Nursing Strategic Imperatives: Engaging Nurses in Strategy Development and Execution to Drive Value.

Strategic plans provide a roadmap for value creation by outlining key priorities that, when executed successfully, enhance quality and efficiency. Nurses are uniquely positioned to inform strategic planning because of their understanding of clinical operations and consumer needs. This article describes a multiphase process for engaging nurses, at all levels, in developing, implementing, and revising a nursing strategic plan over a 5-year period.

Dispelling Magnet® Myths.

ABSTRACT: Organizations on the journey to Magnet® excellence have questions. In many cases, those questions are based on myth, not fact. In this month's Magnet Perspectives, we break down the most commonly asked questions, dispel the myths, and explore the resources available to help organizations get the answers they need to achieve Magnet® recognition.

Achieving educational mission and vision with an educational scorecard.

BACKGROUND: Achieving an academic section's educational mission and vision is difficult, particularly when individual faculty contributions may be self-directed and uncoordinated. Balanced scorecards have been used in other environments; however, a process for developing one focusing on the educational mission of an academic medical section has not previously been described. We aimed to develop and use an educational scorecard to help our academic clinical section achieve its educational mission and vision. METHODS: Six medical educators participated in a task force that developed, implemented, and evaluated an educational scorecard that incorporates four domains of educational value and six stakeholder perspectives. A modified Delphi process using 14 experts built expert consensus on the most valuable metrics. The task force then developed performance targets for each metric. RESULTS: Review of the scorecard at the sectional level resulted in both sectional and individual strategies which lead to a more balanced educational impact, including service structure changes and increased mentorship. Our section has used the scorecard and metrics to evaluate performance since 2014. CONCLUSION: An educational scorecard is a feasible way for academic groups to communicate educational goals, engage faculty, and provide objective information with which to base strategic decisions affecting their educational mission.

Proposed changes to nurse education: get ready to have your say.

Elizabeth Rosser, Deputy Dean (Education and Professional Practice) and Professor of Nursing at Bournemouth University, examines the radical changes to undergraduate nurse education currently proposed.

'Willing to take the hits' for speaking out against the GOP repeal bill.

Robert Doherty, the long-time chief lobbyist of the American College of Physicians, has drawn attention for his outspoken criticism of the House Republican legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Doherty is senior vice president for government affairs at the Philadelphia-based ACP, which represents 148,000 internists and internal medical subspecialists. He spoke with Modern Healthcare senior reporter Harris Meyer on May 4, minutes after the House passed the American Health Care Act, or AHCA. He described his organization's objections to the House bill and its plans to lobby the Senate to preserve the ACA's insurance coverage expansions. The following is an edited transcript.

Safety Totally Leads the Way.

This is not just the path toward improved safety and lower safety-related costs; it is also the path to walk if your goal is greater customer retention, higher sales, and maximizing profits.

Why I am a Member (and Why You Should be Too).

Membership is the single biggest issue for the association moving forward into the future. While these may be sobering words to hear; it is the hard truth and we all must face this fact. The Pennsylvania Dental Association and the American Dental Association both know this and have been investing resources to increase the value of membership. I have had the amazing fortune to sit on the PDA Membership Comn-dttee for nearly five years and to be the Chair these last two years. I have seen firsthand just how conunitted the PDA!s staff and volunteer dentists are to building value and increasing membership. I wish to share a little about my story.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Transition From Payments for Volume to Value: Implications for North Carolina Physicians, Providers, and Patients.

The US Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have announced goals and timelines to transition from payments based on volume to payments based on value, quality, and efficient delivery of care. These value-based payments and alternative payment models will impact all health care professionals and provider organizations by encouraging better care, healthier people, and spending health care dollars wisely and efficiently.

Narrowing the gap: Health disparities formidable foe for healthcare providers.

Expanding access to health insurance under the Affordable Care Act won't by itself fix the nation's health disparities. Healthcare systems recognize they have to change, too.

European accreditation and the future public health workforce.

BACKGROUND: In 2011 the Agency for Public Health Education Accreditation (APHEA) was initially launched focusing on Master level (second cycle) education. METHODS: Between 2012 and 2013 the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region, APHEA and partner schools conducted a study on the compliance of Master level programmes of public health to the accreditation criteria. A web-based survey of second cycle programmes of public health across 29 countries was conducted using the APHEA criteria. The 29 countries were categorized into four regions: Northern, Southern, Central and Eastern and Western. We applied a Chi square test to identify regional differences with regard to the compliance of the programmes to the criteria. RESULTS: Data from 51 out of 71 schools contacted were analyzed. The compliance to the two themes of student and faculty exchange and quality management were lowest for programmes of public health throughout the EHEA. There were significant differences in the compliance between the regions with higher compliance in the Northern European region. CONCLUSIONS: Student and faculty exchange and quality management are essential for schools and programmes of public health to improve the quality of their education through expanding international knowledge and the pertinence of skills taught within European and national contexts. The results show that there are intrinsic issues with exchange and quality management as well as the role of national accreditation agencies in defining public health education for the future workforce.

Nurse residency programs and the transition to child health nursing practice.

Nurse residency programs for newly licensed RNs are a critical component in bridging the clinical practice gap between education and practice. In May 2013, the Institute of Pediatric Nursing invited leaders from pediatric nursing organizations and children's hospitals to attend a forum on nurse residency programs for pediatric nurses. This article presents a summary of the discussions that occurred during the forum and makes recommendations for addressing issues related to nurse residency programs.

Criteria weighting with respect to institution's goals for faculty selection.

Employers frequently select an employee among numerous candidates. They have to evaluate these candidates by multiple criteria that raise the problem of how to determinate the relative importance of these criteria. Traditionally, when engaging a new employee, the employer will develop a set of criteria and their associate weightings according with its institution's goals. However, the weight setting also reflects the priority of goals. It is frequently ignored. That is to say, it is necessary to recheck whether the weighting set reflects the institution's goals' priority appropriately. In this research, we proposed a mechanism that gives the chance to review the criteria weighting to see if it is adequately satisfies its institution's actual goals. This double-check procedure can further help the employer select appropriate personnel for his or her institution.

Leveraging shared governance councils to advance evidence-based practice: the EBP Council journey.

This column shares the best evidence-based strategies and innovative ideas on how to facilitate the implementing of EBP principles and processes by clinicians as well as nursing and interprofessional students. Guidelines for submission are available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1741-6787.

International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists' anesthesia program approval process.

The International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists is improving anaesthesia patient care through a voluntary Anesthesia Program Approval Process (APAP) for schools and programmes. It is the result of a coordinated effort by anaesthesia leaders from many nations to implement a voluntary quality improvement system for education. These leaders firmly believe that meeting international education standards is an important way to improve anaesthesia, pain management and resuscitative care to patients worldwide. By 2013, 14 anaesthesia programmes from France, Iceland, Indonesia, Philippines, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, Tunisia and the USA had successfully completed the process. Additional programmes were scheduled for review in 2014. Faculty from these programmes, who have successfully completed APAP, show how anaesthesia educators throughout the world seek to continually improve education and patient care by pledging to meet common education standards. As national governments, education ministers and heads of education institutions work to decrease shortages of healthcare workers, they would benefit from considering the value offered by quality improvement systems supported by professional organizations. When education programmes are measured against standards developed by experts in a profession, policy makers can be assured that the programmes have met certain standards of quality. They can also be confident that graduates of approved programmes are appropriately trained healthcare workers for their citizens.

Aligning physician compensation with strategic goals.

In 2012, Mayo Clinic Health System (MCHS) had 13 different physician compensation models among its operating units, with most based on productivity metrics. MCHS aimed to transition all physicians to a single compensation model that would facilitate its integration with Mayo Clinic and promote physician engagement with emerging value-based payment models. The new model, which was implemented this past January, incorporates quality metrics, provides physicians with regular reports of their performance, and already has resulted in greater physician attention to outcomes, safety, and patient experience.

Strengthening frontline nurse investment in organizational goals.

Frontline nurses are foundational to any organizational goal concerning patient care. In addition, healthcare delivery reform has supported the formalization of specific goals that hospitals must advance to stay financially viable and to deliver high-quality care. As a result, goals for frontline staff are continuously evolving. Frontline nurses must demonstrate a commitment not only to delivering excellent patient care but also to advancing larger institutional performance. The authors discuss a framework for nurse executives to help organizations achieve enhanced nurse investment in organizational goals.

Creating a culture of patient safety in a primary-care physician group.

Typically risk-management strategies have been applied to the inpatient setting. In 2003, a comprehensive risk-management program was introduced to ProHealth Physicians, one of the largest primary-care practice groups in Connecticut. The program included strategies for education, practice change, incentive and compliance. Performance metrics for clinician participation and compliance were prespecified. Clinicians' attitudes and behavior change were assessed after introduction of the program. Audits were conducted by external reviewers to assess compliance. Financial data from before-to-after program implementation were compared. Results showed fewer claims and substantial cost savings. A strong commitment to the implementation of a comprehensive risk-management program can create a culture of safety in an outpatient setting.