organization's strategic plan

Propose a high-level quality improvement initiative for a selected departmental strategic priority, and choose an effective method of presenting your proposal to executive leaders and other stakeholders in the organization and community.

Introduction

Quality improvement and management in health care has its roots in the business world and the teachings of quality gurus such as W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, Phillip B. Crosby, and Avedis Donabedian. As health care costs rose in the late 1960s, payers wanted assurance that their investments resulted in improved health. More importantly, patients and health care professionals wanted assurance that their participation resulted in safe, effective care with positive long-term benefits.

As 21st century health care organizations strive for high reliability, executive leadership is tasked with keeping the organization focused on quality and safety. In the previous assessments, you identified an organization's strategic priorities and provided a comprehensive assessment of stakeholder and leadership influence. High-reliability organizations align quality and safety with strategic goals. Your work in previous assessments will help you identify one strategic priority for improvement.

From the nursing unit level to the executive office, quality equates with attention to the processes and functions that drive and support safety, efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction.

This assessment provides an opportunity for you to propose a quality improvement initiative that supports a departmental strategic priority.

Preparation

Choose one strategic priority from the departmental strategic plan you developed in Assessment 3 as the focus of a proposed quality improvement initiative. 

Instructions

Develop a presentation of your proposed high-level quality improvement initiative for executive leaders and other stakeholders in the organization and community.

Be creative in showcasing your proposal. Choose a presentation method you consider to be both engaging and likely to garner the necessary support and buy-in. For example, you might consider any of the following methods, or something different.

· Marketing brochure.

· Newsletter.

· Video.

· Audio or video slide presentation.

· Executive summary.

Whichever method you choose, consider the information needs of your intended audience, their communication preferences, and possible time constraints on processing your proposal.

Evaluation

The following tasks correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide, so be sure to address each point in the presentation of your proposed quality improvement initiative. Read the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed.

· Explain the rationale for establishing a strategic priority.

1. Describe the overarching aim and focus of your proposed quality improvement initiative.

1. Use the evidence-based literature to provide broad rationale for establishing this priority.

· Present the key points from a SWOT analysis of a chosen strategic priority.

2. Consider the organization’s political landscape and strategic priorities.

· Identify key performance indicators for measuring the success of a quality improvement initiative.

3. For example: infection rates, customer satisfaction, financial performance indicators, productivity, nurse satisfaction, or other internal metric.

3. These indicators could align with those identified on the departmental balanced scorecard.

· Explain the value of stakeholder feedback and the process for collaborating with stakeholders on the proposed quality improvement initiative.

4. Identify key stakeholders and explain why their support for this initiative is crucial to its success.

4. Explain how you will leverage stakeholder feedback.

· Explain how one contemporary change theory could be used to facilitate changes inherent in implementing a quality improvement initiative.

· Make policy recommendations to support the proposed quality improvement initiative.

6. Your recommendations could entail developing a new policy, revising a current policy, or retiring a current policy.

6. Describe the policy implications of this initiative and their impact on the organization.

6. Justify your recommendations.

· Communicate clearly and concisely in a form and style appropriate for the audience and for the substance, purpose, and context of the message being conveyed.

7. Consider the needs of your audience.

7. Be succinct and mindful of communication best practices.

7. Carefully review your media and materials to avoid errors that could distract the audience and make it more difficult for them to focus on the substance of your proposed initiative.