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Running head: NURSING SENSITIVE INDICATORS

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RTT1 Task 1 Krista Vandiver, RN, CEN Western Governors University

NURSING SENSITIVE INDICATORS Nursing-Sensitive Indicators According to the American Nurses Association, nursing-sensitive indicators “reflect the structure, process and outcomes of nursing care.” ("Nursing Sensitive Indicators," 2015) Understanding the indicators is an important piece of nursing, not only to assist the patient, but the patients loved ones as well, to ensure quality patient care. In this particular case, had the

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nurse understood the reasoning and data behind the Pressure Ulcer Rate and Restraint indicators, and communicated the necessity to report any pertinent findings the CNA may discover in the nurse’s absence, the CNA would not have dismissed the reddened area over the patient’s lower spine and would have immediately informed the nurse of the finding. Upon returning the patient to bed, the CNA would have also known not to place the patient back in bed on his back and reapply the restraints. Instead, would have had the patient lay to one side and stressed the importance, to the patient and family member, of frequent turning, to reduce the chance of pressure ulcers. Quality patient care can only be achieved with teamwork and open communication. The discussion of pressure ulcers in hospitalized patients has become an increasing issue with more attention to the prevention of such since the early to mid-1990’s. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) state that stage III and stage IV pressure ulcers occurring during admission are considered preventable (Zaratkiewicz et al., 2010). While the gentleman in our case scenario represented what would be considered a stage 1 pressure ulcer, with proper quality care and training, even this stage 1 ulcer could have been prevented or at the very least, the progression

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