Are the ARNPs and Other APNs the Leaders of Quality Improvement Teams?

 

A quality improvement team is a group of people who aim at investigating a setting and all people in it and identifying weaknesses in order to remove them and turn to strengths. Such teams are usually in need of a clearly defined leader whose commitment and experience can inspire and guide other members. Stanik-Hutt et al. (2013) state that nurse practitioners may influence the quality and safety of care offered to patients.

 

These people play an important role in many quality improvement programs. It is necessary to admit that such programs usually integrate diverse knowledge and skills, as well as the ability to communicate and cooperate with patients directly (Stanik-Hutt et al., 2013). Advanced practice nurses have many responsibilities that may be demonstrated independently or under close collaboration with doctors. Still, APNs can perform examinations, diagnose patients, order tests, and even prescribe treatments. They know what composes care and how to improve it. Therefore, they can be the leaders of QI teams in case they realize how to change something, how to interpret the outcomes of interventions, and how to guide other participants to do the same.

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