4 Ways Travel Nurses Can Support Safety Cultures
By Melissa Wirkus Hagstrom, contributor
The theme for this year’s National Nurses Week should be near and dear to every nurse’s heart. The “Culture of Safety: It Starts with You” slogan calls all nurses to take proactive steps that will contribute to safety in their practice environments. For travel nurses, this means supporting safety cultures at hospitals and medical facilities across the nation.
Travel nurses bring a rich background in deploying patient safety practices in diverse settings, said Richard Ricciardi, PhD, NP, acting director for the division of practice improvement and senior nursing advisor for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
“As such, they are well positioned to identify out-of-date or harmful practices, and advocate for new models of care or transforming care to improve patient outcomes,” he explained. “Travel nurses should be proactive in becoming a full team member, and have the opportunity to advocate for improved patient safety practices.”
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There are several ways that travel nurses can support safety cultures in their assignment facilities:
1. Provide necessary workforce
Optimal staffing ratios are associated with improvements in the “Quadruple Aim”--providing better care, improving population health, lowering costs and improving the work life of health care providers--and countless studies have shown that the adequacy of nurse staffing in hospitals can directly impact patient outcomes such as mortality and failure-to-rescue.
“Travel nurses fill a critical gap in care requirements and are important contributors to the care team. As such, they should be recognized as full team members in the patient's care; and care settings should provide a culture that is welcoming and collaborative,” Ricciardi said.
2. Be part of the team
Learning methods to quickly integrate into the health care team is an important facet in supporting a facility’s safety culture.
“Travel nurses should be proactive in becoming part of the team,” Ricciardi continued, adding, “They should become familiar with and practice using evidence-based methods to optimize health care teams, such as AHRQ's TeamSTEPPS.”
TeamSTEPPS® is an evidence-based teamwork system with a goal of optimizing patient care by improving communication and teamwork skills among health care professionals and frontline staff.
“It is everyone's job to promote patient safety, and to use evidence-based methods, like TeamSTEPPS, to strengthen team-based care and communication between all team members and patients,” Ricciardi said. “Good communication and knowledge of the roles and responsibilities of all members of the health care team will result in improved safety practices and less errors.”
RELATED: Making Patient Safety Job One
3. Practice continuous self-improvement
Many travel nurse staffing companies are dedicated to furthering the skills and education of their nurses and offer free or reduced-cost continuing education credits. Free CE courses from RN.com are offered to all travelers who work with TravelNursing.com’s staffing partners, giving nurses access to state-required courses and a variety of other curriculum. RN.com recently announced its 2016 Workplace Safety and Joint Commission Regulatory Module which covers need-to-know issues related to patient safety and care, including standards and guidelines from OSHA, the Joint Commission, HIPAA and others.
Continuous improvement plays an integral role for travel nurses looking to support safety initiatives at hospitals throughout the United States. The AHRQ also offers a variety of tools and materials on best patient safety practices that nurses can utilize in their quest for ongoing, continuous growth and improvement.
4. Support a culture of learning
By gathering experience, techniques and skills from different units and peers throughout the country, travel nurses offer a unique perspective on nursing--one that should be shared. Travel nurses who are willing to learn and coach can bring the greatest impact to safety at the level of care.
“Travel nurses bring a diverse and rich expertise to the clinical setting,” Ricciardi said. “Many travel nurses bring strong clinical acumen, and their knowledge and clinical skills can be applied to coaching health care team members in best practices. In contrast, travel nurses should also keep an open mind to learning new evidence-based practices, and be an engaged member of the health care team and a learning community.”
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