GW Nursing Magazine Spring 2013

y Mary Dempsey
An unexpected bedsore or infection,
a patient who doesn’t understand
how to take his medicine, a senior
discharged from the hospital but with no
one at home to care for her. Each of these—
literally a matter of life and death—is among
the deluge of concerns that surface
when experts talk about the quality of
health care.
The School of Nursing at the
George Washington University takes
these challenges so seriously that it not
only talks about care quality but also
teaches, researches and makes policy
recommendations around it. GW is one of
the few nursing schools in the country to
offer a degree in health care quality.
“Nursing is incredibly important if
you want a high-functioning, high quality
of care in every setting,” says School of
Nursing Dean Jean Johnson.
Dean Johnson points to nurses’ vital
role on the front line, interacting with
patients, with physicians, with pharmacists
and with health care organizations. She
notes that nurses have a pivotal role when
it comes to patient safety, helping to
avert errors with surgery and medication,
and nurses are usually the first members
of a care team to notice subtle changes
signaling a patient is in danger.
In other words, the more than 3 million
licensed registered nurses in the United
States, according to the American Nurses
Association, can be a formidable force for
change in the health care arena.
8 GW NURSING