TRAINING SESSION FOR POLICY IMPLEMENTATION

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POLICY PROPOSAL

Introduction

Throughout this paper, I will explain why Mercy Health's suggested metric benchmarks fall short and why an organizational policy is needed to fix them. Second, highlight potential environmental factors and their effects on those strategies and provide ethically based strategies to improve metric performance issues. Thirdly, make a concise policy plan and offer suggestions for resolving performance issues concerning local, state, or federal policies. Finally, discuss stakeholders and group participation's role in successfully implementing procedures.

 Proposed Change to Organizational Policy 

Mercy Health's current benchmark was established to provide services of the highest possible quality in diabetes screening and prevention. In 2016 and 2017, there were three options for testing. Eye, foot, and HgbA1C tests were part of the testing. Each quarter's goals were established as suggested benchmarks for the provided services. The proposed benchmark exams were 45 for the eyes, 80 for the feet, and 140 for Hgb1Ac testing. The standard recommendations for all three services were below par, necessitating action to increase patient and community involvement. The underperformance of the benchmarks demonstrates a gap between community involvement in healthy living and practices and the hospital. As testing decreases, community illness rises, and health outcomes fall in the opposite direction. This affects care quality. African Americans, Caucasians, and American Indian communities' demographics will experience a spike due to the repercussions. Diabetes rates have increased when hospital and community involvement are limited in rural areas, and testing has been shown. Patients' illnesses and illnesses that could have been avoided are rising due to health centers' inconsistent commitments and limited community outreach (Farokhzadian, Nayeri, & Borhani, 2018).

Ethical, Evidence-Based Strategies

 Kacik (2018) recommends that hospitals cultivate and maintain relationships with their surrounding community to improve hospital benchmarks, even though community leaders may have varying priorities and interests. A hospital's top priority should be establishing trust to achieve consensus regarding healthcare requirements and community participation. The hospital executives and the community leaders need to build a strong rapport and clearly understand the organization's role in the community and the health initiatives that will be implemented to improve residents' health. Patient participation will rise as leaders in the community are made aware of the intentions and objectives for community enhancements. Federal health policies like the Eliminating Disparities in Diabetes Prevention, Access, and Care Act (EDDPAC) can be used as a bridge to improve hospital testing benchmarks while these relationships develop (Bright & Sakurada, 2016). For patient support, hospitals should also host diabetes workshops and community health fairs.

Patients and visitors to the hospital can participate in preventative health or screening activities if partnerships between the hospital and the community are established. Implementing educational programs in a format similar to a question-and-answer open floor will be one of my recommendations. Second, make use of advertising by handing out brochures about the advantages of diabetes testing and the measures Mercy Health offers to fight this disease that can be avoided. Finally, endorse quarterly diabetes management education and awareness. This will reaffirm Mercy's commitment to the fight against this disease to patients and staff.

Community diabetes workshops and health fairs can be used to implement ethically based practices like beneficence, which refers to actions that serve the best interests of patients and their families (Reddy & Mythri, 2016). These events are held to improve the health and well-being of Mercy Hospital patients and the surrounding community by raising awareness, ensuring safety, and highlighting testing that can be avoided. In addition, these actions are culturally inclusive because they foster social cohesion and place a primary emphasis on improving health and patient safety.

Analyze Environmental Factors

  The availability of facilities and the lack of financial resources at hospitals are two potential environmental factors that could impact my recommended strategies. When hospitals participate in community proposals, these two environmental factors affect the quality of the medical services they provide (Mosadeghrad, 2014). These factors may manifest if the demand for medical services exceeds healthcare organizations' capacity. Even though healthcare resources may not be able to meet patients' expectations, Mosadeghrad (2014) reaffirms that patients have very high expectations for the care they receive. As a result, the facility's capacity to effectively manage its financial resources has an impact on hospital community outreach programs. If this is not done, it will affect how services are provided, including how the diagnosis and treatment plan is carried out (Mosadeghrad, 2014).

The hospital's compliance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regulations is one of the recommended considerations that would impact the suggested strategies. The Healthy People 2020 program launched by the CDC aims to reduce diabetes's impact on the population in 2020 by promoting healthy lifestyle choices and identifying diseases that can be avoided (CDC, 2017).To guarantee that adequate measures are taken to improve patients' health, hospitals, health centers, and communities must comply with the CDC's recommended guidelines, testing, and education programs (CDC, 2017).

Hospital staffing and the financial costs of organizing a community gathering are examples of organizational resources that could influence strategies. According to Lochner & Hill (2020), hospitals are pressured to be creative, provide excellent services to patients, abide by healthcare regulations, and generate income while staying within budget. Mercy Hospital can suggest that employees volunteer their time and services to know that their efforts are being used to serve the community and raise hospital standards to overcome these obstacles. High costs and unjustified operational expenditures can be alleviated by holding events in community centers and hospitals.

Propose a Concise Policy

  The community medical outreach programs I would establish to implement the recommended strategies to resolve the performance issue related to the relevant federal healthcare policy will consist of hospital workshops and community health fairs. Propose A Concise policy to raise community awareness and participation; Mercy Health will be required to hold community health fairs or workshops every two years following this policy. Also, give the hospital chances to educate the residents about local, state, or federal programs like Healthy People 2020 from the CDC and the Eliminating Disparities in Diabetes Prevention, Access, and Care Act (EDDPAC) from the federal government. For this strategy to be successful, a team must be put together to ensure that it is carried out correctly and that unforeseen difficulties are avoided. A member of the hospital's executive team, public relations director, public health nurses, and community leaders will make up this team. Improvements will be made, and favorable increases in dashboard participation will occur if the recommended policy is implemented.

Proposes Stakeholders and Groups

For this policy to be successful, all stakeholders and colleagues must be actively involved in its implementation. To clearly understand the hospital's vision, all colleagues, from upper management down, must familiarize themselves with the procedures. Stakeholders should continue to participate in community events, and they will be expected to establish and build trust, +increasing patient participation in the hospital's preventative measures. Upholding healthcare ethical principles is the responsibility of hospital stakeholders like nurses, physicians, and allied health professionals. Community anxieties will be dispelled when a hospital's purpose is made clear, fostering confidence and a better comprehension of the hospital's role in serving and enhancing the community's overall health and wellness (Golden et al., 2017).

Conclusion 

In conclusion, to lessen its impact on the population, the objectives for ehhancing the quality of diabetes care are to close the availability gaps, imporoving, and make healthcare more accessible. In addition, hospitals and communities should form partnerships and implement policies and strategies to improve the health and outcomes of residents to put these efforts into practice.

References

Bright, R., & Sakurada, B. (2016). A Population Health Strategy for Diabetes: New Partners, New Opportunities. NAM Perspectives, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.31478/201602d

CDC. (2017). Diabetes Report Card Diabetics. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pdfs/ library/diabetesreportcard2017-508.pdf

Farokhzadian, J., Dehghan Nayeri, N., & Borhani, F. (2018). The Long Way Ahead to Achieve an Effective Patient Safety Culture: Challenges Perceived by Nurses. BMC Health Services Research, 18(1), 654. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-3467-1

Golden, S. H., Maruthur, N., Mathioudakis, N., Spanakis, E., Rubin, D., Zilbermint, M., & HillBriggs, F. (2017). The Case for Diabetes Population Health Improvement: Evidence-Based Programming for Population Outcomes in Diabetes. Current Diabetes Reports, 17(7), 51. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-017-0875-2

Kacik, A. (2018). In-Depth: Flaws in Hospital Community Benefits Reporting Create Knowledge Vacuum. Modern Healthcare. https://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20181201 /NEWS/181119965/in-depth-flaws-in-hospital-community-benefit-reporting -create-knowledge-vacuum Mosadeghrad A. M. (2014). Factors Affecting Medical Service Quality. Iranian journal of public health, 43(2), 210–220

Reddy, M. S., & Mythri, S. V. (2016). Healthcare Ethics and the Free Market Value System. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 38(5), 371–375. https://doi.org/10.4103/0253- 7176.191387