Quality Improvement Research Paper

Improving the management and prevention of diabetes is at the forefront of public quality initiatives improvements. Government agencies such as, The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease and The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), work together to fund research studies to improve disease management and prevention initiatives across the nation. The most effective initiatives are those that center on the health care team, and the interactions between the team and patient (Shojania et al., 2006). Team based initiatives that focus on education and patient involvement highlight the correlation between increased health literacy and improved disease management and prevention.

The Quality Improvement (QI) concentrates on the four main standards which is that QI functions and operates as methods and procedures, concentrates on patients, puts emphasis on being part of a team/group, centers their attention on the utilization of the data (Quality Improvement, n.d.). Qualitative approaches gather data and information from informative characteristics, instead of numbers that describe statistical conclusions. Health care systems can gather qualitative data within the medical care field by utilizing patient and staff satisfaction surveys, focus-group discussions, and independent observations (Quality Improvement, n.d.). Control charting is one of the steps that are included in CQI. The steps to control charting is finding,

If a problem has been identified at any point the Infection Control Practitioner will consult with the Infection Control Committee, along with the Quality Department to develop a plan of action. Action plans will include conclusions, recommendations, and action taken, with follow-up and re-evaluation noted. Assessment of all corrective action will be conducted continuously following implementation. Conclusions will be developed after corrective actions have been in place long enough to result change. Follow-up will continue for a specified period of time to ensure resolution.

A quality assessment based on the PEDro checklist, was performed for the included articles (Table 5). The questions below were answered with yes (Y) or no (N).

There has been a great improvement in the medical fields regarding to technologies and practices to prolong individuals’ lives. As a result, the average life expectancy has increased, thus, nursing care plan was needed in order to enable nurses to deliver safe and quality patient care of individual older adults (Vizoso, Lyskawa & Couey, 2008). The information provided by Haena Hwang would be used to develop a suitable nursing care plan for her following 5 steps of the nursing process: assessing, identifying, planning, implementing and evaluating.

Quality management is a systematic and continuous process that organizations use to deliver products and services that meet or exceed customer expectations (McLaughlin, & Kaluzny, 2006). Quality management in healthcare has evolved over the year to address increased demands from consumers related to the quality of care and services, as well as to address problems in patients’ outcomes (McLaughlin, & Kaluzny, 2006). Stephanie Webb Management will assess quality management in long-term care facilities (LTC).This assessment will address the definition of quality care, and describe key concepts

Keeping track of quality improvement data is essential for all organizations: not simply for for-profit entities, but also for not-for-profit organizations such as hospitals. Patient readmission rates and medication errors are serious issues at many healthcare organizations. Using quality improvement instruments such as a fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram: which can "identify many possible causes for an effect or problem and sorts ideas into useful categories" and a Pareto chart, which "shows on a bar graph which factors are more significant" can help pinpoint the root causes of chronic problems that seem to arise from a multitude of factors (Cause analysis tools, 2013, ASQ).

As a CEO of the Healthcare Unit I would follow the Plan, Do, Check and Adjust (PDCA) cycle for improvement activities (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). I shall plan, implement the action points, check the effectiveness, check the sustainability & then stabilize & again proceed for further improvements. The good thing about this cycle is that it can be repeated until it is successful (Goetsch & Davis, 2014).

When determining if an aging adult is experiencing abnormal signs and symptoms first a health history must be completed. The start of a health history is the very beginning of the assessment process (Touhy & Jett, 2012). If the patient is presenting with an abnormal sign or symptom the diagnosis can be revealed in the history. It is possible that the patient’s complaint is a normal sign of aging but a full history and physical examination should be completed. Not all people age the same. After the exam it might be necessary to run further tests to determine the cause. Completing unnecessary tests can be costly and unnecessary but not properly diagnosing can be just as costly. Once the examination is complete and it is unknown if the

The process of aging is distinct to every person and can be seen as a culmination of genetics, dietary/lifestyle choices, and environmental exposures. Therefore, medical care must be tailored to every individual’s multidimensional health status is required to ensure proper assessment, diagnoses, and treatment of our aging population (16). Our current medical system relies heavily on protocol-based care that has been molded through studies and research to treat the general population. When taking into account the complexity of elderly patients this approach may be inadequate (Ham).

The concept of quality improvement in hospitals has evolved over time. Notably, one of the key areas of quality improvement is patient care. In the 18th Century, an almshouse was a facility in United States that provided health care services. The conditions of these facilities were deplorable, overcrowding was common and no respectable person wanted to be treated there (The Joint Commission, 2008). Unfortunately, patients that were treated at an almshouse had very little options available to them. By 1752, Benjamin Franklin had taken steps towards establishing Pennsylvania Hospital. Pennsylvania Hospital was meant to provide poor patients with quality care.

Many individuals do not realize the importance of making healthy lifestyle choices until they are met with a significant health challenge. Ideally, individuals will address unhealthy behaviours before their lifestyle causes them to develop disease. As individuals age, they are prone to developing conditions that may be avoided by lifestyle adjustment. For example, declining bone strength is common among the geriatric population, and this has an impact on carrying out activities of daily living (ADLs), which may lead to a decline in quality of life.

An FMEA would show how all the pieces of the process effects the other pieces of the process. The analysis would show how the data tracking of the meter readings would benefit the maintenance process and allow for predictive measures and forecasting. The tracking of the meter readings allows for a predictive maintenance schedule to be produced and followed. Once on a predictive maintenance schedule, equipment is taken care of and remains in operating condition. A maintenance schedule also helps to retain the resale value of equipment. By having a predictive mode and forecasting repairs, much last minute scrambling and money will be saved.

Normal aging creates imminent and inevitable changes. Old age is partially responsible for the added risk of developing health-related issues within the elderly population. The SPICES evidence-based tool provides a framework for analyzing older adults concentrating on six comparable "marker conditions": sleep disorders, problems with eating and feeding, incontinence, confusion, evidence of falls, and skin breakdown (The Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, n.d.). These circumstances provide a glimpse of a patient 's total health as well as including the quality of care. The SPICES assessment, done frequently, can indicate the need for further precise assessment and undergo prevention and treatment of these above-mentioned conditions. Prior to developing the questions for the interview we looked into some gerontology-related journals and research. In addition, our group watched a video that demonstrated a clinical teacher and her students going through the assessment with a real client, this allowed us to develop interview strategies, identifying risks, and the need for further evaluation to implement preventative and therapeutic interventions.

Robust parameter design (RPD), an effective quality improvement tool, minimizes the performance variability and bias of a product or a process in which the experimental design space is subject to physical restrictions and constraints. For a number of practical situations, optimal design criteria may allow best experimental design schemes to be generated based on the decision maker’s choices and the use of optimal design criteria to RPD problems may overcome the limitations of standard experimental designs in finding optimal operating conditions for both quantitative and qualitative input variables.