NURS 521
Nursing Issues,
Informatics &
Technology
COMPLETED EXAM
2024
, 1. What are some of the key challenges that nurse leaders face in the current and future health care system?
Provide at least three examples and explain how they affect the quality and safety of patient care. (10
points)
Answer: Some of the key challenges that nurse leaders face are:
- The increasing complexity and diversity of patient needs, which require nurse leaders to have
advanced clinical skills, cultural competence, interprofessional collaboration, and evidence-based
practice.
- The shortage and turnover of nursing staff, which affect the availability and continuity of care, as well
as the workload, stress, and satisfaction of nurses.
- The rapid changes in technology, regulations, policies, and standards, which require nurse leaders to
be adaptable, innovative, and proactive in implementing and evaluating new initiatives and solutions.
These challenges affect the quality and safety of patient care by influencing the outcomes, processes, and
structures of care delivery. Nurse leaders need to ensure that they provide effective leadership, management,
and mentorship to their teams, as well as advocate for the profession and the patients.
2. What are some of the strategies that nurse leaders can use to promote a culture of quality
improvement and patient safety in their organizations? Provide at least three examples and explain how
they can be implemented and evaluated. (10 points)
Answer: Some of the strategies that nurse leaders can use are:
- Establishing a clear vision, mission, values, and goals for quality improvement and patient safety,
and communicating them to all stakeholders.
- Engaging staff, patients, families, and other health care professionals in identifying problems,
developing solutions, implementing changes, and monitoring outcomes.
- Providing education, training, resources, feedback, recognition, and support to staff to enhance
their knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors related to quality improvement and patient safety.
- Creating a culture of transparency, accountability, learning, and innovation, where errors are reported
and analyzed without blame or punishment, and best practices are shared and disseminated.
These strategies can be implemented and evaluated using various methods, such as surveys, audits,
interviews, focus groups, observations, benchmarks, indicators, dashboards, reports, etc.
3. What are some of the ethical issues that nurse leaders may encounter in their roles? Provide at least
three examples and explain how they can be resolved using ethical principles and frameworks. (10 points)
Answer: Some of the ethical issues that nurse leaders may encounter are:
- Conflicts of interest or loyalty between their personal values or beliefs and their professional obligations
or expectations.
- Dilemmas or trade-offs between competing values or interests of different stakeholders (e.g., patients,
