title: Quality: from imperatives to innovations.
abstract: I have outlined the quality issues facing critical care nurses today and have also presented some challenges for the future. Critical care nurses must now enter a new era characterized by unification, collaboration and involvement, increased professional autonomy, and caring to meet the customer's expectations for quality in fact and quality in perception. Through innovation, critical care nurses can control the pace of change and influence quality in critical care. Recall the kaleidoscope and remember that its intent is to make the whole seem more than the sum of its parts. The image on the horizon is a dynamic and powerful nursing profession as a whole, with critical care nurses assuming an essential and more important role. In fact, the image on the horizon looks bright to me.
mesh_terms: D003258:Consumer Behavior / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends; D003422:Critical Care / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000600:supply & distribution; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D014481:United States