• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Increasing nurse participation in NDNQI surveys

HCPro's Weekly Update on the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®*, April 3, 2007

To increase the percentage of respondents to The National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) RN satisfaction survey, Lahey Clinic in Burlington, MA, established a team led by Cynthia Fiekers, BS, RN, Patricia Conway, MHA, RN, and Renee Wheeler, BA, and used a variety of methods to communicate to RNs the importance of their participation. Some of the methods included:

• Weekly messages in the nursing calendar that used the theme "Your Voice Counts"
• A letter from the CNO to every eligible RN, outlining the importance of each nurse's participation
• Messages in the nursing newsletter and the hospitalwide newsletter about the survey
• Global e-mails to all nurses encouraging their participation
• Promise of pay for time spent on survey, if completed off hours
• Weekly prizes to the unit with the highest percentage of respondents.

As the survey was underway, the team used several incentives to encourage nurse participation. For example, three times each week, the percentage of nurses responding from each unit was announced in a global e-mail, fostering friendly competition to be the unit with the highest response rate. At the end of the survey, units with 100% participation received funds to use as they saw fit. The effort raised the total RN participation in the survey by 46%.

Conway says, "We plan to use some of the same techniques as we move toward our 2007 NDNQI RN satisfaction survey and an even higher percentage of participation." Lahey Clinic is currently aspiring for ANCC Magnet Recognition Program® (MRP) status.

Source: Patricia Conway, MHA, RN, MRP program manager

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive