Application 1

The Nurse’s Role in Supporting the Organization’s Strategic Agenda NURS 6022

Alisa Gafeney

Walden University

May 7, 2011

The Nurse’s Role in Supporting the Organization’s Strategic Agenda

Nurses are on the front lines of patient care, as delivery of care relies heavily on the nurse to provide excellent patient outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the nurse’s role as a supporter of an organization’s strategic plan from the perspective of a quality manager. Summary of the Interview The interview was conducted with Jennifer Price, the director of an intermediate stroke unit within a 794-bed hospital. The unit’s population of patients consists of stroke, seizure, back surgery and other types of intermediate care patients. The unit employs nineteen RNs, nine nursing assistants and three supervisors. During the interview, the nurse’s role in supporting the organization’s strategic agenda was discussed at length, along with ways to improve the nurse’s role in support of the organization’s agenda. The first question asked was how important is the nurse’s role in clinical outcomes. Jennifer stated that the impact that a nurse has on clinical outcomes is “huge,” due to the fact that nurses are responsible for all patient outcomes. Care of the patient in the hospital usually begins and ends with the nurse. With public hospital reporting, the fact that nurses play an instrumental part in a hospital organization’s strategic agenda is very evident. Hospital boards are also looking into how nurses support the organization and how they can improve frontline nursing care in respect to core measures such as never events, falls, CLABSI (Central Line Blood Stream Infections) and all other nursing indicators. The next