HQS-640 Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Practicum Journal Essay

HQS-640 Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Practicum Journal Essay

Write a journal entry of 750-1,500 words on practicum experience and topic specific questions. For this topic, include the following:

Practicum Activities Reflection

The practicum provided an opportunity to implement patient safety protocols through evidence-based practices. The practicum was conducted in Memorial Herman SW Hospital, Neuroscience Unit. Patients in the unit are vulnerable to falls and so there was a need to develop an intervention measure to address the issue. The number of falls recorded in the previous calendar (Jan 2021 to Dec 2021) was 20 and 7 of them resulted in major injuries. High incidences of falls among the inpatients compromise the quality of care delivered to the patients since some of the incidences could be fatal. As a result, a purposefully hourly rounding was developed to improve the patient’s safety (Gliner et al., 2021). However, evidence-based practice implementation entails a series of events that begins with collecting data to identify the reasons for the falls in the unit and using the findings to develop the right intervention.

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The observation made during the practicum was based on the past year. Though, collecting historical information over the past five years or more would have provided a more realistic picture of the trends in the falls in the hospital. Besides, such data would have helped in determining whether there was positive progress witnessed in the hospital over the past as far as fall prevention is concerned.

Healthcare providers have the role of scanning their working environments to identify the areas of inefficiencies and developing quality improvement measures that will better the patients’ experiences. The healthcare providers in the institution were more concerned about the quality of care delivered to the patients. Therefore, weekly reviews were conducted to look into the various quality parameters including the falls in the unit. Such practices are highly recommended in the healthcare systems because they help in the identification of the existing issues and the development of the appropriate remedies for them.

Quality improvement processes require the application of the nursing informatics principles which were evident in the unit during the practicum. The regular meetings were held and headed by the departmental leader and such would be used to discuss the key quality issues based on the available data. Subsequently, the team developed recommendations jointly on what should be done in the unit for better safety and quality outcomes for the patients.

Health Care Quality and Patient Safety

Strategic planning is a complex process that focuses on developing strategies, goals, objectives, timelines and the possible changes to be adopted in an organization to achieve the desired success. The six elements of strategic planning include defining the vision, creating the mission, setting the objectives, developing the strategy, outlining the approach, and finally, getting down to tactics. Defining the vision is the first step in strategic planning and it involves analyzing the present and future courses of action and having a picture of what the organization will want to look like. On the other hand, the mission refers to the activities that the company will engage in daily to achieve the desired goals. Setting the objectives early allows an organization to determine whether they are on the right path to achieve their missions and visions. The setting of the strategy involves integrating the visions and executions. The strategies ought to be built on the organization’s needs and the market trends. Commonly, the strategic plan runs for about 3 to 5 years. The final step in strategic planning is outlining the approach or tactic to be used in implementing the plan.

Strategic planning is important in the healthcare industry. Healthcare institutions should be guided by the strategic planning process considering the dynamism in the industry. Other than the need to offer quality healthcare services that meet the changing needs of the people, the market in the industry changes with time and so the organizations must adapt their approaches to remain relevant.

According to Rasouli et al. (2020), hospitals are constantly in competition and survival as the medication costs increase. They work to develop innovations to achieve operational sustainability and offer the services at lower costs despite the generally increasing cost of medication. Injuries and mortalities among patients due to unintentional and preventable errors in the hospitals have increased significantly globally with the nurses, doctors, and other healthcare providers constantly experiencing repetitive problems (Rasouli et al, 2020). Thus, the development of a strategic plan will guide the hospital in developing an appropriate management approach and objectives that will support its missions. In the case of the Memorial Herman SW Hospital, Neuroscience unit, the strategic planning process will help in improving the overall quality delivery and minimizing the causes of falls and the associated injuries.

The health outcomes of the patients in the hospital depend on many factors; therefore, it is worth it for the healthcare organization to scan their environments and determine how sustainable they are in promoting the healing process in the patients. The institutions must be strategic and conscious in their approach and that is why strategic planning is important.

Practicum Project Preparation

The practicum project was on the fall reduction among the patients admitted to the neuroscience unit in the Memorial Herman SW Hospital. The scope of the practice involved conducting the purposefully hourly rounding as this would help identify the patients at risk of the fall and appropriate preventive measures adopted. The long-term goal was to reduce the incidences of falls and the associated injuries and so improve the treatment outcomes for the patients in the unit. The short-term goals included developing a culture of safety in the organization and improving the consciousness of the nurses and other healthcare providers and their approaches to offering quality care to the patients admitted in the unit. Also, the practicum targets to create a standardized model of practice as far as fall prevention is concerned in the unit. Finally, the other goal was to reduce the cost of medication by eliminating the adverse outcomes likely to arise due to the fall incidences in the hospital unit.

Evidence

Dykes et al. (2020) report that hospitalized patients are at increased risk for falls that may result in serious injuries such as hip fractures and brain injuries among others. The patient-related falls are categorized as nursing-sensitive indicators because they are highly dependent on the quantity and the quality of the nursing care. Dykes et al. (2020) conducted a study to assess the fall-prevention toolkit that engages both the patients and their families. The study reports that increased nursing engagement and the fall-prevention toolkits reduce the cases of falls reported in a hospital. The findings from the study support the tenet that increasing the nursing rounds would help reduce the incidences of falls among the patients admitted in hospitals. In another study, Montejano-Lozoya, et al (2020) state that clinical safety is an important healthcare quality component in fall prevention. The purposeful hourly rounding allows the nurses to assess the fall risks for the patients and so reduces the likelihood of them occurring and causing injuries. Fall among the patients is attributed to many factors including slippery flow, mental health issues, and fragility. Therefore, the fall prevention measures should be properly ingrained in the patient safety and quality improvement framework.

References

Dykes, P. C., Burns, Z., Adelman, J., Benneyan, J., Bogaisky, M., Carter, E., Ergai, A., Lindros, M. E., Lipsitz, S. R., Scanlan, M., Shaykevich, S., & Bates, D. W. (2020). Evaluation of a patient-centered fall-prevention tool kit to reduce falls and injuries. JAMA Network Open, 3(11), e2025889. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.25889

Gliner, M., Dorris, J., Aiyelawo, K., Morris, E., Hurdle-Rabb, D., & Frazier, C. (2021). Patient falls, nurse communication, and nurse hourly rounding in acute care. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, Publish Ahead of Print. https://doi.org/10.1097/phh.0000000000001387

Montejano-Lozoya, R., Miguel-Montoya, I., Gea-Caballero, V., Mármol-López, M. I., Ruíz-Hontangas, A., &Ortí-Lucas, R. (2020). Impact of nurses’ intervention in the prevention of falls in hospitalized patients. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(17), 6048. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17176048

Rasouli, A., KetabchiKhoonsari, M., AshjaArdalan, S., Saraee, F., & Ahmadi, F. Z. (2020). The Importance of Strategic Planning and Management in Health: A Systematic Review. Journal of Health Management & Information Science, 7(1), 1-9.

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Journaling provides a valuable tool for recording, reflecting on, and reviewing your learning. This approach provides an opportunity for you to “connect the dots” and observe the relationships between activities, interactions, and outcomes.

Unlike a personal journal of thoughts and feelings, this practicum journal is a record of your activities, assessments, and learning related to this academic experience.

Journal entries should include a record of the number of hours spent with your nurse leader each week.

Write a reflective journal entry of 750-1,500 words answering the following:

Practicum Activities Reflection: Provide observations and thoughts on the activities in your practicum setting during Weeks 1-2.
Health Care Quality & Patient Safety: What are the different elements of the strategic planning process? How can this process benefit both health care organizations and your practicum project?
Practicum Project Preparation: Summarize your practicum project. What short- and long-term goals have you set for this project? Explain your rationale.
Evidence: Find a current article related to something you have done in your practicum during the past two weeks. Relate the article to your experience.
APA format is not required for the body of this assignment, but solid academic writing is expected. The “Practicum Journal Template” is required for this assignment. All citations and references must be written in APA format.

This assignment uses a rubric. Review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.

Attachments
HQS640-JournalTemplateW3.docx