President’s message March 2006
Article Outline
Linda Burnes Bolton, DrPH, AAN President
“All things are possible until they are proved impossible - and even the impossible may only be so, as of now,” said Pearl S. Buck in the previous century. I believe that it is possible to have a healthier populace and that the American Academy of Nursing is making significant contributions to achieving this important societal goal.
The American Academy of Nursing (Academy) is a knowledge based organization committed to knowledge generation, synthesis and utilization to improve healthcare and nursing practice, and as such, we believe in the possibilities that improvement can happen through science, will and commitment. The business units of the Academy –standing committees, commissions, task forces, expert panels, special interest groups, national program offices and ad hoc work groups conduct and disseminate products on behalf of the Academy related to its mission. We depend on the productivity of our business units to achieve our goals, to create possible healthcare solutions and to fulfill our societal stewardship responsibilities. Over the next year we will spotlight the activities of several of these units beginning with the Quality Expert Panel.
Improving healthcare safety and quality is a daunting task. The Academy is engaged in multiple activities to address the critical questions surrounding health, healthcare safety and quality and health policy. How do we as a nation improve the healthcare delivery system effectiveness and efficiency, decrease variation in treatment of diseases and illness, prevent disease, increase the number of quality life years of all Americans and contribute to the work of scientists, clinicians and consumers to improve the health of the public? What standards should be utilized to measure the performance of the delivery system including the providers of healthcare services? Which models and practices are most efficacious in healthcare prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and functional transitions? How can we assure the availability of a qualified workforce and what roles are required to best meet the complex health care needs of the American public? What systems of care and services should be provided and how do we allocate resources to support healthcare services? There is no shortage of work to be done!
The American Academy of Nursing Quality Expert Panel has produced prestigious conferences on quality measurement, published and disseminated papers on the state of the science, identified the actions required to close the gap between science and practice, synthesized the knowledge gained from research and practice to develop an actionable research agenda to improve patient care through the use of nursing knowledge and made several contributions to the field on quality processes, performance and outcome measurement. The expert panel is continuing its work by serving as the official Academy representatives to the National Quality Forum (NQF). Dr. Norma Lang is a board member of NQF and Dr. Carole Hudgings and Dr. Bonnie Jennings are the Academy member organization representatives. Dr. Jennings provided background information on their work. The National Quality Forum was established in 1999 and became operational in 2000. Its mission is to improve health care in America. To this end, the NQF sets voluntary consensus standards (VCS) for measuring health care performance. VCS have a special legal status. Consequently, they are developed following the process specified in Public Law 104-113. When VCS exist, they must be used by federal governmental agencies rather than government unique standards. The purpose of the measures developed using the NQF process is to facilitate public reporting, which is distinguished from quality improvement. The NQF has a unique structure because it is an organization comprised of many member organizations. Over 250 federal agencies, hospitals and health care systems, academic institutions, consumer groups, health care purchasers, and professional organizations comprise the membership including the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the Academy.
Dr. Bonnie Jennings is the current Quality Expert Panel chair and coordinates with Dr. Lang, and Dr. Hudgings the engagement of Academy members to respond to calls for measures related to particular topics (e.g., diabetes or ambulatory care), provide comments on a topic under study (e.g., palliative and hospice care), and to cast votes (as measures are finalized). The Academy solicits recommendations for individuals to serve on various NQF committees. The Academy has established important relationships with strategic partners engaged in the healthcare quality work. Efforts are ongoing to improve the outreach within the Academy to tap into expertise that will help influence decisions reached by the NQF. The collaboration with ANA has helped ensure a unified voice for nursing and to strengthen the connection between the Academy and ANA on matters pertaining to the NQF. A senior member of the ANA staff provides essential support in promoting collaboration and support for key initiatives related to nursing. The success of these collaborative efforts was realized when the AAN and ANA synchronized their nominations for the 2005 John Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards, resulting in Dr. Audrey Nelson receiving the Individual Achievement Award.
The Academy is leading efforts to engage other key stakeholders in efforts to expand quality work from the establishment and measurement of performance standards to achieving the six aims delineated by the Institute of Medicine report: Crossing the Quality Chasm. The aims are safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable care. These are cross cutting dimensions that may be applied for all of the Academy’s activities. The Health Disparities Task Force is targeting equity- evaluating the education and practice systems and developing a compendium of exemplars of safe, effective, efficient, respectful and responsive to individual needs, and values practices, treatments and education models to close the gap in health disparities that continue to exist. The national program office (Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity) on improving the capacity of nursing to provide safe, efficient, effective, timely, equitable and individually centered care to the elderly has been very successful. The Council of the Advancement of Nursing Science has, through its individual and collective work, provided forums to illustrate how nursing science is improving health care. These are a few examples of the Academy’s efforts to use knowledge to achieve improvements in healthcare.
The Academy is fully engaged as a strategic scientific partner in efforts to improve the quality of health care in America. As Marian Wright Edelman aptly stated, “With knowledge and will, we have an obligation to change the world, one step at a time.” The Academy will continue its work of generating, synthesizing, and disseminating knowledge for utilization to improve health care. It is possible to achieve the six quality aims. There is much work to be done and we will be successful working with other organizations such as the National Quality Forum to improve our nation’s health.1, 2, 3
References
PII: S0029-6554(06)00063-7
doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2006.02.004
© 2006 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.
