Quality performance programs
Develop a quality improvement plan that is based on the scenario by doing the following:
A. Discuss how to initiate a quality improvement project for this clinical problem.
For Lauren to initiate a quality improvement project , she would first need to pinpoint and address what areas need to be improved upon . Lauren needs to review patient treatment needs , scheduling , and billing for services rendered . She needs to make sure she includes how patients will begin to receive their full therapy times , how staff will begin to deliver the patients on time , and how this will impact billing . After Lauren gathers the data she needs , she will then need to organize a team to implement the steps necessary to complete the plan . Lauren will need to choose the head of each department to make sure information is being handled appropriately . She will then lead the entire team and project and continuously manage the project .
Quality performance programs
1. Identify three areas of focus for quality improvement in the scenario.
Areas of focus for quality improvement
Timelines
Quality improvement tools are stand-alone techniques or processes that can assist you in better comprehending, analyzing, and communicating your QI efforts. The medical team has got trouble bringing their parents to the doctor in a responsible way in this circumstance. This should be looked into and then fixed. This improves the level of solution and solving the problem among parties in the scenario.
Workflow process
To perform a business process, a workflow process is a set of sequential tasks that are carried out according to user-defined rules or criteria. It consists of a set of data, rules, and actions that must be accomplished in order to reach a specific business goal. Nurses may be improperly trained, underpaid, or overloaded, or personnel may be under tasked. As a result, the procedure must be scrutinized and optimized.
Quality care delivery to the patient
Patients are not obtaining their therapy sessions in a timely manner, as previously stated. It is critical that each patient receives the high-quality care they require in a timely manner. The degree to which health services for individuals and populations maximize the likelihood of desired health outcomes while remaining consistent with current professional knowledge is referred to as quality of care.
Quality performance programs
a. Describe the types of data gathered in part A1 (e.g., quantitative data).
Lauren has gathered the majority of qualitative data already through her colleagues . She was presented with patient reviews and also employee reviews . They have explained to her their complaints and why they feel like these errors are happening . Lauren would still need to gather a survey at the end and the beginning of the quality improvement process . Lauren will need to measure through her employees and patients to see how they started and what has changed once they reach the end of the improvement process . Lauren can do an open – ended survey that allows the patient or employee to write their thoughts or she can create a closed – ended survey that only allows participants to answer based on the information provided . She can also gather brainstorming ideas with her team . Since the team is filled with the leaders of each department ,
Quality performance programs
b. Explain your process for gathering the data.
In order for Lauren to get the data she fully needs , she would need to gather more surveys . She would need to go to the nursing department and allow them to give her a review of their perspective of why the incident is occurring . She may also need more information from the therapists to make sure they all agree . She would then need to go to the patients or the caregivers to make sure she gets a review from them . Next , after organizing her team , she would then need to present reviews to her team members and brainstorm ideas on why these issues are happening and what could be implemented to decrease or eradicate the issues .
Once they have all agreed on resolutions , Lauren will begin to implement the resolutions or take the steps needed to implement them . Lauren can also use the data gathered through the surveys to create a scatter plot to compare data once the resolutions have been implemented . After the resolutions have been implemented , Lauren can then go and take surveys again to get her employee ‘s and patient ‘s reviews on how the resolution is working for them . Lauren can then create another scatter plot to show whether the resolutions have had a positive correlation or negative correlation compared to the first survey .
Quality performance programs
2. Identify a quality improvement model that can be implemented.
A quality improvement model that can be implemented is the FADE model. The FADE model consists of four phases; focus, analyze, develop, and execute. “The FADE model of performance improvement is useful for focusing on a problem, analyzing the problem and its causes, developing and implementing a solution, and monitoring success” (Spath, 2018, 130). This would allow Lauren to pinpoint exactly what needs to be done and implemented by her team
Quality performance programs
a. Describe the steps of the quality improvement model you chose.
There are four steps to the FADE model ; focus , analyze , develop , and execute . The focus steps allow for the quality improvement team to choose a problem and describe what that problem is in detail. The next phase is analysis, which allows the team to come together and analyze and learn more about what the problem is by gathering data. Next, there is the development phase, which consists of the team coming together to form a resolution to the problem described in phase 1. Once the team finds a resolution then the last step would be the execution. The team would then implement the plan and analyze the results of the plan. The team can also revise the plan if needed.
Quality performance programs
3. Discuss the influence external accrediting agencies have on the quality improvement process.
External agencies have a major influence on the quality improvement process . Some agencies run a value – based care system . A value – based care system is a system that reimburses healthcare organizations based on the improvement of a patient ‘s condition . If the patient does not get better over time the company may only be partially reimbursed or not reimbursed at all . This system allows healthcare organizations to have a strict quality improvement process to ensure they receive their full reimbursement and that patients also receive the best care .
a. Describe the focus of one organization that helps to drive quality standards for the department.
CMS has also created a QIO Program , Quality Improvement Organization Program . This program was created to help improve the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries . The core functions of the QIO Program are ; ” Improving quality of care for beneficiaries ; Protecting the integrity of the Medicare Trust Fund by ensuring that Medicare pays only for services and goods that are reasonable and necessary and that are provided in the most appropriate setting ; and Protecting beneficiaries by expeditiously addressing individual complaints … ” ( CMS , 2022 ) .
4. Discuss one example of how you will use benchmarking and performance measures to monitor the progress made toward quality improvement goals.
A benchmark is described as a standard of performance or best practice , for a particular practice or outcome . A performance measure is described as a ” gauge used to assess the performance of a process or function of any organization ” ( Shaw & Carter , 2019 , p. 40 ) . Lauren will need to use benchmarking and performance measuring on patients arriving at their therapy sessions on time and receiving full – time therapy as well . Lauren would first need to do a performance measurement and gather data from previous years on therapy sessions .
She would need to understand and document how therapy sessions affect patients when they receive their full sessions compared to partial sessions , as explained by the therapy department . She would also need to list the potential reasons why these issues are occurring . One major issue is the nursing department and their time management skills .Lauren would then need to create a solution to the time management issue based on the data from previous years .
Her solution can be hiring more nurses or emphasizing and teaching better time management skills. The hiring of new nurses can help the nursing department’s complaints about being understaffed. Time management can help therapists receive their patients on time and give the full therapy session. This will also help the patients and their caregivers because they are receiving the full care they need. Patients will also be receiving their full therapy time which will help the billing department receive the full reimbursement as well. Lauren would then need to make sure all needs have been addressed and continue to monitor the process to ensure things are going smoothly.
