NUR 630 Benchmark – Outcome and Process Measures

NUR 630 Benchmark – Outcome and Process Measures

 

Benchmark – Outcome and Process Measures

Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) is one of the issues that each health care institution tends to integrate with their systems as it defines the future life of an organization. CQI process entails definition of an issue, benchmarking, planning and continuous quality improvement (Hoyer et al., 2018). However, health care institutionsneed adequate measures of these outcomes to describe the journey of success. The purpose of this paper is to address the process and outcome measures that can be used for CQI.

Process Measures

The percentage of diabetic patients who had their blood sugar tested and controlled would be the first process measure. The measure aids in examining the impact that insulin pump has on diabetic patients. It denotes the impact that evidence-based practices implemented by health care institutions works best to maintain patient care quality. Besides, the process measure allows the health care institution to define its positive direction towards meeting quality of care (Jazieh, 2020). The increased percentage of diabetic patients with their blood sugar controlled would signify that the institution is registering a positive success. However, a decrease in the percentage of diabetic patients with the blood sugar tested and controlled would show how the proposed EBP is weak in meeting the needs of the quality care. Therefore, this process measure would be significant in measuring the effectiveness of insulin pump among diabetic patients at the clinic.

The second process measure is the percentage of patients provided with discharge education. Discharge education and planning are critical components of quality care that ensures that patients need are met by the health care institution and they can function well while recovering at home (Alegria et al., 2021). Increased percentage of patients on discharge education in a healthcare facility indicate a positive continuous improvement on the treatment intervention taking place at the clinic. A new treatment or intervention incorporated in health care needs to meet the expectations of patients and this need to show on the number of patientsdischarged from the clinic. The reduction in percentage of patients on discharge education would imply that many patients are cured of their illness and ready to recover from the comfort of their homes. The modern society is racing towards meeting the needs of patients by focusing on research and education that would change treatment methods to meet the needs of the patients (Hoyer et al., 2018).

Outcome Measure

The outcome measure always reflects on the quality and cost targets that a clinic aims to rely on to promote improvements. For example, in this case, patient falls would be an outcome measure as it shows the effect of the intervention on the safety of patients. Diabetic patients with managed glucose levels would have improved stability thus a reduction on their fall rates. The large record on a declining fall rate among the patients would as well increase the rate of discharge from the institution(McCalman et al., 2018). For instance, a larger decrease in the number of patient falls would imply that the current process measures taken by the healthcare are effective in improving the quality of health care. Reduced falls would also be relaying more information on the improved care taken by the organization in managing diseases and meeting the needs of the patients.

Why Each Measure was Chosen

In the process measures, the percentage of diabetic patients who had their blood sugar tested and controlled was selected because it has an impact on patient care at the clinic and at home. Besides, it also has an impact on the post discharge phase on patients (Hoyer et al., 2018).  Education patients on discharge allows them to learn ways of providing effective home care for diabetic patients. Lack of ineffective discharge information would lead to poor home care that can limit patients from recovery and could fall more often. The percentage of patients provided with discharge education was also selected because discharge implies that a patient is out of danger (Alegria et al., 2021). Providers must always check on the percentage of the discharged patients to in order to employ effective measures that would reduce the risk of falling in their home care. The increase in the discharge education implies that the quality care at the clinic is effective and patients registers difference.

Fall rates was selected as an outcome measure because the affect patients negatively and they can be prevented. Falling rates reflects the quality and interventions taken by the organization while low rates would reflect high quality (McCalman et al., 2018). The increase in the fall among older patients in the US has been an issue affecting many healthcare institutions. Therefore, efforts of reducing falls in the hospital through a CQI program can aids in saving many patients and reducing healthcare costs as well as promoting better health care outcome.

How Data Would Be Collected for Each Measure

The data on the percentage of diabetic patients who had their blood sugar tested and controlled will be collected from Electronic Health Records (EHR) and questionnaires. The EHR has patient diagnosis, findings and treatments of each patient. The EHR has treatment summaries which will be used to identify the number of diabetic patients which the blood sugar was tested and controlled. The data on the percentage of patients provided with discharge educationwas also taken from EHR (Hoyer et al., 2018). Moreover, an EHR-based fall risk assessment tool will be implemented to evaluate the number of patients who were assessed and prevention intervention taken by health care organizations. The data will as well include the number of discharged patients within the last month.

How Success Would be Determined

The success at the clinic would be determined by the percentage of dischargedpatients. The discharged summaries would aid in determining the reason for readmission. For instance, if the patient is discharged for a different conditionthey were suffering, then it could be counted as an added value (McCalman et al., 2018). Recording a reduced number of patients in the next 30 days will determine that an intervention taken in the treatment of a patient is effective. Besides, the increase in the number of discharges would as well imply that the quality of treatment at the clinic is improving. Therefore, positive success like low discharge rates and increased discharge on patients,effectively determines success.

Data-Driven, Cost-Effective Solutions

Records of high discharge rates relay more information on the better treatment intervention that focus on the patient change. These issues could be addressed by improving professionalism among nurses in health care. For instance, the management needs to invest much in developing mentorship programs for new nurses to allow the dispense the high-quality health care delivery (Akmaz et al., 2019). The health care professionals also need to develop better communication skills with the patients to inform them of their treatment plans within the hospital and at home. This measure would improve patient care at home, thus increasing discharge rates. Launching a telehealth department would aid in the treatment of the patients at home.

Conclusion

Outcome and measures of continuous quality improvement are broad and require the attention of health care professionals. Determining the required measure aids in outlining the progress of success. Improved care and mentoring of the nurses have an impact in reducing discharge rates which counts as a successful intervention in the healthcare institution.

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References

Akmaz, B., Zipfel, N., Bal, R. A., Rensing, B. J., Daeter, E. J., & van der Nat, P. B. (2019). Developing process measures in value-based healthcare: the case of aortic valve disease. BMJ open quality, 8(4), e000716. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2019-000716

Alegria, M., Lloyd, J. J., Ali, N., & DiMarzio, K. (2021). Improving equity in healthcare through multilevel interventions. The Science of Health Disparities Research, 257-287. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119374855.ch16

Hoyer, E. H., Brotman, D. J., Apfel, A., Leung, C., Boonyasai, R. T., Richardson, M., Lepley, D., &Deutschendorf, A. (2018). Improving Outcomes After Hospitalization: A Prospective Observational Multicenter Evaluation of Care Coordination Strategies for Reducing 30-Day Readmissions to Maryland Hospitals. Journal of general internal medicine, 33(5), 621–627. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-017-4218-4

Jazieh, A. R. (2020). Quality Measures: Types, Selection, and Application in Health Care Quality Improvement Projects. Global Journal on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, 3(4), 144-146. https://doi.org/10.36401/JQSH-20-X6

McCalman, J., Bailie, R., Bainbridge, R., McPhail-Bell, K., Percival, N., Askew, D., Fagan, R., &Tsey, K. (2018). Continuous Quality Improvement and Comprehensive Primary Health Care: A Systems Framework to Improve Service Quality and Health Outcomes. Frontiers in public health, 6, 76. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00076

In a 1,000-1,250-word paper, consider the outcome and process measures that can be used for CQI. Include the following in your essay:

At least two process measures that can be used for CQI.
At least one outcome measure that can be used for CQI.
A description of why each measure was chosen.
An explanation of how data would be collected for each (how each will be measured).
An explanation of how success would be determined.
One or two data-driven, cost-effective solutions to this challenge.
Use a minimum of three peer-reviewed scholarly references as evidence.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.