Question

List the 6 QSEN Competencies along with a brief description of each.

Answer 1

The six QSEN competencies are Patient-Centered Care, Teamwork and Collaboration, Evidence-Based Practice, Quality Improvement, Safety, and Informatics, each integral for providing quality healthcare.

Step-by-step explanation:

QSEN Competencies

The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) initiative focuses on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) needed by nurses to continually improve the quality and safety of healthcare systems. The six QSEN competencies are:

1. Patient-Centered Care - Recognizing the patient or designee as the source of control and full partner in providing compassionate and coordinated care based on respect for the patient’s preferences, values, and needs.
2. Teamwork and Collaboration - Functioning effectively within nursing and inter-professional teams, fostering open communication, mutual respect, and shared decision-making to achieve quality patient care.
3. Evidence-Based Practice - Integrating the best current evidence with clinical expertise and patient/family preferences and values for the delivery of optimal health care.
4. Quality Improvement - Using data to monitor the outcomes of care processes and using improvement methods to design and test changes to continuously improve the quality and safety of healthcare systems.
5. Safety - Minimizing risk of harm to patients and providers through both system effectiveness and individual performance.
6. Informatics - Using information and technology to communicate, manage knowledge, mitigate error, and support decision-making.

These competencies are essential for ensuring that nursing students are prepared to enter the workforce with the necessary skills for providing high-quality, safe healthcare.