Nursing Dashboard Improves Patient Care

Evidence-based practice is the foundation of nursing practice within the Crozer-Keystone Health System. During the past two years, our nursing leadership has developed and implemented a nursing dashboard that enables us to monitor performance throughout our four hospitals in a number of key nurse-sensitive indicators. Linked to national benchmarks such as the National Patient Safety Goals of the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), these indicators are related to patient-centered outcomes, patient safety, patient satisfaction and resource management.

Our nurse managers participated in the multidisciplinary implementation process by helping to determine unit-based quality audit tools with input from other clinical and diagnostic areas.

In September 2007, all CKHS nurse managers began collecting the dashboard data for their units monthly, and the nursing staff participates in the data analysis. The units use the dashboard to track their performance against their goals, benchmark against overall hospital scores, corporate goals and national standards, and set goals for improvement. 

During the past year, the nursing dashboard has been particularly effective in helping medical/surgical and critical care units improve quality of care.