Please help me... How to get in the QA/QI field:)

HealthyNurse · May 15, 2011

When you say "nursing education", what is it that you do exactly? Are you in clinical staff development or do you teach at a college/university? As an educator, you are working in a field closely related to quality- you just need to adequately reflect this in your resume. Staff education is related to quality because you are ensuring that nurses are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to deliver high quality care. By ensuring that the nurses are competent to perform their duties, you are ensuring quality of care for patients on a much higher level.

When you are searching for QI/QA jobs, it will help if you look in a field in which you have experience, oncology or long term care. Again, write your resume with the specific position that you are applying to in mind. When job searching, I always have numerous versions of my resume. Even if you haven't had an official job in QI/QA, I'm sure that you have had experiences in your positions that are relative to the QI field. For example, have you ever participated in audits on your unit or peer review?

lifeisajourney06 · May 16, 2011

When you say "nursing education", what is it that you do exactly? Are you in clinical staff development or do you teach at a college/university? As an educator, you are working in a field closely related to quality- you just need to adequately reflect this in your resume. Staff education is related to quality because you are ensuring that nurses are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to deliver high quality care. By ensuring that the nurses are competent to perform their duties, you are ensuring quality of care for patients on a much higher level.
When you are searching for QI/QA jobs, it will help if you look in a field in which you have experience, oncology or long term care. Again, write your resume with the specific position that you are applying to in mind. When job searching, I always have numerous versions of my resume. Even if you haven't had an official job in QI/QA, I'm sure that you have had experiences in your positions that are relative to the QI field. For example, have you ever participated in audits on your unit or peer review?

I am currently teaching CNA classes and have taught other classes. I have done audits and staff training and staff skills check off. I have also done med pass. I worked for the state, doing audits in the facilities. But no luck in finding a position in QA/QI field. I will try to make changes to my CV. Can you tell me what you are doing currently and how you got the position, if you dont mind.

Thank you for your help.

HealthyNurse · May 22, 2011

I am currently teaching CNA classes and have taught other classes. I have done audits and staff training and staff skills check off. I have also done med pass. I worked for the state, doing audits in the facilities. But no luck in finding a position in QA/QI field. I will try to make changes to my CV. Can you tell me what you are doing currently and how you got the position, if you dont mind.
Thank you for your help.

I currently work as a state surveyor. I have a background in QI and staff education within my specialty area. I also have a master's degree in health care administration, with a specialty in quality and patient safety. Personally, I think the master's degree helped me to get into QI and staff education, but you have to realize that I was a relatively young nurse when I first got these positions. I had a few years of nursing experience, but most people that get into those type of positions have years of experience.

It sounds like you should have no issues in getting a QA/QI position with the experience that you list. Are you looking within your specialty area? Typically, you should have nursing experience in the area for which you are trying to find a quality position.

lifein08 · Aug 6, 2011

Thank you for your help.