nursing
Enhancing Quality and Safety
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Bottom of Form
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· For this assessment, you will develop a 3page paper that examines a safety quality issue pertaining to medication administration in a health care setting. You will analyze the issue and examine potential evidence-based and best-practice solutions from the literature as well as the role of nurses and other stakeholders in addressing the issue.
Health care organizations and professionals strive to create safe environments for patients; however, due to the complexity of the health care system, maintaining safety can be a challenge. Since nurses comprise the largest group of health care professionals, a great deal of responsibility falls in the hands of practicing nurses. Quality improvement (QI) measures and safety improvement plans are effective interventions to reduce medical errors and sentinel events such as medication errors, falls, infections, and deaths. A 2000 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report indicated that almost one million people are harmed annually in the United States, (Kohn et al., 2000) and 210,000–440,000 die as a result of medical errors (Allen, 2013).
The role of the baccalaureate nurse includes identifying and explaining specific patient risk factors, incorporating evidence-based solutions to improving patient safety and coordinating care. A solid foundation of knowledge and understanding of safety organizations such as Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN), the Institute of Medicine (IOM), and The Joint Commission and its National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) program is vital to practicing nurses with regard to providing and promoting safe and effective patient care.
You are encouraged to complete the Identifying Safety Risks and Solutions activity. This activity offers an opportunity to review a case study and practice identifying safety risks and possible solutions. We have found that learners who complete course activities and review resources are more successful with first submissions. Completing course activities is also a way to demonstrate course engagement.
Demonstration of Proficiency
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:
· Competency 1: Analyze the elements of a successful quality improvement initiative.
1
. Explain evidence-based and best-practice solutions to improve patient safety focusing on medication administration and reducing costs.
. Competency 2: Analyze factors that lead to patient safety risks.
2
. Explain factors leading to a specific patient-safety risk focusing on medication administration.
. Competency 4: Explain the nurse’s role in coordinating care to enhance quality and reduce costs.
3
. Explain how nurses can help coordinate care to increase patient safety with medication administration and reduce costs.
3. Identify stakeholders with whom nurses would need to coordinate to drive quality and safety enhancements with medication administration.
. Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly, evidence-based strategies to communicate in a manner that supports safe and effective patient care.
4. Organize content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions; contains few errors in grammar or punctuation, word choice, and spelling.
4. Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references exhibiting nearly flawless adherence to APA format.
References
Allen, M. (2013). How many die from medical mistakes in U.S. hospitals? Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/09/20/224507654/how-many-die-from-medical-mistakes-in-u-s-hospitals.
Kohn, L. T., Corrigan, J., & Donaldson, M. S. (Eds.). (2000). To err is human: Building a safer health system. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Professional Context
As a baccalaureate-prepared nurse, you will be responsible for implementing quality improvement (QI) and patient safety measures in health care settings. Effective quality improvement measures result in systemic and organizational changes, ultimately leading to the development of a patient safety culture.
Scenario
Consider a previous experience or hypothetical situation pertaining to medication errors, and consider how the error could have been prevented or alleviated with the use of evidence-based guidelines.
Choose a specific condition of interest surrounding a medication administration safety risk and incorporate evidence-based strategies to support communication and ensure safe and effective care.
For this assessment:
. Analyze a current issue or experience in clinical practice surrounding a medication administration safety risk and identify a quality improvement (QI) initiative in the health care setting.
Instructions
The purpose of this assessment is to better understand the role of the baccalaureate-prepared nurse in enhancing quality improvement (QI) measures that address a medication administration safety risk. This will be within the specific context of patient safety risks at a health care setting of your choice. You will do this by exploring the professional guidelines and best practices for improving and maintaining patient safety in health care settings from organizations such as QSEN and the IOM. Looking through the lens of these professional best practices to examine the current policies and procedures currently in place at your chosen organization and the impact on safety measures for patients surrounding medication administration, you will consider the role of the nurse in driving quality and safety improvements. You will identify stakeholders in QI improvement and safety measures as well as consider evidence-based strategies to enhance quality of care and promote medication administration safety in the context of your chosen health care setting.
Be sure that your plan addresses the following, which corresponds to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. Please study the scoring guide carefully so that you know what is needed for a distinguished score.
. Explain factors leading to a specific patient-safety risk focusing on medication administration.
. Explain evidence-based and best-practice solutions to improve patient safety focusing on medication administration and reducing costs.
. Explain how nurses can help coordinate care to increase patient safety with medication administration and reduce costs.
. Identify stakeholders with whom nurses would coordinate to drive safety enhancements with medication administration.
. Communicate using writing that is clear, logical, and professional, with correct grammar and spelling, using current APA style.
Additional Requirements
. Length of submission: 3pages, plus title and reference pages.
. Number of references: Cite a minimum of 4 sources of scholarly or professional evidence that support your findings and considerations. Resources should be no more than 5 years old.
. APA formatting: References and citations are formatted according to current APA style.
Thank you for submitting the first-course assignment on enhancing the quality and patient safety outcomes when delivering care. This assignment is the foundation upon which you will build the additional course assignments.
I really enjoyed evaluating the assignment and appreciate your hard work and effort. I look forward to reading your next assignment submission. I was wondering, from doing this assignment, have you changed anything in your own practice to ensure the quality of care is delivered and that patient safety is of priority? I hope that you can relate the course material and learning activities to real situations and changes in practice. I look forward to seeing how things evolve for you over the course.
Keep up the hard work!
Sincerely,
Dr. Stayner
DOWNLOAD YOUR EVALUATED ASSESSMENT FILE
COMPETENCY 1
Analyze the elements of a successful quality improvement initiative.
CRITERION
Analyze factors that lead to patient safety risks.
Your result:
Proficient
Distinguished
Explains evidence-based and best practice solutions to improve patient safety focusing on medication administration and reducing costs. Makes explicit reference to scholarly or professional resources to support explanation.
Proficient
Explains evidence-based and best-practice solutions to improve patient safety focusing on medication administration and reducing costs.
Basic
Identifies evidence-based and best-practice solutions to improve patient safety focusing on medication administration and/or discusses reducing costs but not both.
Non-Performance
Does not identify evidence-based and best-practice solutions to improve patient safety focusing on medication administration and reducing costs.
Faculty Comments:
Good work here explaining evidence-based and best practice strategies related to the patient-safety risk of med errors and the importance of training and minimizing hazards. To achieve the distinguished level, you needed to make the connection between the risk concern and impact on cost and to support your finding with credible resources.
COMPETENCY 2
Analyze factors that lead to patient safety risks.
CRITERION
Analyze the elements of a successful quality improvement initiative.
Your result: Proficient
Distinguished
Explains factors leading to a specific patient-safety risk focusing on medication administration.
Makes reference to specific data, evidence, or standards illustrate the safety risk.
Proficient
Explains factors leading to a specific patient-safety risk focusing on medication administration.
Basic
Identifies factors leading to a specific patient-safety risk focusing on medication administration.
Non-Performance
Does not identify factors leading to a specific patient-safety risk focusing on medication administration.
Faculty Comments:
I think that you did a great job identifying the factors that lead to the specific patient-risk of med errors when it comes to administering meds. To reach the next level, you could refer to the data about how many are impacted and provide evidence to illustrate the safety risk concern. Remember to cite a source.
COMPETENCY 3
Explain the nurse’s role in coordinating care to enhance quality and reduce costs.
CRITERION
Identify organizational interventions to promote patient safety.
Your result: Non-Performance
Distinguished
Explains how nurses can help coordinate care to increase patient safety with medication administration and reduce costs, providing specific examples related to a patient safety risk.
Proficient
Explains how nurses can help coordinate care to increase patient safety with medication administration and reduce costs.
Basic
Identifies how nurses can help coordinate care to increase patient safety with medication administration and/or how to reduce costs but not both.
Non-Performance
Does not identify how nurses can help coordinate care to increase patient safety with medication administration and reduce costs.
Faculty Comments:
Did not see this section addressed in the paper. Can you please add a level 1 heading and the missing content and HIGHLIGHT the added information? So, already exist at the facility that can be used to implement the safety improvement plan?
CRITERION
Explain the nurse’s role in coordinating care to enhance quality and reduce costs.
Your result: Non-Performance
Distinguished
Identifies stakeholders with whom nurses would need to coordinate to drive quality and safety enhancements with medication administration, noting the relevance and potential importance of the stakeholders.
Proficient
Identifies stakeholders with whom nurses would need to coordinate to drive quality and safety enhancements with medication administration.
Basic
Identifies stakeholders, but their relevance to collaboration with nurses or their ability to drive quality and safety enhancements with medication administration is unclear.
Non-Performance
Does not identify stakeholders with whom nurses would need to coordinate to drive quality and safety enhancements with medication administration.
Faculty Comments:
Did not see this section directly addressed.
It almost seems like this paper was written for another class as well as it doesn’t seem to match this scoring guide.
COMPETENCY 4
Apply professional, scholarly, evidence-based strategies to communicate in a manner that supports safe and effective patient care.
CRITERION
Apply professional, scholarly, evidence-based strategies to communicate in a manner that supports safe and effective patient care.
Your result: Basic
Distinguished
Organizes content with a clear purpose. Content flows logically with smooth transitions using coherent paragraphs, correct grammar or punctuation, word choice, and free of spelling errors.
Proficient
Organizes content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions; contains few errors in grammar or punctuation, word choice, and spelling.
Basic
Organizes content with some logical flow and smooth transitions. Contain errors in grammar or punctuation, word choice, and spelling.
Non-Performance
Does not organize content for ideas. Lacks logical flow and smooth transitions.
Faculty Comments:
The flow and organization is confusing as the content in the paper doesn’t match this scoring guide. Please go back and address this assignment and remove the extra material. Thanks!
Also, there needs to be level 1 headings used to organize the flow of content.
CRITERION
Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references exhibiting nearly flawless adherence to APA format.
Your result: Basic
Distinguished
Exhibits strict and flawless adherence to APA formatting of headings, in-text citations, and references. Quotes and paraphrases correctly.
Proficient
Applies APA formatting to in-text citations and references exhibiting nearly flawless adherence to APA format.
Basic
Applies APA formatting to in-text citations, headings and references incorrectly or inconsistently, detracting noticeably from the content. Inconsistently uses headings, quotes or paraphrasing.
Non-Performance
Does not apply APA formatting to headings, in-text citations, and references. Does not use quotes or paraphrase correctly.
Faculty Comments:
Please continue to work on this.
The Introduction paragraph should briefly introduce the topic and explain to the reader what will be discussed in the paper and should mimic the scoring guide/headings. It should be one succinct paragraph. Place a heading above the paragraph, which should be the title of the paper, centered, and in bold.
Here is a link that can help you with writing an Introduction and Conclusion paragraph
http://media.capella.edu/NonCourseMedia/writingCenter/stages-writing/wrapper.asp
VERY IMPORTANT: Use the scoring guide criteria to create level 1 headings in the paper to organize the flow of content and to ensure that all areas are addressed. Level 1 headings should be centered and in bold and all pertinent words should be capitalized.
Here is an Example of a Level 1 Heading
Website explaining different heading levels:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/apa_headings_and_seriation.html
You may wish to check out the NHS Learner Success Lab tab located along the left side of the course room as it is full of wonderful writing resources.