QI Plan Part 4 and Executive Summary

At Davis healthcare facility, the primary focus is on improving the quality of patient care in all its aspects. They are delved at improving the services they offer their patients and reduce the errors in the cares offered. To achieve the improvement, they must accurately utilize different mechanisms and strategies for quality improvement. This paper will tackle information regarding improvement methodologies; information technology; and benchmarking geared towards improving safety at Davis Healthcare. This article will also discuss mission and vision as well as strategic and operational plans; barriers to improvement; and lastly, successful implementation of quality measures in the facility. Comment by Lawrence Fergus: Good lead-in

Quality Improvement Methodologies

The quality improvement plan often focuses on the data collected and how it can be used to improve quality (Hughes, 2008). Over the years, health care facilities have not had any quality improvement plan. With increased competition, health care facilities like Davis Health Care must strive to have well-defined data collection tools that will focus on improvement of patient safety.

The management and leadership have an obligation to evaluate and establish information technology; the milestones that will assist with management as well as the use of benchmarking strategies to facilitate in the effective progressing of the quality improvement plan. Health care managers are responsible in improving the quality of services in health organizations. To improve the quality of services, they will have to select methods that have been previously proven successful in the QI process for healthcare organizations such as the Six Sigma. This method is used to measure the QI process as it does so by comparing the baseline process from the initial data and the capability of the process after the facility has piloted the quality improvement solutions. The Six Sigma is comprised of five distinct phases which includes: define, measure, analyse, and improve. It is commonly designated as the DMAIC approach to quality improvement. The define phase is the aspect that defines and establishes the goals and objective once the issues that need improvement had been identified and the relevant data has been collected. The measure phase helps in determining the dynamics of the new process. The collected data is then analyzed including the plan and improvement.

The pros and cons of the Six Sigma methodology is that it allows the managers to control the QI processes such it becomes effective and successful. The methodology uses ‘think’, which means it utilizes strong leadership as well as statistical thinking to accomplish quality improvement (Henderson, 2011). In fact, research has it that it could easily cause overspending and issues relating to fixing financial problems. The data collected using the six sigma method may not be beneficial regarding improvements and may cause the employees to be rigid to change. However, some health organizations would still benefit from the Six Sigma method of quality improvements.It provides a system that easily detects issues in the facility. Health care systems like Davis healthcare, for instance, require a data-driven well-organized method. The six sigma model can display performance quantitatively and has the mechanism to meet the high demand of organizational data-driven methods. Comment by Lawrence Fergus: Good point

Provision of quality services is a priority for the employees as well, hence, they also have significant data to contribute to the betterment of services in the facility. It is also possible to obtain quantitative data from the members of staff and the customers and be utilized to make well-informed decisions. The cons of this method is that it is time as well as cost intensive. Therefore, in most cases, the organization may not be willing to give out that required time and financial expenses in utilizing the method.

Another type of methodology is the product improvement methodology. It is one of the rigorously utilized methods of Quality improvement in most organizations. Most organization use this method because improving the product/services offered often result in more client satisfaction, which in this case is the patient satisfaction. One of the pros of using the product improvement methodology is that it shows that the organization cares about their patient’s well-being and prioritize their care. Heath care facilities need continuously to improve other areas such as employee training, technology, education among others.

Lastly, the people-based improvement method is another commonly used quality improvement method. It has a great benefit to Quality improvement since it incorporates all the stakeholders in the process. It includes everyone ranging from the managers to the patients themselves. It is an effective methodology because it uses teamwork and all the stakeholders play a role in the improvement process. The main pro of the people-based method is that it encourages full participation of all the stakeholders in the improvement process. It allows for opinions from everyone that is linked to the facility.

Information Technology

One primary form of information technology that could be used at Davis Healthcare is the Electronic Medical Records (EMRs). Using EMR helps in improving the record-keeping system in the facility. EMRs allow the health care organizations to keep accurate patient records in a simpler, easy to retrieve and well-organized manner. Moreover, it allows the physicians and other healthcare employees who may need information regarding patients to access it easily and faster.

Another kind of technology that could help improve the services offered to patients at Davis Healthcare is the Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS).The CDSS helps the physicians as well as the nurses to make an accurate diagnosis and effective treatment recommendation according to the diagnosis.

Another critical technology application that would benefit Dais healthcare is the Electronic Management Material (EMM). The EMM technology helps the facility track their inventory appropriately. All these technologies would help the facility improve the quality of their services. For instance, the managers at Davis healthcare facility would be able to look into the CDSS database and obtain appropriate information and evaluate warnings relating to drug prescriptions and other clinical protocols. The EMM would ensure that the facility has adequate supplies that they would require to provide the best care for their patients.

Benchmarking and Milestone. Milestones and benchmarks are often used in organizations where improvement is required. A potential one for Davis health care facility is updating the EMR system. Benchmarks and Milestones allow the healthcare facility to evaluate the quality indicators and compare another level of performance about their past performance. Benchmarking also allows the facility to compare their performance with other healthcare facilities in the area. It allows the facility to establish whether or not they are improving regarding performance and service delivery. Data obtained through benchmarking is often real and practical. Therefore it usually gives the facility a clear perspective of their strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. It is a broader mechanism of the organization to have a SWOT analysis and determine its position in the industry. Milestones allow the organization to make small adjustments and attain success as hey implement the necessary changes that they would need to have to improve their performance. The milestones would show the organizations the extent to which they have improved since they started up to the current time. Recently, we compared our system to the systems of other surrounding healthcare organizations. We realized that the other organizations had systems that required upgrades. Davis healthcare facility could use their milestones to make significant decisions relating to improvement.

Performance and quality measures are useful in improving the quality of services in an organization. Performance and quality have to be in line with the mission and vision of the healthcare organization. Quality measures are paramount to any organization. For Davis Healthcare facility, the organization ensures that all the employees perform their duties in the required manner such that they deliver quality care to patients that come into the facility. These measures are meant to help employees develop appropriate skills and mechanisms to improve the quality of services that they cater to patients. At Davis Healthcare, the measures are monitored by the Information Technology department or a committee which guarantees that the physicians and nurses address all the quality improvement needs.

Barriers. It is inevitable to have barriers during the implementation of a quality improvement plan. Barriers usually interfere with implementation, but in a case where the members of staff embrace the philosophy or quality improvement, then the barriers can be overcome. The paramount factor is that the employees have to understand the relevance of quality improvement and understand their respective roles in the program. For instance, some employees may not fully accept the changes and may be rigid to incorporate the changes.

Another major barrier is the lack of communication among stakeholders. If the communication mechanism is not well established, then the program may encounter a communication barrier. It is crucial that all the employees get updated on the quality improvement plan and its progression in order to be aligned with the plan. If there is no proper communication, then some employees and stakeholders may be left out, and such plan may not be fully implemented.

Other barriers would be various humanistic factors like single-sightedness, conflicting priorities, and side-tracking among others. Single sightedness is whereby the employees are not willing to wait for the implementation and see the effects. Side-tracking is whereby management focuses primarily on time and monetary factors instead of the main concept. All these barriers have the extensive potential to harm the implementation of the QI plan.

Conclusion

In summary, the individuals charged with quality improvement tasks are from top to bottom; that is from the management to the lower employees. Such involvement and commitment ensures that the QI plan will be successful in the facility. This paper tackled information regarding improvement methodologies; information technology; and benchmarking geared towards improving safety at Davis Healthcare. This article also discussed mission and vision as well as strategic and operational plans; barriers to improvement; and lastly, successful implementation of quality measures in the facility. Comment by Lawrence Fergus: Well summarized.

References

Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP). (2015). A guide to quality improvement methods. Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP).

Henderson, G. R. (2011). Six Sigma Quality Improvement with Minitab. John Wiley & Sons.