NURS-FPX6212: Health Care Quality Safety Management

NURS-FPX6212: Health Care Quality Safety Management

Executive Summary

Medication error being a systematic problem is not a new case. It is something that nurses and other healthcare providers have experienced. The error could be a result of recurring issues of just human error. It could also lead to more severe injuries where the patient could find themselves with a new condition such as itching rashes or skin problems that could either be temporary or permanent. These medication errors could even lead to death in some cases, significantly hurting the patient’s family, especially when they know that the death of their loved one could have been prevented. It could make the healthcare provider responsible for the error start doubting themselves and start feeling guilty and ashamed for the action. It could even lead to depression throughout their life. If the deceased’s family decides to file a lawsuit against the nurse or the one who was responsible, it could result in them losing their license. Medication errors can also impact the hospital where the healthcare provider is working, and patients even lose trust in the kind of treatment offered in that hospital. The occurrence of medication errors could cause the organization not to achieve its goals and objectives of providing quality care to patients for better results. Since human is to error, a medication error of not greater than 5% is allowed, but currently, it is at 39.5% (Barker et al. 2020)

As a nursing leader, I would recommend using various strategies to help minimize the occurrence of such medication errors in the future. The management should make it their responsibility to establish a safety culture and constantly report the current system and how it is performing. Healthcare providers should understand that humans are to error, and no one is to be blamed or receive a harsh form of punishment. The healthcare provider responsible for the medication error should acknowledge their mistake and report to the nursing leaders or the supervisor in charge to ensure patient safety before things get worse.

Nursing is a vital profession in the healthcare sector, mainly concerned with providing quality care to individuals and families. However, it has been discovered that there is a gap between the expected outcomes and the actual results. As a nursing leader, I will present the matter before other executive leaders to ensure care has been improved. Even though care is the primary concern of nurses, other healthcare providers should also work to ensure quality and safety outcomes. It is the responsibility of every individual in the organization. They should ensure to utilize evidence-based information and apply this knowledge to assess the ability of the entire organization to provide evidence-based care delivery. I will also look at systematic problems and specific medication errors and what impact this could have on the patient: health care providers, and the entire organization.

Executive Summary on the Gap

Quality outcome measures on care in nursing are tools used to weigh or quantify processes and outcomes in the healthcare sector. These outcomes are essential as they help in understanding the patients’ perception towards care they are receiving. It is through the outcomes that we are able to understand the organizational structure and check whether it has the ability of providing high-quality care and meet the organizational goals and objectives. The outcomes are measured to help in bridging the gap that has been identified. Through measuring we can improve the entire nursing practice in terms of quality care, patient safety, patient experience on care and future healthcare outcomes expected (Sim et al. 2019) Data on outcomes in nursing indicates that the patients’ results depend on how sensitive the nurse is on issues such as pressure and ulcers. It also depends on the relationship established between nursing and patient that builds on trust.

These measures significantly impact patient care, where the effect can either be positive or negative. The steps evaluate and examine the communication between team members among healthcare providers concerned about patient care. If the transmission is effective, then the results on patient care would also be positive and vice versa. The implication on a culture of quality and safety depends on whether the organization embraces the safety and quality of all staff, which will impact patient quality care and protection. When the staff’s well-being has been catered for, leading to job satisfaction, and reducing burnout, then the safety of the patients will also be favorable. It is vital to continue measuring these outcomes to try and improve both quality and safety for patients and even healthcare providers. If the consequences are not counted, it would negatively impact the patient results. The reason for saying that is that no gap would be identified. Together with other executive leaders, nursing leaders would not know the areas that need improvement or what the patients think about the kind of treatment (Pappas, 2016).

The specific outcomes measures related to performance issues in healthcare include evaluating the performance of nurses by asking patients to give out their opinions on the kind of care that they receive from nurses. How effective communication is among healthcare providers is also another measure that is connected to performance. The more effective communication is, the higher the performance because nurses are exchanging shifts communicate on the progress of the patient and the subsequent medication expected to be administered to the patient. The overall performance of nurses and other healthcare professional practitioners is measured on the outcomes of the patients. There is a positive and direct relationship between the effects and performance (Werner, Konetzka & Kim, 2015). This is because without measuring the results, it would be a challenge to determine the performance level.

Strategic planning in organizations dealing with healthcare is very crucial as it involves stating the steps that need to be taken to achieve specific goals set. Through strategic planning, an organization can ensure that all activities are directed towards the mission and vision of the organization. Healthcare organization has created a competent strategic planning team to ensure they set goals that are SMART and measurable, and at the same time develop strategies to meet these goals. There is a relationship between outcome measures and strategic planning. To improve quality and safety through strategic planning, we need to measure the outcomes of strategic plans to examine whether they were a success or not. These measures ensure that the organizational culture on safety and quality is well preserved and improved where need be. Through these outcomes’ measures, variances can be detected and corrected immediately before the impact on quality and safety is adverse (Schaffner, 2017).

Nursing leaders should be ready to adapt to any change in the practice before their juniors do. They are supposed to lead by example. All nurses and other healthcare providers should adapt to the changes affecting specific outcomes to ensure effectiveness. The following steps should be taken to ensure the adoption process is successful. It is essential first to communicate the transition to other nurses to become aware of it. After communication, they need to be involved in the entire process to avoid resistance that could lead to failure of the adoption process. The need for change in the specific outcome should be communicated, and then they are given a chance to air their views on whether the difference is vital and whether it will impact patient care, which is the main focal point of the practice setting as a whole. Later, the strategic plans to adopt the proposed change are communicated to ensure that every nurse and other practitioners make the adoption and implementation process a success. And lasting the proposed change will be implemented without any resistance from any staff. The approach will be practical as it will help reduce the cost implication of change adoption and implementation (Baloh, Zhu & Ward, 2018).

Conclusion

In conclusion, measuring outcomes is essential in nursing practice and other organizations to ensure they constantly improve weak areas and strengthen their achievements. However, measuring methods should also be critically evaluated to ensure they are not designed to favor a particular group of people while others get discriminated by the same. Without measuring its performance and outcomes, no organization can succeed after a specific duration specified in its strategic plan. Lack of measuring tools would only mean that the organization has goals and mission written or stated only to fulfill an unquestionable requirement for the law and not to guide their operations in both the short and long run.

References

Baloh, J., Zhu, X., & Ward, M. M. (2018). Implementing team huddles in small rural hospitals: How does the Kotter model of change apply?. Journal of Nursing Management, 26(5), 571-578.

Barker, K. N., Flynn, E. A., Pepper, G. A., Bates, D. W., & Mikeal, R. L. (2020). Medication errors observed in 36 health care facilities. Archives of Internal Medicine, 162(16), 1897- 1903.

Pappas, S. H. (2016). Value, a nursing outcome. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 37(2), 122- 128.

Schaffner, J. (2017). Roadmap for success: the 10-step nursing strategic plan. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 39(4), 152-155.

Sim, J., Joyce‐McCoach, J., Gordon, R., & Kobel, C. (2019). Development of a data registry to evaluate the quality and safety of nursing practice. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 75(9), 1877-1888.

Werner, R. M., Konetzka, R. T., & Kim, M. M. (2015). Quality improvement under nursing home compare: the association between changes in process and outcome measures. Medical Care, 51(7), 582.