Development of Nursing Quality Indicators for the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators® (NDNQI®)

Development of Nursing Quality Indicators for the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators® (NDNQI®)

Introduction

　During the early 1990s, with the expansion of capitated healthcare insurance payment systems in the United States, many hospitals reduced the number of registered nurses (RNs) employed in order to contain the cost of hospital operation. As a consequence, the American Nurses Association (ANA) decided that there was a need to quantify the value of nursing in order to save nurses jobs and promote the quality and safety of patient care (ANA, 1999b). After preliminary work on indicator selection and the feasibility of data collection, the ANA awarded a contract for the development and maintenance of the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators® (ANA, 1995, 1996, 1999a; Montalvo, 2007). This groundbreaking work resulted in a national data resource used by hospitals for improvement in the quality of nursing care and in the nursing work environment. Researchers have also used NDNQI^® data to quantify the relationship between characteristics of nursing and nursing-sensitive patient outcomes (see www.nursingquality.org/WebEvents.aspx for a list of NDNQI^® publications).

Introduction

　During the early 1990s, with the expansion of capitated healthcare insurance payment systems in the United States, many hospitals reduced the number of registered nurses (RNs) employed in order to contain the cost of hospital operation. As a consequence, the American Nurses Association (ANA) decided that there was a need to quantify the value of nursing in order to save nurses jobs and promote the quality and safety of patient care (ANA, 1999b). After preliminary work on indicator selection and the feasibility of data collection, the ANA awarded a contract for the development and maintenance of the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators® (ANA, 1995, 1996, 1999a; Montalvo, 2007). This groundbreaking work resulted in a national data resource used by hospitals for improvement in the quality of nursing care and in the nursing work environment. Researchers have also used NDNQI^® data to quantify the relationship between characteristics of nursing and nursing-sensitive patient outcomes (see www.nursingquality.org/WebEvents.aspx for a list of NDNQI^® publications).