The Saint Lucia Nurses Association conducted a two-day Quality Care Improvement Conference under the theme “Nursing: Providing Quality Care for All.”

 

The conference was held during International Nurses Week. This year’s conference focused on quality care improvement. Continuous assessment of the quality of care has become an integrated part of healthcare management which has led to a number of quality improvement initiatives.

Quality healthcare has been a priority on the international health agenda, directly linked to health system strengthening and universal health coverage.

President of the Saint Lucia Nurses Association, Alicia Baptiste, noted that quality care is driven by factors such as reducing adverse events, optimizing efficiency and enhancing patient satisfaction.

“I therefore challenge us to evaluate the care we provide and ensure that customers’ needs and the legal requirements are determined, understood and consistently met. Ensure risks, including opportunities that affect product or service quality are determined and addressed. At all times nurses, aim to enhance and maintain customer satisfaction.”

Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Verena Calderon, noted that the conference serves to highlight the importance of delivering the best quality of public goods and services to meet customer satisfaction as critical component of quality health service delivery.

She said: “Achieving quality healthcare is a never ending journey. We at the Ministry of Health are committed to building capacity around the healthcare sector to address the needs of our population. Even as we do so, improving the quality of care remains a key focus of healthcare delivery. We seek to improve quality of care in a number of ways. First, by improving our healthcare systems to achieve better outcomes. The development of healthcare systems underscores this movement by transforming our model of care to be less reliant on acute hospitals, more integration with primary care centered on providing quality care for all and second, improving the skills and expertise of our healthcare professionals.”

Nurses from both the private and public sectors were in attendance at the Quality Care Improvement Conference which took place from May 25 – 26, at Bel Jou Hotel in La Pansee, Castries.

source: https://www.stlucianewsonline.com/nurses-conference-stresses-quality-care/