Interviewer: What is the nurse’s role in providing input for the design of this healthcare program? Can you provide examples?

K.S.: Nurses have firsthand experience with safety issues within geriatric care. Nurses are uniquely qualified to inform health policies and program planning due to their educational qualifications, rich communication skills, leadership role in healthcare, association with healthcare business, and nature of practice settings (Milstead & Short, 2019). Their proximity to the patient makes nurses the source of the most valuable insights that can help design the program. For instance, Betty. T. is a geriatric nurse who has been in service at the geriatric ward for the last 13 years. She has enough experience with all safety issues that occur. She can point out the at-risk patients and help design the safety measures based on the observed individual patient behaviours and preferences. Another example is that all of the nurses in the unit understand the needs of each patient and can help implement the program in a more targeted way for each patient to help avoid instances of trial and error, which can be costly.