“Navigation to prioritizing the patient” – first-line nurse managers’ experiences of participating in a quality improvement collaborative

Abstract

A quality improvement collaborative encompassing knowledge transfer and reflection may create an important fellowship for health care leaders, encouraging and enabling quality improvement work in their own organization. It is crucial to invite all leaders from an organization to be able to share the experience and continue their collaboration with their staff in the organization. Continuity over time, following up elements of the quality improvement work at joint meetings, involvement by users, and self-development of and voluntary involvement in the quality improvement collaborative seem to be important for knowledge development in quality improvement. The supportive elements of the quality improvement collaborative fellowship were crucial to critical thinking and to the first-line nurse managers' own development and security in mastering the quality improvement work processes. They preferred prioritizing the patients in quality improvement work, despite haste and obstructive situations in an everyday context.