NURS-FPX4500 Assessment 2: Leadership Strategies for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety

Course

NURS-FPX4500: Practicing in the Community to Improve Population Health (RN–BSN quality and safety leadership focus in community and ambulatory settings).

Overview

In this second assessment, you shift from individual health promotion planning to examining how nursing leadership can strengthen quality improvement and patient safety for a priority issue that affects your community or practice setting. You will identify a specific safety or quality problem, analyze its causes and consequences, and propose practical leadership strategies and quality improvement actions that are appropriate for a BSN-prepared nurse. The goal is to demonstrate how you can influence systems of care and foster a culture of safety and continuous improvement in community or population-health contexts.

Assessment Type and Length

• Individual written assessment (academic paper, APA style).

• 3–4 page paper (approximately 1,000–1,200 words), excluding title page and reference list.

• Double-spaced.

Assignment Instructions

Write a 3–4 page paper that analyzes a clearly defined safety or quality problem in a community, primary care, outpatient, or transitional care setting and proposes leadership strategies and quality improvement actions a BSN nurse can use to address it. Draw on current evidence, quality and safety frameworks, and realistic constraints in your setting. Use clear headings, professional tone, and current APA style for citations and references.

Required Paper Sections

1. Problem Description and Context

• Describe the practice or community setting.

• Identify a specific quality or safety problem.

• Summarize evidence or local data demonstrating the problem’s scope and impact.

2. Contributing Factors and Root Causes

• Analyze contributing factors such as human factors, workflow issues, technology limitations, policy gaps, and social determinants of health.

• Use a simple quality tool or systems-thinking concept to structure the root cause analysis.

• Explain how current process breakdowns create safety risks or quality gaps.

3. Leadership Role of the BSN Nurse

• Describe how a BSN-prepared nurse can lead improvement efforts without formal authority.

• Discuss relevant leadership behaviors such as advocacy, communication, modeling safe practices, and coaching peers.

• Connect leadership actions to a recognized leadership or quality framework.

4. Proposed Quality Improvement and Safety Strategies

• Propose 3–5 feasible strategies to improve quality and safety.

• Explain how each strategy addresses identified root causes.

• Describe collaboration with interdisciplinary team members.

• Support strategies with current evidence or guidelines.

5. Culture of Safety and Continuous Improvement

• Describe actions to promote a culture of safety and learning.

• Address how resistance, competing priorities, or fear of blame will be managed.

• Explain how changes support reliable, patient-centered care over time.

6. Measurement, Evaluation, and Sustainability

• Identify 2–3 measures to evaluate impact.

• Explain how data will be reviewed and shared.

• Describe how improvements will be sustained long term.

7. Conclusion

• Summarize the quality or safety problem, key drivers, and leadership strategies.

• Reinforce the importance of BSN-level leadership in improving community and population health outcomes.

Assessment Criteria (Scoring Rubric)

Criterion 1: Describe the Quality or Safety Problem and Context (20%)

• Distinguished: Clear, concise, evidence-informed description of the problem and setting.

• Proficient: Adequate description with some contextual detail.

• Basic: General description with limited detail.

• Below Basic: Problem unclear or poorly defined.

Criterion 2: Analyze Contributing Factors and Root Causes (20%)

• Distinguished: Well-structured, systems-focused analysis.

• Proficient: Identifies main contributing factors.

• Basic: Lists factors without clear connections.

• Below Basic: Minimal or missing analysis.

Criterion 3: Explain the BSN Nurse’s Leadership Role (20%)

• Distinguished: Clear articulation of leadership grounded in theory and practice.

• Proficient: Appropriate leadership description.

• Basic: Broad or vague leadership discussion.

• Below Basic: Leadership role underdeveloped.

Criterion 4: Propose Feasible, Evidence-Informed Strategies and Measures (30%)

• Distinguished: Multiple feasible strategies supported by evidence and meaningful measures.

• Proficient: Appropriate strategies with basic measures.

• Basic: General strategies with limited support.

• Below Basic: Minimal or unrealistic strategies.

Criterion 5: Scholarly Writing, Organization, and APA Style (10%)

• Distinguished: Clear, well-organized writing with accurate APA style.

• Proficient: Minor APA or clarity issues.

• Basic: Noticeable organization or APA problems.

• Below Basic: Weak clarity and APA compliance.

In a busy community clinic that serves adults with multiple chronic conditions, the absence of a standardized medication reconciliation process at each visit has led to frequent discrepancies between patient-reported medication use, pharmacy records, and the electronic health record. A BSN-prepared nurse can lead a quality improvement effort by piloting a reconciliation checklist, educating staff, and collaborating with pharmacists to address high-risk discrepancies. Evidence shows that structured, nurse-led medication reconciliation processes reduce errors and improve patient safety (Mueller et al., 2018).

Strong nursing leadership is central to advancing quality improvement and patient safety in community and ambulatory settings. BSN-prepared nurses are well positioned to apply systems thinking, promote interprofessional collaboration, and use data to guide improvement initiatives. Leadership behaviors that emphasize transparency, learning from errors, and continuous evaluation support the development of a sustainable culture of safety and align with national patient safety priorities (World Health Organization, 2021).

References

1. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2019). Patient safety primers: Patient safety 101.
   https://psnet.ahrq.gov/primer/patient-safety-101

2. Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (2020). How-to guide: Improving transitions from the hospital to community settings.
   http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/Tools/HowtoGuideImprovingTransitionHospitalCommunitySettings.aspx

3. Sammer, C. E., Lykens, K., Singh, K. P., Mains, D. A., & Lackan, N. A. (2010). What is patient safety culture? Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 42(2), 156–165.
   https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1547-5069.2009.01330.x

4. World Health Organization. (2021). Global patient safety action plan 2021–2030.
   https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240032700

5. Mitchell, P. H. (2018). Defining patient safety and quality care. In R. G. Hughes (Ed.), Patient safety and quality: An evidence-based handbook for nurses.
   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2681/

6. Mueller, S. K., Sponsler, K. C., Kripalani, S., & Schnipper, J. L. (2018). Hospital-based medication reconciliation practices: A systematic review. Archives of Internal Medicine, 172(14), 1057–1069.
   https://doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2012.2246