Study: Better nurse-sensitive measures needed

Nurse researchers should develop a common set of nurse-sensitive outcome measures in acute and critical care settings to enable the field’s value to be visible to patients, families and organizations, an article concludes. Published in Nursing Outlook, the study identified and characterized patient and family outcome measures that capture the work of acute and critical nursing. Researchers identified 55 nurse-sensitive outcomes from 16 studies but found them largely inadequate in capturing nursing’s work. They call on funders to support the rigorous development of nurse-sensitive measures that are important to patients and families, reflect the presence of nursing rather than its absence and focus on outcomes resulting from nursing care. Policymakers, accreditors and credentialing bodies should incentivize their use. (Nursing Outlook article, 2/24/25)