We recognize that nurses across Ontario are dedicated to ensuring their patients receive the best possible care. To support nurses, CNO runs a Quality Assurance (QA) Program to help cultivate an ongoing habit for nurses to reflect on their practice to identify learning gaps. This process helps nurses keep their skills and knowledge up-to-date and maintain their continuing competence.
Part of this program is QA Every Day, which consists of two key parts: practice reflection and developing a personalized learning plan.
“I think it's really important that we, as nurses, think about quality with everything that we do in our practice—on a daily basis—and within each and every interaction that we have with our patients,” said Anne-Marie Murphy, a practicing Nurse Practitioner (NP) and one of CNO’s QA Peer Coaches. “We can make a difference through quality care in our patients’ health, in their health outcomes and with our ability to empower them so that they can participate and be proactive in their own health care.”
Part 1: Practice reflection
The daily practice reflection consists of thinking through your strengths and identifying any learning needs in your practice. By paying close attention to your daily work, following standards and guidelines and learning continuously, you contribute to safe and quality patient care.
“I believe that practice reflection is key in bringing forward quality to our practice on an ongoing basis. We need to reflect on our interactions with our patients and think, ‘How did that go? Was there anything that perhaps I could have done differently?’” said Murphy.
In addition to reflecting on your daily patient interactions, you can consider identifying new learning goals and opportunities for professional development and exploring ways to address any gaps in your practice.
For more helpful practice reflection questions and resources, please see the Practice Reflection section on CNO’s website.
Part 2: Learning plan
This fall, we encourage you to check in on your existing learning plan and its current goals. If the learning goals that you identified earlier in the year are no longer aligned with your current learning path, you can update your learning plan with new goals and identify activities that will help you reach them. CNO suggests nurses focus on at least two learning goals each year.
“We need to bring our best forward each and every day and it's the little pieces that lead to the big,” Murphy told The Standard. “I often use this example—in hospitals we can make a difference on whether that patient walks out that door and goes home, or whether they remain in bed. We are that powerful. We can make the difference, and we do make the difference.”
Visit cno.org to download a learning plan template and access other helpful QA Every Day resources.