The Evaluation Plan Many different conceptual models exist for evaluating a process. An evaluation is a necessary step to determine how well a process is working and if the targets are being met. The measurements in a quality improvement project are important to assess where the organization stands with the project, and to determine success of the project (Sadeghi, Barzi, Mikhail, & Shabot, 2013). There are both financial performance metrics and quality performance metrics that are used in healthcare to determine success. The purpose of this paper is to propose on outline for evaluating the quality improvement initiative and financial implications, along with giving a description of specific metrics. A recommendation will be discussed as to how the organization can represent the data related to the quality improvement issue for ongoing monitoring. Also, there will be an explanation of how the organization can create an integrated view of performance that links finance and quality.
Methods for Evaluating
To improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of patient care, applying research and evidence-based practice is necessary. In the Institute of Medicine’s report, Keeping Patient Safe: Transforming the Work Environment of Nurses, there is an emphasis on adequate nurse staffing (Hickey & Brosnan, 2012). Therefore, the quality improvement initiative is to focus on closing the gap between the core staffing and actual staffing in a six-week schedule.
Providing the best care to each patient starts with providing the proper amount of staff members to each unit. Looking at the needs of different units not only allows administration to see areas for improvement, but also areas that are being handled correctly. Utilizing the indicators provided by The Joint Commission, 4 East, a pediatric medical/surgical floor, has a high rate of falls and nosocomial pressure ulcers that appears to be related to the increase overtime nurses have been working for that floor (Nightingale, 2010). Research has shown increases in adverse events have been related to nurses working over 40 hours a week (Bae, 2012).
Mulloy, D. F., & Hughes, R. G. (2008). Patient safety & quality: an evidence-based handbook for nurses. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2678/
The nurse manager in today’s health care has a solid role in providing a healthy working environment. Healthy working environment is the basis for safe and better patient outcomes. Healthy working environment in a unit depends on the inspiration, motivation and support from the nurse manager and the management in all the ways. So as a nurse manager in a unit, the change I wish to initiate is the safe staffing patterns. Safe staffing patterns are always important for safe working environments to deliver excellent patient care. Staffing and scheduling means providing an adequate staff mix to meet the needs of the patients (Grohar-Murray & Langan, 2011). Nurse manager should know how to schedule and skill mix to provide adequate
Nurse staffing and how it relates to the quality of patient care has been an important issue in the field of nursing for quite some time. This topic has been particularly popular recently due to the fact that there is an increasing age among those who make up the Baby Boomer era in the United States. There will be a greater need for nurse staffing to increase to help accommodate the higher demand of care. Although nursing is “the top occupation in terms of job growth,” there are still nursing shortages among various hospitals across America today. The shortage in nurses heavily weighs on the overall quality of care that each individual patient receives during their hospital stay (Rosseter, 2014).
NHS quality improvement programs main purpose is to collect and review data entered in order to recognize the opportunities to improve business operations in healthcare. To bring changes in quality, it is necessary to respond to patient’s ideas and implement them for the better results. The key issues that are to be considered for quality-improvement NHS program, as it moves forward are the needs for the patients, necessity of the funds for quality improvements, needs of the service providers and expectations of the community. Outcomes for people and also change expertise. And to improve business operations in healthcare and also recognize opportunities.
Over time the health care industry has become more complex. Health care is rapidly evolving and continuing to complicate our delivery of care, which in turn has the same effect on quality of care. This steady evolution and change results in nursing shortages and an increase in the prevalence of errors being made. In hopes of preventing these errors and creating safe and high quality patient care, with the focus on new and improved ways of thinking, The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) initiative was developed. The QSEN focuses on the following competencies: patient-centered care, quality improvement, safety, and teamwork and collaboration. Their initiatives work to prepare and develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are necessary to make improvements in the quality and safety of health care systems (Qsen.org, 2014).
Outcome based processes geared towards improving outcomes by implementing performance improvement checks on all complaints or negative feedback acquired from patients, healthcare providers, employees, vendors (all stakeholders) and environment of care rounds. These would include QC measures, infectious control measures, ACC measures, HCAP measures to name a few. Align with nationally recognized locators for healthcare facilities to compare our organization with local and nationally recognized healthcare organizations to see where we rank. Strategic goals established by The Joint Commission and initiatives by CMS will help improve overall performance.
Purpose: The purpose of this speech is to inform my audience about the importance of safe nurse staffing that can help improve patient satisfaction, decrease patient complications, reduce nurse fatigue, improve nurse retention, decrease patient mortality, and reduce medical and medication error.
For health care organizations quality data collection is an essential tool used for data collection. The information produced from the data assists the health care organization in other functions such as effective ways to manage and perform decision making for the organization, this includes the strategic planning process. Quality improvement is the method of assessing processes and provides the information necessary to improve services. All of this together allows the health care organization to become a high producing system of
Patients want and expect to receive high quality care. Nurses want to provide the best care possible to their patients and like everybody else; want a pleasing job environment. Hospitals, on the other hand, are expected to provide a safe environment to patients, have enough nursing staff and remain profitable (Keller, Dulle, Kwiecinski, Altimier & Owens, 2013). The ultimate goal is to improve quality of care and patient safety across the United States; therefore, all the different interests of these major stakeholders should be taken into
In any continuous quality improvement effort, measurement is the key element (Sollecito, & Johnson, 2013). “Measurement and statistical analysis are used to assess the impact of an improvement effort” (Sollecito & Johnson, 2013). To Measure the impact of the program, the hospital utilized a departmental quality improvement assessment with a scoring matrix for self-assessment (McLaughlin, et. al., 2012). The scoring matrix consisted of five category ratings which each department head had to complete. Univer4sal Charting and Resource Utilization were also used for measurement (McLaughlin, et. al., 2012).
Examining planning for and effectively measuring the health care quality indicators make healthcare quality more transparent and provide information for quality improvement programs and initiatives in the healthcare system.
One of the many goals of the nursing profession is to provide high-quality, safe patient care. There are many responsibilities that come with a nursing career and when the nurse to patient ratio increases, there is a possibility that it may hinder the safe care that patients deserve, and this may result in negative patient outcomes and level of satisfaction. Staffing is one of the many issues that healthcare facilities face. In many facilities, there never seems to be enough nurses per shift to provide high quality, thorough patient care which often leads to burnt out staff, and frustrated patients and families. This review discusses the findings of quantitative studies and one systematic review that involves patient outcomes in relation to nurse staffing.
Staffing deficits pose a direct threat of manifesting negative outcomes associated with the delivery of patient care. Anything or anyone that compromises patient care should be eradicated immediately. This author believes that staffing deficits remain a consistent issue due to lack of solutions that actively address the issue. This author believes that inadequate staffing is a major concern due to the degree of harm it can impose on patients. Adverse events associated with
Within every company there is a customer, regardless of what your line of business is it is being done for the consumer albeit an external consumer or the internal consumer. The customer’s needs and expectations should be the driving force behind the decisions we make and the problems we solve…the customer, not our own personal or monetary gain. As quality improves we have to make sure that we are improving what matters to our customers not want we want to improve upon for own sake.