Measuring what nurses do

Nurses care for patients and their families at arguably the most difficult times in their lives and develop caring relationships that facilitate healing. The recent publication A Call to Action: Blueprint for Change in Acute and Critical Care Nursing highlights and redefines what nurses do in nine domains of acute and critical care practice and proposes new nursing outcomes. Whereas many current nursing measures are either process measures or measures of negative events, this article discusses the importance of shifting the narrative on outcome measures to positive metrics that directly reflect the presence and excellence of nursing care.