Beyond Nursing Quality Measurement: The Nation’s First Regional Nursing Virtual Dashboard

This paper describes the data reporting infrastructure of the California Nursing Outcomes Coalition (CalNOC), including the system’s capacity to provide member hospitals with seamless, interactive access to sophisticated reports in a secure environment. By leveraging the data repository to create both standardized and customized reporting capacity, CalNOC significantly improves the responsiveness and strategic value of the data to members, who create query-driven customized reports generated directly from the dataset. CalNOC measures and reporting tools include 7 of the 15 National Quality Forum-endorsed nursing-sensitive measures for inpatient care, as well as pressure ulcer prevention measures from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s 5 Million Lives campaign. CalNOC is well positioned to add other tools and measures as appropriate. The resulting capacity for a virtual dashboard, the first in the nursing quality measurement arena, is unique in the field and a model for further study and emulation.