Quality Improvement Data Analysis

One of the most important characteristics of an EHR while storing the clinical information is its ability to be interoperable: to share that information among other authorized users. If different information systems cannot communicate or interact with each other, then sharing is not possible. In order to achieve the objective to exchange clinical

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.

The electronic health record (EHR) is a digital record of a patient’s health history that may be made up of records from many locations and/or sources, such as hospitals, providers, clinics, and public health agencies. The EHR is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and has built-in safeguards to assure patient health information confidentiality and security. (Huston, 2013)

Although the EHR is still in a transitional state, this major shift that electronic medical records are taking is bringing many concerns to the table. Two concerns at the top of the list are privacy and standardization issues. In 1996, U.S. Congress enacted a non-for-profit organization called Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This law establishes national standards for privacy and security of health information. HIPAA deals with information standards, data integrity, confidentiality, accessing and handling your medical information. They also were designed to guarantee transferred information be protected from one facility to the next (Meridan, 2007). But even with the HIPAA privacy rules, they too have their shortcomings. HIPAA can’t fully safeguard the limitations of who’s accessible to your information. A short stay at your local

The gap in practice that has been identified is fall risk assessment and falls prevention training by nurse practitioners in the nursing homes that the organization contracts with is not being done consistently. A Quality Improvement Project will be implemented to develop and evaluate an evidence-based program for fall risk assessment and fall prevention training through nurse practitioner collaboration to facilitate fall prevention. Falls occurs in one of every three individuals 65 years and older on an annual basis; leading to a decrease in the quality of life, causing pain, suffering, and death (Remington Group, 2017). In 2014, the estimated healthcare cost for falls related injuries was 35 billion dollars. Due to the

The hospital will establish policies and standards that protect patient privacy of the health care information. These policies should determine levels of access to the EHR. The Cerner® system will provide many layers of protection. A major piece of maintaining patient privacy is managing access to the EHR. This is accomplished through password management. The system will require case sensitive passwords with mandated password change every 90 days. There is employee badge swipe access that automatically enters the user log in ID but requires the password be entered. If a user has not accessed the system in a designated time period, which will be determined by the hospital (typically 90 days) then the system will automatically drop the

The nurse is challenged with the care of patients over a lifespan. Each stage of life brings its own physical and emotional changes which directs the care needs. The care needs of the pediatric patient will be much different from the needs of the geriatric population. The geriatric population has very specific needs which has prompted the government to establish the Quality Assurance & Performance Improvement (QAPI) program. The QAPI provides the framework for nursing facilities to develop and implement changes which address deficiencies the facility was found to have. Also, the QAPI program requires practices and policy be put in place to monitor care of the residents. The purpose of this paper is to list some of the changes the elderly go through as they age, and demonstrate these changes in a quality improvement project. After review of literature, I will discuss the challenges, barriers, and solutions as related to quality improvement. Lastly, I will discuss the quality of care for the geriatric in the future.

With response to the online job posting on Trillium Gift of Life Network website, I am applying for the position of Quality Analyst at Trillium Gift of Life at 522 University Avenue as suggested by Nisha De Silva; the current Quality Analyst – Organ in the Quality department. I have graduated in the stream of Nursing and hold a previous degree with a Specialization in Anthropology, both from the University of Toronto.

Stage 2 requirements are designed to promote the patient engagement by providing secure on line access to their personal health information and promoting health information exchange between providers to improve care coordination. In order for hospitals to progress to stage 2, they must have met stage 1 criteria for a full 2 years. In order for hospitals to meet requirements for stage 2 they must meet a total of 19 objectives (16 core, 3 menu). Many of these objectives require consistency and maintenance of stage 1 criteria. Cerner® features that aid in meeting stage 2 requirements for meaningful use are:

Cerner integrates patient information throughout all of the departments within a hospital setting. This program also has the ability to expand into other health care facilities within a community, such as long term care, hospice, and home health (Cerner, 2015). Cerner offers community hospitals solutions in their “Software as a Service” model. Cerner will host the software program, provide upgrades, and monitor performance to ensure stability. This will allow community hospitals to have a predictable cost for the software (Cerner, 2015). Another advantage of this system is the “Smart Room”. Wireless devices such as infusion pumps, and vital sign monitoring devices can access the system. This allows for instant documentation of this information into a patient chart and will alert if abnormalities are noted. Bar code scanners and carts are available as well. These items improve patient safety (Cerner, 2015). Cerner is capable of CPOE, electronic prescription transmitting, and has the ability to capture data and immunization statuses to meet reporting regulations.

After the interview with my nurse manager, I came up with the PICO question which states: “Does the computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system reduce the number of medication errors compared to the common paper system being used today?” This question is important and I selected it because the population that the Belvoir Community hospital serves includes army officers of all ages both active and retired including their spouses and children. This group includes two sub groups of highly vulnerable persons which include the very young and the very old, who have a high-risk effect for medication errors because the potential adverse drug event is three times greater than an adult hospitalized patient (Levine et al., 2001). CPOE is not a panacea, but it does represent an effective tool for bringing real-time, evidence-based decision support to physicians. Nurses are the last defense level of protection against medication errors, and are solely responsible for the dispensing, administering, and monitoring of medications. In healthcare, computers can be used to help facilitate clear and accurate communication between health care professionals. When using a CPOE system it allows physicians to type in prescriptions right into the device or computer which significantly lessens any mistakes that can occur when

The successful aspect of this quality improvement plan was staff compliance to the checklist and selected EBP interventions. Collaboration with high management to improve quality and nurse performance lead to a developed system with the changing needs of performance improvement initiatives. The project keeps surgical knowledge up to date and relevant with the support from the staff and managers. The ability to provide feedback during huddle meeting intiated open communication. The quality management team reported the data that led the direction for implementing the quality checklist. Firstly, the nurse inclusion for routine surgical practice resulted in effective compliance, as every nurse was able to accomplish all the EBP standards on the surgical checklist. This enhanced a nurse buy in for efficient surgical patient care. The process worked due to agreement and helpfulness from all stakeholders. Secondly, nurses appreciated the training and additional education needed to become compliant for SSI reduction. This assisted in refreshing the knowledge of surgical information for seasoned and new nurses. Some nurses used the education session to accomplish their performance evaluation process. Thirdly, collaboration improves sharing of information between the nurses, surgeons and high management. Furthermore, increasing communication between the nurses, patients, and their family who then reported increased satisfaction with the surgical care. Lastly, the monitoring,

Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QAPI) communicates the following five elements: design and scope, governance and leadership, feedback, data systems and monitoring, performance improvement projects, and systematic analysis and systemic action. The purpose of this paper is to communicate issues surrounding these topics, as well as aging problems. Are the topics evidence based? Do they have supporting documentation to put them into practice at various facilities? Can executing the aforementioned items make a difference at institutions? Now, start the journey to see how each section can be applied to your workplace.

This literary piece is a systematic review of the application of quality improvement methodologies. The goal of the paper is to identify and evaluate the utilization and effectiveness of quality improvement methods in the surgical field. The search identified thirty-four articles with nine studies describing continuous quality improvement (CQI). Five Six Sigma, five total quality management (TQM), five Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) cycles, five statistical process control (SPC), four Lean and one Lean Six Sigma with 20 studies from the USA. The most common objectives of the papers were to improve outcomes, reduce infections and delays in care. Quality improvement methodologies from the manufacturing industry could be the key to improving the quality of care in surgery and reducing costs. The Lean methods have been applied to different aspects of healthcare successfully but the processes that are repetitive and can be standardized benefit the most. Many of the quality improvement methods have overlapping elements. The SPC and PDSA are standard for CQI, TQM, Six Sigma and some Lean programs. Several of these methods require considerable data collection and teammate training in the application and data analysis. Therefore, the cost to implement and maintain may be an issue but without an investment of some sort in these projects to begin there will be no evidence to determine the effectiveness of each method before widespread utilization. This study was not able to make

First of all, what is quality improvement? Quality Improvement (QI) has being define by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) the way to which patient care services increase the possibility of desired health outcomes and are consistent with the professional knowledge. ”The roots of the quality improvement movement can be traced back to the work of epic figures such as Ignaz Semmelweis, the 19th-century obstetrician who championed the importance of hand washing in medical care. In addition, Florence Nightingale, the English nurse, identified the association between poor living conditions and high death rates among soldiers treated at army hospitals. Ernest Codman, a surgeon, pioneered the creation of hospital standards and emphasized and implemented