Too often, discussions about quality health care, care costs, and outcome measures take place in isolation—various groups talking among themselves about results and enhancements. Nurses are critical to the delivery of high-quality, efficient health care. As a result, they must develop their skills in reviewing and evaluating performance reports. They also need to be able to communicate outcome measures related to quality initiatives effectively. Patient safety and positive institutional health care outcomes mandate collaboration among nursing staff members to ensure the integration of their perspectives in all quality care initiatives.
In the first assessment, you analyzed an adverse event or a near miss, and outlined a QI initiative to address it. This assessment will give you practice and the confidence to evaluate a quality care initiative in much the same way you might in your health care setting to help determine if the initiative is effective.
Too often, discussions about quality health care, care costs, and outcome measures take place in isolation—each group talking among themselves about results and enhancements. Because nurses are critical to the delivery of high-quality, efficient health care, it is essential that they develop the proficiency to review, evaluate performance reports, and be able to effectively communicate outcome measures related to quality initiatives. The nursing staff’s perspective and the need to collaborate on quality care initiatives are fundamental to patient safety and positive institutional health care outcomes.
Imagine you have been asked to prepare and deliver an analysis of an existing QI initiative at your workplace. The QI initiative you choose to analyze should be related to a specific disease, condition, or public health issue of personal or professional interest to you. The purpose of the report is to assess whether the specific quality indicators point to improved patient safety, quality of care, cost and efficiency goals, and other desired metrics. Your target audience is nurses and other health professionals with specializations or interest in your chosen condition, disease, or public health issue.
In your report, you will:
- Analyze a current QI initiative in a health care setting.
- Identify what prompted implementation of the QI initiative.
- Evaluate problems that arose during the initiative or problems that were not addressed.
- Evaluate the success of a current QI initiative through recognized benchmarks and outcome measures as required to meet national, state, or accreditation requirements.
- Identify the core performance measurements related to successful treatment or management of the condition.
- Evaluate the impact of the quality indicators on the health care facility.
- Incorporate interprofessional perspectives related to the success of actions used in the QI initiative as they relate to functionality and outcomes.
- Recommend additional indicators and protocols to improve and expand outcomes of a current quality initiative.
- Ensure your analysis conveys purpose, in an appropriate tone and style, incorporating supporting evidence and adhering to organizational, professional, and scholarly writing standards.
Be sure to address all of the bullet points. You may also want to read the Quality Improvement Initiative Evaluation Scoring Guide to better understand the performance levels that relate to each grading criterion. Additionally, be sure to review the Guiding Questions: Quality Improvement Initiative Evaluation [DOCX]document for additional clarification about things to consider when creating your assessment.
Your assessment should also meet the following requirements:
- Length of submission: A minimum of five but no more than seven double-spaced, typed pages, not including the title page and References section.
- Number of references: Cite a minimum of four sources of scholarly or professional evidence that support your evaluation, recommendations, and plans. Current source material is defined as no older than five years unless it is a seminal work. Review the Nursing Master’s Program (MSN) Library Guide for guidance.
- APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to current APA style. Review the Evidence and APA section of the Writing Center for guidance.
- Competency 2: Plan quality improvement initiatives in response to routine data surveillance.
- Recommend additional indicators and protocols to improve and expand outcomes of a quality initiative.
- Competency 3: Evaluate quality improvement initiatives using sensitive and sound outcome measures.
- Analyze a current quality improvement initiative in a health care setting.
- Evaluate the success of a current quality improvement initiative through recognized benchmarks and outcome measures as required to meet national, state, or accreditation requirements.
- Competency 4: Integrate interprofessional perspectives to lead quality improvements in patient safety, cost effectiveness, and work life quality.
- Incorporate interprofessional perspectives related to the success of actions utilized in a quality improvement initiative as they relate to functionality and outcomes.
- Competency 5: Apply effective communication strategies to promote quality improvement of interprofessional care.
- Convey purpose, in an appropriate tone and style, incorporating supporting evidence and adhering to organizational, professional, and scholarly writing standards.
