National hospital quality measures data: supporting nurses' key roles in organizational performance improvement.

With the emergence of so many methodologies for generating comparison data and with the growing accountability demands from so many sectors (each, seemingly, with its own preferred comparative methodology), nurses and quality improvement professionals may feel as if they have many masters to serve. This article outlines the Maryland Hospital Association's Quality Indicator Project's approach to working with quality improvement professionals to build their understanding of comparative data and help them determine which data analysis tools best fit their reporting needs.