Emergency Nurses Association Research Evaluates Quality Indicators for Emergency Nursing Practice
April 28, 2022 • ENA Research
The study fuels the development and testing of future ED-specific quality indicators
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (April 28, 2022) – Through a newly published study, Emergency Nurses Association researchers describe emergency department-specific nursing-sensitive quality indicators and recommend further development and testing to better determine quality of patient care.
The association can now use this research, partnered with future quality indicator development, to help identify areas of concern, measure the impact of interventions to improve emergency nursing care, and assist emergency nurses and leaders in making evidence-based decisions about the quality of patient care.
Using a modified Delphi technique, the researchers conducted three rounds of data collection to identify and rank four categories of 21 quality indicators. The groups based on highest to lowest ranking included triage (6), special populations (4), transitions of care (4) and medical/surgical (7).
“An emergency nurse can’t accurately know if they are providing quality care without consensus on some quality measures, and this study allowed us to identify some of those,” said ENA Director of Emergency Nursing Research Lisa Wolf, PhD, RN, CEN, FAEN, FAAN. “ENA’s future work will focus on the impact of ED-specific, nursing sensitive QIs on patient outcomes.”
The study found that many current metrics for quality indicators in emergency nursing were questionable because they are subject to influences in the care environment rather than functioning as nursing-sensitive indicators. As a result, the team encourages alternate, data-driven methodologies be used to select predictors of quality nursing care in this unique practice setting.
“Not only is ENA on the forefront of research for the specialty, but this study poises the association to continue to be the leader in determining best practices for all emergency nurses,” said ENA President Jennifer Schmitz, MSN, EMT-P, CEN, CPEN, CNML, FNP-C, NE-BC. “I’m thrilled to see that this research has been completed and that it opens an opportunity to provide further guidance for the specialty to ensure the best possible care for patients.”
The article, “Development of Nurse-Sensitive, Emergency Department-Specific Quality Indicators Using a Modified Delphi Technique,” will be published in an upcoming print issue of the Journal of Nursing Care Quality and is now available online
