How do you define quality in the context of health care and nursing practice? Some nurses define quality as effective interdisciplinary teamwork that results in improved patient health outcomes, whereas hospital administrators define quality as appropriately delegated responsibilities, task completion, and effective patient flow. Because of the subjective nature of the term, quality is a hotly debated topic.

Standards have been developed to establish consistency and provide guidance in the effort to define quality in health care. The National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) describes nursing-sensitive indicators such as measurement scales for the quality of nurse professionals and the quality of services provided by nurses to patients. In this week’s Discussion, you will evaluate the quality determinants based on the NDNQI indicators and the theoretical underpinnings of these quality indicators. You apply nursing-sensitive indicators to your current situation and evaluate how each definition of quality contributes to the overall concept of quality.