Many nurses already know that as the ones with the most direct contact with the patient, they have a great opportunity to improve patient safety. However, nurses often have a difficult time enforcing and implementing new patient safety initiatives while taking care of their patients and taking care of documentation-especially if those initiatives are constantly changing.

A great HealthLeaders Media piece explores what The University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, KS, did to help nurses become involved in actually implementing and enforcing patient safety initiatives, rather than simply take orders on a new initiative.

The hospital assigned a nurse quality safety investigator for each unit. This isn’t simply someone who wears a different badge than other nurses. This nurse is a leader, driving his or her own initiatives, and being accountable for outcomes. After the nurse applies for the position, he or she receives education, a mentor, and special privileges to attend outside conferences to further that education.

The program seems to be a hit with nurses, especially because a peer is the one leading the effort.

I’d love to hear if there are other similar programs out there. It seems important to have nurse-led efforts in hospitals. What do you think? Does it help create a positive atmosphere? Are there drawbacks?