The Health Care System For The 21st Century

Keeping patients safe is essential in today’s health care system, but patient safety events that violate that safety are increasing each year. It was only recently, that the focus on patient safety was reinforced by a report prepared by Institute of medicine (IOM) entitled ” To err is human, building a safer health system”(Wakefield & Iliffe,2002).This report found that approx-imately 44,000 to 98,000 deaths occur each year due to medical errors and that the majority was preventable. Deaths due to medical errors exceed deaths due to many other causes such as like HIV infections, breast cancer and even traffic accidents (Wakefield & Iliffe, 2002). After this IOM reports, President Clinton established quality interagency

Patient safety is of major concern in healthcare settings due to the preventable nature of events that sometimes lead to serious injury, and even death, for patients. This was catapulted to the forefront of healthcare delivery in 1999 when the Institute of Medicine wrote a scathing report; To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, that highlighted "the lack of safety for patients in healthcare organizations" (Ulrich and Kear 2014). The National Patient Safety

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a federal health reform legislation engineered to provide Americans with high quality, affordable cost and better access to health care [1]. To address these overarching aims, the ACA requires the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a National Strategy for Quality Improvement in Health Care, also known as the National Quality Strategy (NQS) [2]. The strategy sets three aims. First, to make health care more reliable,

Ransom, E. R., Joshi, M. S., Nash, D. B., & Ransom, S. B. (Eds.). (2008). The healthcare quality

However, prior to the existence of the ACA, the American healthcare system left a lot to be desired and still today leaves room for improvement. The basic issues underlying efforts to improve the United States (US) health care system remain, as they have for decades, concerns for costs, access, and quality (Sultz, 2006). Even though knowledge, technology, and

Substandard quality of health care is duly recognized as a major form of medical crises with potential to jeopardize the functioning and purpose of the American health care system. Whereas on the one hand medical costs of treatment are rising, on the other malpractices and non compliance on the part of medical professionals and institutions compounds the problem and seriously questions the quality of health care being provided to citizens. However, before proceeding further it is important to understand what is exactly meant by the substandard quality of care. The substandard quality of

Amy Wilson-Stronks, M.P.P., Project Director, Health Disparities, Division of Quality Measurement and Research, The Joint Commission. Paul Schyve, M.D., Senior Vice President, The Joint Commission Christina L. Cordero, Ph.D., M.P.H., Associate Project Director, Division of Standards and Survey Methods, The Joint Commission Isa Rodriguez, Project Coordinator, Division of Quality Measurement and Research, The Joint Commission Mara Youdelman, J.D., L.L.M., Senior Attorney, National Health Law Program

As the Joint Commission aims to nationally improve health care systems through health care organizations collaborations, it publishes recommended patient safety goals. As stated by the Joint Commission, “the first obligation of health care is to “do no harm””. The Joint Commission’s 2015 National Patient Safety Goals for hospitals include : Identify patients correctly; Improve staff communication; Use

The Quality Chasm report underscores the lack of quality healthcare, cost concerns, poor use of information technology, absence of progress in restructuring the health care system, and the underutilization of resources (Stevens, et al., 2006). The quality issue that this writer has chosen to address is the poor use of information technology. According to the Quality Chasm Report, health science and technology have advanced at a very rapid pace, but due to poor use of information technology, the healthcare delivery system has not maintained delivery of high-quality healthcare services. Research results are not translated into practice, and practice lags behind knowledge (Stevens, et al.,

The United States health care system is the most expensive in the world. It spends

The purpose of this paper is to identify a quality safety issue. I will summarize the impact that this issue has on health care delivery. In addition, I will identify quality improvement strategies. Finally, I will share a plan to effectively implement this quality improvement strategy.

In today’s health care system, “quality” and “safety” are one in the same when it comes to patient care. As Florence Nightingale described our profession long ago, it takes work and vigilance to ensure we are doing the best we can to care for our patients. (Mitchell, 2008)

Quality is one of the most essential elements of healthcare. As stated by the Agency of Health Research and Quality, “Everyday, millions of Americans receive high-quality health care that helps to maintain or restore their health and ability to function” (Agency of Health Research and Quality, 2014). Improvements have become vital to the success of health care organizations and in the Healthcare Quality Book, it is explained that quality in the U.S. healthcare system is not at the standard that it should be (Ransom, Joshi, Nash & Ransom, 2008). Although this has been a reoccurring issue, attempts to fix the insufficiency have been less successful than expected.

Quality is something that every health care agency strives to achieve. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) suggests that health care organizations develop a culture of safety such that an organization's care processes and workforce are focused on improving the reliability and safety of care for patients (Groves, Meisenbach, & Scott-Cawiezell, 2011). In order to address an issue related to health care quality, it is important to look at the frameworks that will analyze an organization and identify opportunities to improve performance. The purpose of this paper is to provide a description of an organization and an analysis of the following: mission, vision and values, strategic plan, goals,

Safe, effective, patient-centered care delivered in a timely and efficient manner is the goal of quality healthcare. Unfortunately, the delivery of such quality faces serious concerns. The Institute of Medicine (2001) describes the quality gap in healthcare as having three types of problems, “overuse, underuse, and misuse” (p. 23). In recent years, emphasis on improving the quality of care has increased (IOM, 2001). Quality improvement methods, such as plan-do-study-act (PDSA), have successfully enabled health care providers to address the quality gap. The purpose of this paper is to identify a quality healthcare problem, discuss the quality improvement plan, and describe the strategy for implementing effective change using the PDSA method.