NDNQI Measures Aim to Improve Healthcare Safety and Quality

Created Dec 29 2015, 07:00 PM by Lippincott Solutions

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

NDNQI Measures Aim to Improve Healthcare Safety and Quality

To help you compare your quality measures against national, regional, and state norms for hospitals of the same type, the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) has compiled a database and quality measurement program. NDNQI was established in 1998 by the American Nurses Association (ANA) in response to ANA’s Safety and Quality Initiative. Used by 2,000 hospitals nationwide, NDQNI is the largest provider of unit-level performance data.

NDNQI data allows staff nurses and nursing leadership to review and evaluate nursing performance in relation to patient outcomes. Hospitals can use the information to establish organizational goals for improvement at the unit level, and mark progress in improving patient care and the work environment. It can also help your facility avoid costly complications.

NDNQI resources are drilled down to unit-level data. Examples of units are adult critical care units, pediatric med-surg combined units, and operating rooms. Participating hospitals submit data on each eligible nursing care units. The NDNQI Unit Structure classifies units by patient population and unit type.

To identify important safety topics, NDNQI works with the National Quality Forum (NQF), a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to “improve American healthcare through the endorsement of consensus-based national standards for measurement and public reporting of healthcare performance data that provide meaningful information about whether care is safe, timely, beneficial, patient-centered, equitable and efficient.”

Current NDNQI measures include:

Nursing Staff Skill Mix
Nursing Hours per Patient Day
Assault/Injury Assault Rates
Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection Rates
Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infection Rates
Fall/Injury Fall Rates
Hospital/Unit Acquired Pressure Ulcer Rates
Nurse Turnover Rate
Pain Assessment/Intervention/Reassessment Cycles Completed
Peripheral IV Infiltration Rate
Physical Restraint Prevalence
RN Education/Certification
Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Rates
Falls in Ambulatory Settings
Pressure Ulcer Incidence Rates from Electronic Health Records
Nursing Care Hours in Emergency Departments, PeriOperative Units and Perinatal Units
Skill Mix in Emergency Departments, PeriOperative Units and Perinatal Units
Hospital Readmission Rates

How are you using these safety benchmarks to improve quality in your facility? Should there be additional NDNQI measures? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

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