The Institute of Medicine study Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001) recommended that an interdisciplinary summit be held to further reform of health professions education in order to enhance quality and patient safety. Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality is the follow up to that summit, held in June 2002, where 150 participants across disciplines and occupations developed ideas about how to integrate a core set of competencies into health professions education. These core competencies include patient-centered care, interdisciplinary teams, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and informatics. This book recommends a mix of approaches to health education improvement, including those related to oversight processes, the training environment, research, public reporting, and leadership. Educators, administrators, and health professionals can use this book to help achieve an approach to education that better prepares clinicians to meet both the needs of patients and the requirements of a changing health care system.

Because communication among health care professionals can mean the difference between patient life and death, clear and effective patient care documentation is as important as the delivery of care itself. The rehabilitation professional faces formidable documentation responsibilities. Patient care documentation created by the rehabilitation professional must be accurate, comprehensive, concise, objective, and timely. In an interdisciplinary health care environment, documentation must also be expeditiously communicated to other professionals on the health care team.

"Nurses play a vital role in improving the safety and quality of patient car -- not only in the hospital or ambulatory treatment facility, but also of community-based care and the care performed by family members. Nurses need know what proven techniques and interventions they can use to enhance patient outcomes. To address this need, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), with additional funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has prepared this comprehensive, 1,400-page, handbook for nurses on patient safety and quality -- Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. (AHRQ Publication No. 08-0043)." - online AHRQ blurb, http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nurseshdbk/

Improving Nursing Documentation and Reducing Risk helps nurse managers create policies, processes, and ongoing auditing practices to ensure that complete and accurate documentation is implemented by their staff, without creating additional time burdens.

Care of the Acutely Ill Adult equips all nurses with the knowledge and skills to care for deteriorating patients in the clinical environment. With its unique system-based approach, this key book emphasizes systematic assessment, careful monitoring, and timely escalation, and is essential reading for all nurses working in acute care settings.

Provides information on documentation issues, including electronic medical records, legal and ethical implications, and documentation in acute cases, along with a variety of charting examples.