A group of researchers from CINTESIS– Center for Health Technology and Services Research and professors from the Nursing School of Porto (ESEP) has developed a method that improves the safety and quality of the health care delivered by nurses, contributing also to increasing the satisfaction of these health professionals.

The new method was created in the framework of a project entitled SAFECARE – Supervisão Clínica para a segurança e qualidade dos cuidados, and aims to encourage the adoption of clinical supervision strategies that are more effective and healthcare quality and safety-oriented. The method comprises a number of methods related to management, organization of teams, and collection and monitoring of health indicators that increases the effectiveness of services.

The methodology adopted has allowed to scientifically attests the relationship between clinical supervision and the quality and safety of care, which has never been done before. The methodology has already proven results, namely with regard to the evaluation and prevention of the risk of falls in hospitalized patients and with regards of the improvement of nurses’ skills to intervene in self-care.

“The preliminary results showed that the project will have a very significant impact on the professional practice of nurses and also on the results of the organization in which the model will be implemented with regard to the quality and safety of care provided to clients,” explains Luís Carvalho, president of ESEP and researcher at CINTESIS.

Currently, the implementation of the new model of Clinical Supervision is taking place in the Local Health Unit of Matosinhos (ULSM), a reference institution of the National Health System and partner of the project. However, “the objective is to reach more units, so we have already planned to implement this new method of clinical supervision in the two largest hospitals in Porto – the Hospital Center of Porto and the Hospital Center of São João,” the researchers reveal.

Funded by the European Union through the ERDF – European Regional Development Fund and Portugal 2020, SAFECARE will be presented and discussed before more than 200 health professionals during the III Congress of Clinical Supervision in Nursing, which will take place next November 30, from 9:00 to 17:00 in the Auditorium of ESEP (Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida, in front of the IPO-Porto).