quality assurance – sounds bulky, but it is exciting!

BY SVENJA HORN

The care and support of patients is the core mission of health and nurses. But the treatment of the patients achieved the highest possible Outcome, is another important task of the professional day-to-day quality assurance.

With people, not with paper work?

I used to look always a bit annoyed when my station management, or the Director of nursing with the concept of quality management (QM) came around the corner. Then update direct tasks are distributed, such as documents, checklists, processes, describing, and standards of care. So much work, for really there was no time. And also, I wanted to take care of me to my patients. The spontaneous reaction of many of my colleagues, was similar: “Would I want to sit at your Desk, I would have become an office clerk. I would like to work with people and not with the paper:“ Since, however, everything went quite well. Why everything is still time-consuming to write, if everyone has done his job somehow?

We got a list at Hand of what had to be done before the Audit to get the certificate of quality. During the Audit, it is investigated whether the required Standards are met. I have always had the feeling, that we find a way to cheat for the auditors a beautiful world and when the certification process is complete, no more.

How to work rounds of the daily life improve

So, as I sat in 2007 for the first Time, sullen in a working group of the quality management officer of my former employer, turned off by my station line. At the beginning I found it hard to open myself to these topics. But when I realized that the exchange in this working group led to the fact that we organize our work processes at the interfaces to other stations is better, and also documents tailored to our needs could change, I was in my station line not so bad. On the contrary, I was even grateful.

The more my Manager cover me in these tasks, the more I realized the Benefit, of the. Often I was annoyed about processes, which didn’t work, or endlessly dragged on, because you someone from the top, which had no idea what we need to have “at the Front”. By my colleagues and I have been involved in the issues of quality assurance, we were able to influence, and in our processes to better organize.

Not for a certificate, but for the daily work

My Feeling is, our everyday life would be pimped for an Audit, changed. I realized that we were able to Meet to shape through our QM, the processes of change, which could anyway not stop, and improve continuously. And not for the auditors, or a certificate, but for us and for our daily work.

In the Asklepios clinic in Altona, we are currently in a certification process according to DIN EN ISO, so in accordance with the requirements of an ISO standard. The preparations are in full swing. Recently, our quality had a Manager, and I made a Meeting with the QM of care. A prelude to a productive cooperation in the direction of the quality certificate, and thus in the direction of improvement of our joint work processes.

If we look at in this Blog, the profession of health and nursing, we must hold that the field of activity is considerably more far-reaching than it appears at first glance. And that work on paper can also serve the people.

Photo: Fotolia / rocket clips