Health care providers are perpetually striving to improve care quality and patient safety. To accomplish enhanced care, outcomes need to be measured. Next, data measures must be validated. Measurement and validation of information support performance improvement. Health care providers must focus attention on evidence-based best practices to improve patient outcomes.
Health informatics, along with new and improved technologies and procedures, are at the core of all quality improvement initiatives. Data analysis begins with provider documentation, researched process improvement models, and recognized quality benchmarks. All of these items work together to improve patient outcomes. Professional nurses must be able to interpret and communicate dashboard information that displays critical care metrics and outcomes along with data collected from the care delivery process.
A basic principle of quality measurement is: If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.
–Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2021)
In the previous assessment, you analyzed the effectiveness of an existing quality initiative. Now that you’ve done that, this assessment gives you experience interpreting and communicating dashboard data for the purpose of making a quality initiative proposal of your own. And you’ll make your proposal through a PowerPoint presentation, including using speaker notes in the Notes section of the slides, much like you might in your health care setting.
Health care providers are on an endless quest to improve both care quality and patient safety. This unwavering commitment requires hospitals and care givers to increase their attention and adherence to treatment protocols to improve patient outcomes. Health informatics, along with new and improved technologies and procedures, are at the core of virtually all QI initiatives. The data gathered by providers, along with process improvement models and recognized quality benchmarks, are all part of a collaborative, continuing effort. As such, it is essential that professional nurses are able to correctly interpret and effectively communicate information revealed on dashboards that display critical care metrics.
In this assessment, you will make a QI initiative proposal based on a health issue of professional interest to you. This proposal will be based on an analysis of dashboard metrics from a health care facility.
- You may use one of the links in the following reading list to access a dashboard or metrics for a health care facility to develop the QI initiative proposal:
Complete the following steps for your proposal:
- Analyze data to identify a health care issue or an area of concern as it relates to a state, national, or accreditation benchmark requirement relevant to your professional setting.
- Evaluate the quality of the data.
- Outline a QI initiative proposal based on the selected health issue or area of concern and supporting data analysis to improve identified dashboard metric. The interactive activity Designing a Quality Improvement Initiative can get you going on the first steps of a QI process and your assessment.
- Identify the target areas of improvement and outcome measures.
- Include the QI model that will be utilized.
- Specify evidence-based strategies that will be utilized.
- Integrate interprofessional perspectives and actions to lead quality improvements in patient safety, cost-effectiveness, and work-life quality.
- Specify roles and responsibilities.
- Apply effective collaboration strategies to promote QI of interprofessional care.
- Include specific communication tools.
- Deliver a persuasive, coherent, and effective audiovisual presentation. Integrate relevant sources to support arguments, correctly formatting citations and references using current APA style.
Be sure that your proposal, at minimum, addresses each of the bullet points. You may also want to read the Data Analysis and Quality Improvement Initiative Proposal Scoring Guide to better understand the performance levels that relate to each grading criterion. Additionally, be sure to review the Guiding Questions: Data Analysis and Quality Improvement Initiative Proposal [DOCX] document for additional clarification about things to consider when creating your assessment.
- Number of references: Cite a minimum of five sources (no older than seven years, unless a seminal work) of scholarly or professional evidence to support your evaluation, recommendations, and plans. Review the Nursing Master’s Program (MSN) Library Guide for guidance.
- APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to current APA style. Review the Evidence and APA section of the Writing Center for guidance.
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:
- Competency 2: Plan quality improvement initiatives in response to routine data surveillance.
- Analyze data to identify a health care issue or area of concern as it relates to a state, national, or accreditation benchmark requirement.
- Outline a quality improvement initiative proposal based on a selected health care issue or area of concern and supporting data analysis to improve identified dashboard metrics.
- Competency 4: Integrate interprofessional perspectives to lead quality improvements in patient safety, cost-effectiveness, and work-life quality.
- Integrate interprofessional perspectives and specify actions to lead quality improvements in patient safety, cost-effectiveness, and work-life quality.
- Competency 5: Apply effective communication strategies to promote quality improvement of interprofessional care.
- Apply effective collaboration strategies to promote quality improvement of interprofessional care.
- Create a persuasive, coherent, and effective audiovisual presentation. Integrate relevant sources to support arguments, correctly formatting citations and references using current APA style.