QSEN Competencies for Nurses

Knowing what it takes to be an effective nurse in today’s environment is critical in the nursing profession. Nursing isn’t just about technical skills as there is so much more you need to know. The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses or QSEN competencies refer to the skills, behaviors, and knowledge that nurses need. They need these QSEN competencies as they allow them to continuously improve both the quality and safety of the healthcare systems in which they work.

There are 6 QSEN competencies that everyone in the nursing profession needs to be aware of. These are:

1. Patient-Centered Care
2. Teamwork and Collaboration
3. Evidence-Based Practice
4. Quality Improvement
5. Safety
6. Informatics

Patient-Centered Care

Providing patient-centered care is a key component of nursing. As one of the key QSEN competencies, nurses must become proficient in their patient-centered care. This means:

• Treating all patients with a sufficient level of dignity and respect

Although it seems obvious, you must call patients by their preferred name, explain their treatments clearly, and value any input they have. Patients will often reciprocate this respect and appreciate your kindness.

• Focusing on a person with your full attention

In nursing, it is vital to consider every patient’s beliefs, values, and priorities. Listen to their concerns and ask them questions about their goals for their health or recovery.

• Educating and empowering your patients

Making conditions and procedures easily understandable is key for QSEN competencies such as this. You must also answer any questions you receive fully and honestly. Enabling patients to be active in their decision-making can lead to the best outcome in their situation.

• Effectively coordinating care routines

A fundamental part of nursing is to work with doctors to coordinate care plans and routines to meet patient needs. When doing this, you have to ensure that patients understand their care plan and that you take into account their values and preferences. Don’t be afraid to ask for patient feedback to see whether care plans are working. Evaluating care plans regularly can lead to significant improvements in both your and the patient’s routine.

• Protecting patients’ privacy and confidentiality

When working in the nursing profession, it is crucial to protect patients’ privacy and confidentiality. This means only sharing health information with authorized individuals. Communicate this with patients to let them know how you will keep their data secure.

Teamwork and Collaboration

Number two on the QSEN competencies list for nursing is teamwork and collaboration. This means focusing on communicating and cooperating with other healthcare professionals which leads to high-quality patient care.

To demonstrate that they are proficient in this competency, nurses need to be able to openly communicate with their fellow healthcare professionals. As well as this, they need to be able to cooperate with other members of the healthcare team. From receptionists to doctors, it is important to understand the role that everyone plays.

You should be able to share accountability with your team members too. In nursing, no one person is fully responsible for the outcome of different patients. It’s a team effort where a team should prioritize teamwork over blaming individuals for mistakes. As one of the QSEN competencies, it is vital to learn how to collaborate and work with team members as it leads to higher job satisfaction and greater patient care.

Evidence-Based Practice

Evidence-based practice refers to using research and evidence that are the best available for different nursing situations. It’s important to note that the best available evidence can evolve over time. Providing the best care for patients means that you need to stay up to date when dealing with QSEN competencies such as this.

Nursing is a profession that is always evolving, which means continuous learning is beneficial. Nurses should take care of learning opportunities and expand their knowledge where possible. This can be done using blogs and books, or by attending conferences and training sessions. Once you gain knowledge, it’s time to apply it in nursing situations.

To make the most of your and others’ QSEN competencies, you can share the knowledge you learn with others. This can be done in a variety of ways, whether it’s an informal discussion or through mentoring. This can help improve the nursing abilities of you and the nurses around you.

Quality Improvement

The nursing profession requires nurses to understand and apply the Quality Improvement competency in an effort to improve patient outcomes. Continually evaluating and improving the healthcare systems and processes already in place is a great way to do this. You can:

• Analyze Data

Improving patient care is key for all QSEN competencies. You can analyze data to find gaps and opportunities to improve patient care by looking at factors such as readmission rates, medication errors, and more. By looking for patterns and trends, you can help provide high-quality patient care.

• Implement Solutions

A nursing department can work towards finding solutions for any issues that are found. This is where you can use another one of the QSEN competencies and find some evidence-based solutions while working with colleagues. From here, you can implement changes on a small scale to see how they perform before expanding to a larger capacity.

• Evaluate Outcomes

After you make some changes, the nursing department needs to track outcomes to ensure that they are effective. Some outcomes may take some time to realize, so ensure that you continue monitoring until the results are clear.

Safety

Safety is one of the most important QSEN competencies for nurses to master. When it comes to nursing, you need to be able to promote a culture of safety in the workplace. This means reporting any errors that are made or helping improve patient care processes.

You should also understand which human factors impact safety, as well as which technological practices do. Once you understand this, you can take steps to reduce risks. Anything you can do to reduce hazards will lead to an improvement in the overall well-being of both patients and your team.

Making sure that you are active is key for mastering all QSEN competencies. In nursing, following safety procedures will become second nature. As always, safety comes first.

Informatics

The last of the QSEN competencies that we will mention is Informatics. This refers to using information and technology to your advantage for communication, information management, decision-making, and more. In nursing, informatics competency relates to leveraging technology and patient data to be able to provide the best care possible for patients.

For example, electronic health records (EHRs) are extremely beneficial in nursing. This gives nurses the ability to effectively document patient care while also being able to share information with relevant bodies. This is common practice in nursing and nurses can use them to record patient notes and track treatment plans.

There’s a lot more technology to assist in nursing practices out there for nurses to utilize. In this day and age, it is vital to use technology when managing your patient care. This will only evolve and develop into the future, so get up to date now.

Conclusion

Now you know the 6 QSEN competencies that make up the standards for nursing education. Put your patients first and uphold high standards. If effective, your nursing excellence will prevail, and your colleagues and patients will thank you for it.