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health_care_doc.docxRunning head: PATIENT SAFETY IMPROVEMENT
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PATIENT SAFETY IMPROVEMENT
PATIENT SAFETY IMPROVEMENT
Carrington Sherman
Health Care Policy HCS/550
November 14, 2016
Dr. Midge Elkins
DATA COLLECTION TOOLS
In order to set up measures to improve safety in Davis Health Care or any health care facility, one needs to know various sources of danger to patients in that facility. There are errors associated with unqualified personnel and therefore there is a need to know the qualification information of staff members for the improvement project to succeed. Important information needed to improve the safety of patients in a healthcare facility is the condition of the hygiene in the facility. Data on the safety precaution measures already in place is also needed.
Data collection tools or methods that can be used to collect the above information include health surveys and questionnaires, conducting interviews, self-observation (Holloway & Wheeler, 2013). The survey involves gathering information from various people and then compares them to get correct information on a certain matter. Different methods can be used within a survey. For instance, interviewer administration is used in surveys involving general issues while self-administration is used in surveys involving private issues. Surveys can be a mobile or an online one. Mobile surveys make use of mobile collection forms installed on gadgets such as mobile phones or tablets. An online survey, on the other hand, involves uploading survey forms in websites where they can be accessed by the target audience. Online survey often uses online consumer panel but the quality is compromised because the panelists tend to be fatigue due to regular contribution.
Interviewing is a method of data collection where one person (interviewer) asks another person(s) (interviewee) questions and notes the response given by each of them. In most cases interviewing involves the movement of data or information from the interviewee to the interviewer. Usually, the interview takes place in a face to face situation but modern technology has enabled interviews to happen without with geographical separation (O’Leary, 2013).
Direct observation is where the researcher attempts to discover or obtain information by observing the behavior of the groups under study. By observing closely one is able to get meaningful information from the behavior of the subjects of interest. Observation method provides more information on things that are ignored or left put unknowingly during other methods such as interviewing
The survey is used to collect general information about the conditions of various sections in the institution, for example, the survey may ask how often the dumping site is cleaned or how frequently do they empty dustbins containing contaminated wastes. Private information, like if the patient has ever been offered poor services and they thought are a risk or not, can also be obtained through survey method.
Like a survey, interviewing collects general information but cannot be used to get some information which the respondent feels shy to give. In the patient and safety improvement project, interviewing is used to obtain the information of previous incidences where patients were exposed to risk and may have got injured or were near the damage.
Observation method is used to collect information which the patients or the working staffs are hiding but they express through their daily behavior unknowingly. For example, some nurses or doctors are negligent in their work endangering the wellbeing of the innocent patients who have no knowledge about the negligence.
With interviewing, the data obtained is accurate information because the respondent is not able to hide some information such as physical injuries etc. both verbal and non-verbal data is captured during interviewing. It also saves time since the interviewee keeps the interviewer on track to the completion of the interview. Observation also captures the emotions of the respondent which is a source of more accurate data. The advantages associated with observation as a data collection tool include; high cost since it requires people who are paid to conduct the interviews .some interviewers may conduct the questioning in a wrong manner leading to inaccurate data. Interviewing is also associated with sample limitation i.e., the interview is limited to those persons accessed by the interviewer.
One of the advantages of collecting data through observation is that one is able to confirm what people say they do by physically seeing in action rather than believing what they say. Data obtained through observation is more accurate than other methods of data collection because it is difficult for respondents to change their daily behaviors than it is for them to lie in interviews or in surveys. Observation can, however, lead to inaccurate data if the observer is not interested about what it is investigated. He/she may end up getting little or no result at all. Observations also consume a lot of time
Survey is similar to interviewing in that both rely on the respondent’s view but they are different since in survey there are no chances for clarifications unlike in interview where the interviewee can ask for additional information. Observation is different from the survey and interviewing because the researcher or his/her representative must be physically present to conduct the observation.
DATA DISPLAY MEASUREMENT AND RECORDING
There are many tools that can be used to measure and display the data collected above. A pie chart and line graph are examples of suitable tools for this purpose. The line graph indicates continuity of certain behavior, for instance, the rate of improvement in the health facility on patient safety matters. A pie chart can be used to distinguish information basing on certain criteria. For example, it can be used to display data in the number of patients who got minor injuries, those who got slightly serious injuries and those who were severely injured.
When using a pie chart to measure and display information, one benefits from the fact that it can be used to display a wide variety of data (Kabacoff, 2015). Which may include time variation data and even continuous data with several subdivisions can be represented on a pie chart. It is however not efficient in displaying information with narrow differences due to scaling problems. Line graphs are advantageous because one is able to compare many variables, they also give good visual impression during display and are very easy to construct and interpret. The problem with line graphs is that it may become difficult to interpret when they are used to represent too many variables and some important information can be difficult to see. Line graphs are different from pie charts when it comes to comparing data. Line graphs can show changes in a given time while pie charts do not. They are similar in the sense both can be used to display data from a group of variables.
These data measuring and display tools are important in the health organizations in the analysis of factors affecting the organizations such as patient safety, staff development methods management issues etc. the data available can be very useful if measured and analyzed well as the organization is finding ways of improving its operations.
References
Holloway, I., & Wheeler, S. (2013). Qualitative research in nursing and healthcare. John Wiley & Sons.
Kabacoff, R. (2015). R in action: data analysis and graphics with R. Manning Publications Co.
O'Leary, Z. (2013). The essential guide to doing your research project. Sage.
