Nursing Data on Patient Safety in California Will Expand to Include Two Pacific Northwest States

Nursing Data on Patient Safety in California Will Expand to Include Two Pacific Northwest States

Washington and Oregon Nursing Executives Will Infuse Additional Funding and Extensive Collaboration to Strengthen Research and Reporting Tools

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The California Nursing Outcomes Coalition Database Project launches a new strategic alliance! CALNOC will significantly expand its membership with hospitals from Washington and Oregon as it launches a new strategic alliance with the Northwest Organization of Nurse Executives (NWONE) - more than 350 nurse leaders in Washington and Oregon.

CALNOC was the nation's first ongoing regional database for nursing-sensitive quality measurement related to hospital performance and patient safety. In recognition of its growth and expansion from a regional database to a national database, the CALNOC brand will now operate under the name Collaborative Alliance for Nursing Outcomes (CALNOC).

"Our partnership with NWONE will enrich the nursing data collected and produce invaluable information that will guide staffing to optimize patient care quality and performance improvement in hospitals throughout California and the Northwest," said Mary Foley, RN, MSN, CALNOC Director of Education and assistant director, UCSF School of Nursing Center for Nursing Research and Innovations. "We cannot be more pleased with this collaboration and the talent and expertise that our nursing leader counterparts and their hospitals in Oregon and Washington will bring to our collective efforts to achieve the shared vision of clinical excellence."

CALNOC nursing-sensitive quality indicators and Web-based customizable reports have become integral tools for hospital quality, safety and performance improvement since the project was established in 1996 by California nurse leaders with grant funds from the American Nurses Association and California hospitals. As the first ongoing nursing quality database, CALNOC's mission is to build and sustain a robust nurse staffing and quality database repository; conduct research to advance evidence-based administrative and clinical decision-making; and synthesize and disseminate data to shape public policy, practice and education with respect to the quality of patient care delivery. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Department of Nursing Research and Development provides data management services and is part of the research team. UCSF School of Nursing's Center for Nursing Research and Innovation coordinates project operations and leads CALNOC's research and education activities.

Before partnering with members of NWONE, approximately 200 CALNOC member hospitals collaborated to measure nursing outcomes. Although the member hospitals have been predominately from California, several have been participating already from Oregon, Hawaii, Nevada and Arizona. These hospitals submit monthly reports on unit-level nurse staffing, patient care workload, key processes of care and patient outcomes, which include falls and hospital-acquired pressure ulcers. CALNOC participation enables member hospitals to benchmark their performance, understand variation in practice and outcomes between hospitals and learn from the nation's best performers. CALNOC data are used by the California Hospital Assessment and Reporting Taskforce (CHART) for public reporting and has been a source of information related to the impact of state-mandated nursing ratios on falls and pressure ulcers. It is expected that CALNOC participation will be a valuable tool for NWONE members and their hospitals as they monitor and manage nurse staffing effectiveness and patient safety.

"CALNOC is excited to broaden its scope of work, particularly in collecting comprehensive nursing-sensitive data from hospitals in Oregon and Washington," said Diane Storer Brown, PhD, RN, FNAHQ, FAAN Co-Principal Investigator CALNOC and Clinical Practice Leader, Hospital Accreditation Program, Kaiser Permanente Northern California. "Our growth in numbers and influence is an important step toward assuring safe, quality patient care in hospitals nationwide."

CALNOC is a joint project of the American Nurses Association/California and the Association of California Nurse Leaders. It is the first nursing quality database in the nation. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Department of Nursing Research and Development provides data management services and is part of the research team. UCSF School of Nursing's Center for Nursing Research and Innovation coordinates project operations and leads education and research activities.

Source: Collaborative Alliance for Nursing Outcomes

CONTACT: Patricia McFarland of the Association of California Nurse
Leaders, +1-916-779-6949, for the Collaborative Alliance for Nursing Outcomes

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