Essay On Quality Improvement In Health Care

Improved Essays
Quality Improvement Issue In 2001, the Institute for Medicine (IOM) determined that the USA health care system is failing many Americans by frequently causing harm; essentially, creating a profound gap between peoples expectations and actual care provided (Richardson et al., 2001). People enter the health care field because they want to care for others, not to ever cause harm. However, health care is thought as a threat to society in the same way as cancer or car crash. IOM articulated many reasons for this chasm, including fast-paced advancement in medical science and technology, increased complexity of patient care, and rapid changes due to new knowledge and the ability to communicated and apply it safely (Richardson et al., 2001). Organizations …show more content…
CLABSI have serious consequences, impacting the patient in a variety of ways including increased mortality, suffering, and increased length of hospitalization. Joint Commission’s national safety goals for 2016 complements IOM’s aims to provide safe care. Joint Commissions goal NPSG.07.04.01 to implement evidence-based practices to prevent CLABSI (Joint Commission, 2015).
MCH is currently having an issue with hospital acquired central line associated blood stream infection (CLABSI), approximately 4 to 5 per quarter. Over the past two years, the two general pediatric units that consist of average census of 65 patients per day had zero CLABSI rate. However, between NICU, PICU, and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology they average 2 to 3 CLABSI per quarter. Unfortunately, since January 2016, the general pediatric units have had a significant rise of 5 CLABSI in eight months. Moreover, the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology unit CLABSI rate has climbed too. According to Slonim and Pollack (2005) each pediatric CLABSI costs the hospital an additional $46,000 with an average increased length of stay of 14.6 in PICU and 21.1 hospital
…show more content…
The first pertinent rule is five: evidence-based decision-making. The best outcomes in care occur from meticulous, unambiguous, and well-judged use of up-to-date evidence based practice and knowledge of patient beliefs by effectively trained, experienced nurses (Institute of Medicine, 2001). The second relevant rule is six: safety as a system property. Injuries to patients frequently occur due to system problems that allow for errors; therefore, health care systems must take accountability for designing a system that provides reliable, safe, and appropriate care (Institute of Medicine,

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    Having recently completed the largest expansion projects in its history, Summerlin Hospital Medical Center now includes pediatric care services to their Pediatric Care Unit (PCU), advanced cardiac and surgical procedures such as open heart and robotic surgery services. The expansion also included the addition of a six-story tower that contains 173 additional private patient rooms, an expanded emergency room and pediatric emergency room. The hospital also features adjoining outpatient services and physician office (About The Hospital, 2016). Summerlin Hospital Medical Center provides a wide range of services to the Las Vegas and other surrounding communities. Services…

    • 1863 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The financial burden associated with treating Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLASBI) in the acute care setting of one average adult patient is estimated to cost: $5,000-$125,000 per episode. Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLASBI) are an area within the Healthcare field that is continuously in need of preventive measures. The multiple drug resistant strain of germs is a contributor to the already immunocompromised patient requiring a central line. Although central lines have been around since the 1970’s it wasn’t until the late 1980-2000, research began tracking and recording Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLASBI). At this time, the most frequent germs observed for central line infections was coagulase-negative staphylococci and Staphylococcus aureus for a total of 43% in the 1980’s.…

    • 2192 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dana Safran Summary

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Dana Safran presentation is an overview of quality improvement and evidence of quality measures to improve health care. She describes the seed of the quality imperative in the United States. In the year 2000 the IOM scoping the extent of medical errors and system related harm. There were one hundred thousand medical errors leading to death in the United States, making it the fifth leading cause of death in the United States. This woke up the country and made everyone realize how important quality care and safety were.…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Within Colorado, the reported sepsis hospital mortality varies from 7% to 29%. C4SS is in discussion with over 40 Colorado hospitals proposing a statewide study to determine the factors behind this wide variance and identifying practical solutions that individual hospitals can implement, cost effectively, for reducing sepsis mortality and morbidity. Healthcare Provider Grants: Regardless of a hospital’s or a healthcare provider’s financial condition we plan to offer education grants and low-cost financing for implementing sepsis performance improvement programs. As part of this program, we are developing a “Certified Vendor” list.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    CAUTI Conclusion

    • 107 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Since The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are no longer paying for the cost associated with CAUTIs, which is placing a financial burden on the hospitals due to loss of revenue. Furthermore, CAUTIs are a preventable infection with proper protocols in place for this reason, having a nurse champion in place will help align the unit in the right direction to prevent CAUTIs. In conclusion, CAUTIs are preventable adverse outcomes that cause increased patient morbidity and mortality and contribute to hospital cost. More than 560,000 CAUTIs occur annually, resulting in approximately 13,00 deaths with an additional 100,000 die from healthcare acquired infections every year.…

    • 107 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Patient safety is an important issue in today’s healthcare. The Joint Commission (2015) has always developed yearly patient safety goals increasing the importance this concept has (The Joint Commission, 2015). Patient safety it is considered a discipline in the health care sector. It is used to apply safety science methods to achieve a reliable and responsible system of health care delivery. It is also a feature of the health care systems.…

    • 309 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Quality improvement programs are put into place to ensure all employees are held accountable for their actions, integrating evidence-based practice into healthcare, and to continually improve care to countless populations (Huber, 2014). In this paper I 'm going to explain my organization 's quality program goals and structure. Next, I will describe how quality improvement projects are selected; I will also discuss the quality methodology, tools and techniques, and project management. Following this I will explain how nursing staff is trained in quality improvement process and how quality improvement activities and process is communicated to the nursing staff. I will clarify how the organization evaluates quality improvement activities for effectiveness…

    • 1057 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the healthcare system there are systematic measurements that exist to help ensure that healthcare providers are providing quality assurance. There are certain factors that are deemed of importance when debating on the topic of healthcare quality. “The definition of healthcare quality will differ, depending on the particular lens through which the health system is viewed” (Jones et al, 2014). Quality is based off the work done by the Institute of Medicine. This non –profit organization takes a number of factors into consideration such as: “patient centeredness, access, timeliness, equity, effectiveness, efficiency and safety” (Jones et al, 2014).…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Central line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI's) are one of the most deadly healthcare associated infections (HAI's). Approximately 12-25% of CLABSI's result in death and the average cost per case is about $26,000. In recent years, between 2001 and 2009, CLABSI incidences have decreased from 43,000 to 18,000. This has saved the health care industry 3-6,000 lives and approximately $414 million in ICU's in 2009 alone. To this day, many hospitals are now reporting zero CLABSI's.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    According to the Center for Disease Control, 1 in 25 people admitted to the hospital will also suffer from a nosocomial, or hospital acquired infection (CDC, 2015). That number totals to 1.7million people a year, of that, catheter-associated urinary tract infections account for 35% and result in 8,205 deaths (AHRQ, 2015). These infections cost hospitals $565 million dollars each year and the majority of them can be prevented (AHRQ, 2015). Due to the unnecessary money that is spent treating this…

    • 1583 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Between 2000-2012 there has been a five-fold increase. Babies suffering from NAS have increased hospital stays with an average stay of 16.9 days compared to a normal healthy newborn stay of 2.1 days. With longer stays healthcare costs increase roughly $1.5 billion, in which 81% of these costs are covered by Medicaid programs. (National Institute of Abuse, 2015)…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The average length of stay for a patient and its impact on the organizations budget is also a concern. The longer a patient stays, the more likely they are to contract an infection and diminish their health even further. This scenario is not good for anyone. Hospital stays are costly, but in regards to hospital income and budget, we want…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Main Question Post: Discussion Week 11 -- Creating a Culture of Evidence-Based Practice Introduction Evidence-based practice is the utilization of the superlative scientific evidence incorporated with clinical experience and amalgamated patient principles and penchants in the practice of professional patient care (Polit & Beck, 2017). Evidence-based practice (EBP) amplifies the quality of patient care while advancing patient outcomes (Estrada, 2009). The healthcare workforce nurses has the obligation to ensure that patient receive quality superlative care whilst utilizing evidence-based practice (Estrada, 2009). Indeed, there are arrays of barriers related to the embracement of EPB in the organization’s, which makes it impossible to the healthcare…

    • 947 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the attempt to call the attention to the importance of improving the quality and health care outcomes, in 1999 the Institute of Medicine had submitted a report called To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Although more than ten years ago, this report stressed the need of a redesign in the process of the patient’s care, little progress in the improvement of quality and safety has been achieved (Clark, 2013). Even though there were some important initiatives in the implementation of quality and safety after the report, only in 2013 The Joint Commission made a significant contribution in order to accelerate the process and enforced quality and safety through standards such as National Patient Safety Goals and Core Measures of nursing…

    • 1231 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the U.S., the third leading cause of death is not a topic the general public knows and talks about: medical mistakes. According to the Journal of Patient Safety, between 210,000 and 440,000 patients suffer some type of harm. The medical system should change so there are more people double-checking every detail, the hours of doctors shifts are reduced and the topic of medical malpractice is openly discussed. In life or death situations, every small detail needs to be checked and double checked to reduce the likelihood of error. There are far too many examples where negligence by any of the medical staff has led to a patient suffering the consequences.…

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics