Identify A Measurable Patient-Centered Practice Problem 2
You will not be collecting data. That single constraint means the problem has to be chosen from what your unit already measures, which is a narrower list than it sounds.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 25, 2026
Existing data is the constraint that picks the problem
Read the constraint before choosing the problem, because it inverts the usual order. You will not collect data during the practice experience, so the problem has to be one your setting already measures, and the brief helpfully lists the kinds of thing that usually exist: satisfaction scores, medication error rates, falls, central line and catheter infection rates. Start from that list rather than from what feels most important, then check three things about the data before committing: that you can actually obtain it rather than knowing it exists, that it is reported at a level that includes your unit rather than only the organisation, and that it covers enough time to show whether anything changed. A problem chosen for its importance and then abandoned for want of data costs a term, and the check takes an afternoon. The verification takes an afternoon and it decides whether the whole practice experience is workable.
The word measurable is doing similar work and the word patient-centred is doing more. A problem is patient-centred when the outcome that improves is something the patient experiences: not documentation compliance, not audit scores, but falls, pressure injuries, unplanned readmission, pain control, or waiting to be answered when they ring. Compliance measures are easy to obtain and easy to move and they answer a different question, which is why they are the commonest wrong choice here. The conversation with the key leader is also a graded element rather than a courtesy, so report what it actually changed: leaders know which problems already have three failed initiatives behind them, which have data nobody trusts, and which are about to be addressed anyway by something already scheduled. If the conversation did not change your thinking, say what it confirmed and why that mattered. Leaders also know which measures nobody trusts, which is worth finding out before you build a project on one.
Likely learning objectives
- Let data availability constrain the choice of problem.
- Verify obtainability, unit-level reporting and time span before committing.
- Distinguish patient-centred outcomes from compliance measures.
- Report what a leader conversation actually changed.
Assignment instructions
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Identify a measurable patient-centered practice problem related to quality or safety and relevant to your practice setting that you will also focus on in your Capstone Paper and post a brief description of the problem and an explanation of why you selected it. Explain how the conversation you had with the key leader in your practice setting impacted your decision to address this particular practice problem. Be sure to support your practice problem with the literature that indicates the relevance of this problem for nursing practice. Provide evidence from your practice area and describe the data that is available. You will not be collecting any data during the practice experience project; you will use data already available to you in your workplace or other practice setting. Think about the different kinds of data that is shared with you in your work area. For example, data may include patient satisfaction scores, medication error rates, fall, CLABSI or CAUTI rates. Analyzing the data available to you is how you will identify that a quality problem exists. Data identifies potential areas for improvement and monitors the effectiveness of any changes. It is important to obtain baseline data before beginning a quality improvement project and to analyze results during and at the end of a project. Note: The practice problem must be related to patient outcomes. (Staffing cannot be your main practice problem for the completion of the Practice Experience Project and Capstone Paper.) Note: If you use the same practice problem that was presented in the Week 1 Discussion on quality theories, keep in mind that you must be much more specific in this post and explain how it is relevant to your setting and nursing practice.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes. Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages. Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor. The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.
What this discussion requires
- 01A measurable patient-centred practice problem related to quality or safety and relevant to your practice setting.
- 02A brief description of the problem and an explanation of why you selected it.
- 03How the conversation with the key leader in your practice setting impacted your decision.
- 04Literature indicating the relevance of this problem for nursing practice.
- 05Evidence from your practice area and a description of the data available to you.
Data, problem, leader conversation, literature
What your setting already measures
List the data actually available to you.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Availability established first.
The problem
State it in terms of a patient-experienced outcome.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Patient-centred rather than process-centred.
Why this one
Give the magnitude, the trend and the harm.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Selection justified by data.
The leader conversation
Report what it revealed and how it changed the choice.
What the assessor is likely looking for
A conversation with a consequence.
Literature
Establish the problem's relevance to nursing practice.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Evidence for relevance, not just for existence.
The data you will use
Describe source, level, interval and limitations.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Limitations acknowledged.
Where the practice evidence sits
Recommended databases
- AHRQ
- PubMed Central
- NCBI Bookshelf
- CINAHL
Search sequence
- 1.Check what your unit's quality dashboard actually reports.
- 2.Search the nursing literature on the problem you are considering.
- 3.Look up the measure's definition so your data matches the literature.
- 4.Find evidence on interventions that have moved this measure elsewhere.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Patient Safety and Quality Improvement
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality · 2024
AHRQ patient safety, for the measures commonly available in practice settings.
Nursing and Patient Safety
AHRQ Patient Safety Network · 2024
Nursing and patient safety, for nursing-sensitive outcome selection.
Patient Safety and Quality
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, NCBI Bookshelf · 2008
Patient safety and quality, for the evidence base on nursing-sensitive problems.
HCAHPS: Patients' Perspectives of Care Survey
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services · 2026
HCAHPS, as one commonly available patient-experience data source.
Section 4: Ways To Approach the Quality Improvement Process
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality · 2024
AHRQ improvement guidance, for using existing data to establish a problem.
Before you post
Common mistakes
- Choosing the problem first and looking for data afterwards.
- Selecting a compliance measure instead of a patient outcome.
- Assuming data exists because the organisation reports something similar.
- Reporting the leader conversation as a formality.
- Choosing a problem with no unit-level data behind it.
Submission checklist
- Is the problem one your setting already measures?
- Have you confirmed you can obtain the data at unit level?
- Is the outcome something a patient experiences?
- Does the post say what the leader conversation changed?
- Is the relevance supported by literature?
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read Brinevia's academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Maren Caldwell
MSN, RN, CNE
Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation
Maren is a registered nurse with over 15 years of clinical and educational experience in medical-surgical nursing. She writes on NCLEX preparation, patient care fundamentals, pharmacology and evidence-based practice.
Reviewed by
Dr. Tessa Redmond
DNP, RN, CNE
Evidence-based practice and clinical education
Tessa is a doctorally-prepared nurse educator. She reviews Brinevia content for clinical accuracy and alignment with current evidence-based guidelines.