Quality improvement opportunity

HLT362 Week 4 Assignment

Quality improvement opportunity

Introduction

Roditi et al. (2017) argue that the quality improvement is a critical process that allows the healthcare providers to improve their services to the patients and hence there is a chance of an improvement in the satisfaction of patients. As such, the process of quality improvement is of importance in the health setting. Precisely, the aims of quality improvement in the health setting are to allow for the reduction of cost of provision of healthcare services of or the improvement of the performance and the effectiveness of the healthcare services. As a result of the complete enhancement of the safety of patients as a result of the process of quality improvement, it is vital that the process of quality improvement is carried out. This paper will identify and explore a quality improvement opportunity in the healthcare setting.

Overview of the problem and the setting in which the problem or issue occurs

The problem of concern in the health setting is the increasing cases of medical errors as a result of the communication challenges and lack of teamwork among healthcare providers. Mousavi-roknabadi et al. (2018) opine that the leading causes of errors in the health sector today is the lack of reliable communication process and breakdowns in teamwork. As a result of the rise in medical errors, there will be an increase in the cases of poor health services being offered to the patients. The occurrence of medical errors may arise due to the lack of effective labeling of medication or the patient bed and hence leading to the possible case of administration of the wrong medication to the wrong patient.

The cases of medical errors could as well increase with the rise in the challenge of getting enough resources for the provision of a reliable intervention process. This will, in addition, result in the rise in the challenge of attainment of a reliable standard of the patient care process. The need for change in the medical setting is imminent any may require for the availability of a reliable standard of patient care strategies that are expected to ensure that there is an ease in the process of development of the standard of patient care services. This is attributed to the fact that the willingness of the healthcare providers to help in the provision of reliable kind of services will ensure that one is able to manage the challenges of unreliable processes of medical errors. The nursing setting will be the main area of concern that will need to have an improvement in the quality of services being offered.

Why a quality improvement initiative is needed in this area and the expected outcome

The cases of medical errors in the health sector have a devastating impact on the standard of the patient care process. This results in the need for the development of the strategies that will allow the nurses to minimize the issue of medical errors. Bari, Khan, and Rathore (2016) espouse that one of the effects of medical errors is the rise in the chance of the patients being drugged unnecessarily or patients may end up getting a medication that was not meant for them. Typically, the challenge may cause issues with the family and the patients since it will result in the rise in the chance of an unreliable process of unreliable care for patients.

The increase in the cases of medical errors as well result in the deterioration in the quality of nursing care and hence causing a challenge for the healthcare providers to offer reliable care. This may end up causing a rise in the mistrust from the patients and ending up resulting in the healthcare providers losing any confidence in the process of provision of care. Typically, this is a well a challenge in that there will be a possibility in the cost of hospitalization for the patients since the process will cause a challenge in the fact that there will be a chance that the patients will have to be readmitted after taking the wrong medication. This may as well be the cause that needs one to take action for the elimination of the issue of unreliable healthcare services. It is therefore important that the processes of nursing care are provided for the healthcare providers to have a chance of improving the quality of healthcare services.

How the results of previous research demonstrate support for the quality improvement initiative and its projected outcomes

Finn et al. (2018) argue that the cases of medical errors have been a challenge for the past many years and there has been a rise in the need for the development of measures to eliminate cases of unreliable healthcare chances. Taking this into account, there is the support that the strategies of management of medical errors may include the development of an effective communication channel or process for the patients to follow. As added by Bari, Khan, and Rathore (2016), the use of effective communication will allow for the elimination of any cases of ineffective handling of the medication for patients. This will as well allow for the ease in the enhancement of the standard of operation of the nurses in the medical setting.

The study by Wang et al. (2015) affirms that the support of effective communication is necessary for the support of the fact that one has a role in the process of developing reliable processes of change that will allow for the ease in the exchange of rounds among the nurses. The communication of the nurses before exchange of rounds is important since it allows for the nurses coming on duty to have an understanding of the medication given to each of the patients (Gorbach et al., 2015). This is a critical process that will allow for the enhancement of the process of teamwork among healthcare providers. In turn, this will allow for the evasion of the cases of medical errors that may cause a challenge ion the standard of patient care processes.

Steps necessary to implement the quality improvement initiative

The process of implementation of the quality improvement initiative which in this case is the development of effective communication and teamwork among the healthcare providers will be carried out in definite steps. The first step is communication with the healthcare providers on the initiative and the importance of the implementation of the initiatives. This is expected as well to help in the process of management of the patient care conflict issues. The next step will be the training of staff on the process of communications and enhancement of teamwork among the healthcare providers. This will as well ensure that one is able to eliminate any doubts among the healthcare providers who will be involved in the nursing process. This will be followed by the actual implementation of the process.

How the quality improvement initiative will be evaluated to determine whether there was an improvement

The process of evaluation of the quality improvement initiative will be prudent for the determination of the success that is attained in the reduction of the cases of medical errors. Typically, the process of evaluation will be carried out by the assessment of the success that is attained by the use of the healthcare provider and medical staff in the identification of the changes in the cases of errors. As such, there will be an assessment of the possible impacts of the implementation of communication and teamwork initiatives. This will be critical for the elimination of any chance of unreliable health issues of concern including the cases of having measures to eliminate the errors.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be deduced that the process of quality improvement is of critical importance in the healthcare sector since it helps in the elimination of any issues of concern. In this paper, the issue of concern that requires quality improvement is the issue of medical errors. The intervention that has been proposed is to have an effective communication and teamwork process and in turn allow for the elimination of any issues pertaining to medical errors. The process of evaluation will be carried out by assessing the changes in medical errors in the health setting.

References

Bari, A., Khan, R. A., & Rathore, A. W. (2016). Medical errors; causes, consequences, emotional response and resulting behavioral change. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 32(3), 523.

Finn, K. M., Metlay, J. P., Chang, Y., Nagarur, A., Yang, S., Landrigan, C. P., & Iyasere, C. (2018). Effect of Increased Inpatient Attending Physician Supervision on Medical Errors, Patient Safety, and Resident Education: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Internal Medicine, 178(7), 952–959.

Gorbach, C., Blanton, L., Lukawski, B. A., Varkey, A. C., Pitman, E. P., & Garey, K. W. (2015). Frequency of and risk factors for medication errors by pharmacists during order verification in a tertiary care medical center. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 72(17), 1471–1474.

Mousavi-roknabadi, R. S., Momennasab, M., Askarian, M., Haghshenas, A., & Marjadi, B. (2018). Causes of medical errors and its under-reporting amongst pediatric nurses in Iran: a qualitative study. International Journal for Quality in Health Care.

Roditi, R. E., Ishman, S., Lee, S., Lin, S., & Shin, J. J. (2017). Medications for Allergic Rhinitis An Opportunity for Quality Improvement. Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, 156(1), 70–80.

Wang, H., Jin, J., Feng, X., Huang, X., Zhu, L., Zhao, X., & Zhou, Q. (2015). Quality improvements in decreasing medication administration errors made by nursing staff in an academic medical center hospital: a trend analysis during the journey to Joint Commission International accreditation and in the post-accreditation era. Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management, 11, 393–406.