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Duke University Medical Center
VOLUME 23, NUMBER 47
DECEMBERS, 1976
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Measuring Up to Nursing Care Standards
By David Williamson
If luxury hotels treated their guests
the way patiei\ts sometimes get
treated ir\ hospitals across the Uitited
States, most of them would not be in
business very long.
While any strict comparison of
services offered by hotels and
hospitals is unfair to health care
workers, unfortunately for patients,
changing hospitals is not always as
easy as changing hotels.
In an effort to assure consistent,
high-quality care for their own
patients, nurses here have designed
a unique program that first defines
specific patient care goals and then
allows nurses to determine if those
goals are being met.
Most Comprehensive
The project, known as the Quality
Assurance Program in Nursing
(QAPN), may be the most
comprehensive of its kind in the
nation, according to Wilma
Minniear, director of nursing
services, who set the plan in motion.
'"Quality assurance' is on the lips
of nurses all across the country,"
Miss Minniear said. "The concept of
accurately measuring the quality of
care a patient receives while he or
she is in the hospital began in the
1950s, so that in itself is not new."
/
TAKING NOTES ON NURSING CARE—Brenda Green, an MLPN on the Neurosurgical
Unit who also serves as an interviewer for the new Quality Assurance Program in
Nursing, chats with a patient on Holmes Ward to get his views on the care he has
received. The hospital-wide interviews are a key source of information on the
performance of nurses as a group, according to QAPN director Mary Ann Peter.
(Photo by Jim Wallace)
Cancer Answers: Just a Phone Call Away
By William Erwin
More than 3,000 people have called
the Cancer Information Service here
since its toll-free telephone line
opened six months ago.
Set up by the Duke
Comprehensive Cancer Center and
the American Cancer Society with
funds from the National Cancer
Institute, the service gives
physician-approved answers to
almost any question about cancer.
The number is 800 672-0943.
Callers in Durham, Butner and
Creedmoor can dial 286-2266.
"We've had a lot of calls from
white women," said Dr. Diane
McGrath, director of the service.
"Now we'd like to encourage more
calls from the black population and
from men in general."
Distribution of Callers
More than 1,000 calls came from six
counties. Dr. McGrath said. Durham
County leads the list with 245 calls,
followed by Wake, 235;
Mecklenburg, 212; Cumberland, 150;
Guilford, 142; and New Hanover,
109.
Media coverage led to the volume
of calls from these countries. Dr.
McGrath said.
"We've had calls from 97 of the
state's 100 counties," she said, "but
none at all from Cherokee County,
Clay or Gates." Other mountain and
eastern shore counties produced
only a handful of calls each.
"We're talking about a low density
population in some of these areas,"
Dr. McGrath said. "And for some
people, cancer just isn't that
important."
Detailed Answers
Some callers say they're surprised
to find that the service doesn't give
"yes" or "no" answers.
"We go into much more detail,"
Dr. McGrath said. "And we mail out
reading nuiterial, if it's available, to
those who ask for it."
Staff members and volunteers at
(Continued on page 6)
"What is new," she said, "is the
practical application of such a
program that lets every nurse know
exactly what patient goals to strive
for and what nursing care patients
should receive. At the same time, it
gives her an objective way to
determine how she is measuring up
to optimal standards."
Defining Standards
Mary Ann Peter, QAPN project
director, said "quality assurance"
began at Duke with a defining of
patient care standards.
First, nurses on all levels got
together to describe common
denominators of care for all hospital
inpatients, regardless of age,
physical status and location, she
explained.
Second, nurses with specialized
experience defined individualized
"patient population" standards for
persons suffering from the same
illness or who undergo the same
kind of therapy.
Similar Care for Similar Illnesses
Patients who receive kidney
transplants constitute one
population, for example, and barring
other problems or complications,
receive similar nursing care.
"If a nurse wants to check herself
on what she should do for kidney
transplant patients, she can consult
the comprehensive entry for that
(Continued on page 7)
University Opens
Office Downtown
For Employment
Duke moved its employment office
off campus to the Roberts Building at
505 S. l>uke St., yesterday.
Herbert Aikens, associate director
of personnel, said the downtown
location will allow better access to
job information at the university and
medical center for prospective
employees.
Duke's job turnover is about 2,500
a year, Aikens said.
The new office, in Suite 7, will be
the first contact point with the
university for jobseekers. It will have
a current listing of openings and
receive applications for employment.
Aikens said the central campus
employment office will handle
processing of new employees for the
payroll, all transfer requests,
interviews and referrals.
He said persons who filed
applications at the current location of
the employment office on Campus
Drive will not need to refile at the
Roberts Building.
The new office will be open from 8
a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays, Aikens
said.