from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC):
"The Integrating Quality initiative is an organizational performance improvement project that was developed to assist AAMC members in enhancing their dual quality goals of providing outstanding clinical care today while educating the outstanding physicians of tomorrow. The initiative includes three phases that were developed using the AAMC's "Learn, Serve, Lead" model, and involves identifying and making available key resources and QI strategies, as well as developing a network of individuals and partner organizations working to integrate these approaches in their medical centers."
New Teaching Strategies Published, July 2009
The following new teaching strategies were published in July:
- Focusing on QSEN competencies during high-fidelity simulation The role of the observers
Connie L. Miller, University of Nebraska Medical Center - Providing Client Medication Teaching Utilizing an SBAR Format
Erin Lemler, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire - When Things Go Wrong Seminar Strategy
Elizabeth C. Kudzma, Curry College - Mass Casualty Triage Bear Learning Activity
Marylou Robinson, University of Colorado Denver College of Nursing - Little Room of Errors
Robin Arends, The University of South Dakota - Environmental Safety Learning Activity
Jennifer Zanotti, University of Colorado Denver College of Nursing
RWJF Profile: Amy Barton, QSEN Collaborative Member
QSEN helps Amy Barton bridge the gap between her current position in nursing education, and her previous one, in nursing practice.
"Amy Barton, Ph.D., R.N., describes the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Quality and Safety Education for Nurses project (QSEN) as a way to bridge the gap between her current position in nursing education, and her previous one, in nursing practice. The participation in QSEN by the University of Colorado Denver, College of Nursing, where she is an associate professor and the associate dean for clinical and community affairs, has allowed Barton, serving as project director, and colleagues to initiate dramatic changes in the methods used to teach the next generation of nurses."
New Phase III QSEN Grant Awarded
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing (UNC) recently received a $1.8 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) for part of a new Phase III Quality & Safety Education for Nurses initiative. A companion grant proposal to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is under review.
Leaders for an exciting, comprehensive faculty development phase of QSEN are: Geraldine (Polly) Bednash (PI-AACN), Linda Cronenwett (PI-UNC), and Jane Barnsteiner (University of Pennsylvania), Joanne Disch (University of Minnesota), Pamela Ironside(Indiana University), Jean Johnson (George Washington University), Shirley Moore (Case Western Reserve University), and Gwen Sherwood (UNC). Dr. Moore also co-leads the national VA Quality Scholars program which, with partial funding from QSEN, will include nursing pre-/post-doctoral scholars in addition to physician scholars in its new funding cycle.
Watch for upcoming details about regional faculty development conferences, QSEN consultants, web-based teaching modules and, in 2010 and 2011, QSEN National Forums for faculty innovators.
Full details of the QSEN/AACN partnership will be announced when the review of the AACN grant is completed in spring 2009.