...facilities, patient safety is little to non-existent and if they are, there displayed on a need be and not obliged basis. They are displayed case by case rather than nursing home protocol. Even with changes in regulations, reporting systems, and documentation over the past couple of years, the nursing home industry still has its share of problems. Patient safety is meant to provide patients freedom from healthcare associated preventable harm, meaning when things go right, nothing bad happens. Nursing home organizations have been constantly trying to improve their reputation and the way people view them, but how? Don’t patients make up a nursing home? What about their safety? Shouldn’t we start there? How do we make improvements? Telehealth, a new approach to improving patient safety in nursing homes, will use telecommunication technologies to deliver health related services and information that support patient care, administrative activities, and health education (Dixon, Hook, McGowan, 2008). In this paper I will explore the major benefits of Telehealth and how its implications can improve patient safety in nursing home care. What is Telehealth and why is it important? Telehealth is the means and methods to improving access to care and reducing healthcare associated costs. It is also a system that can be used for education purposes, to keep physicians and medical staff in the know on healthcare changes and updates; in which combined together are the steps to improving patient safety...
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...Health Literacy: Key to increasing Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality Healthcare literacy is as essential as basic academic education. It enables one to understand the medical aspects of their body, along with pointing them in the correct direction regarding how to take care of it, illness prevention, and basic healthcare measures (Health Literacy, 2010). It acts as an important aspect in increasing patient safety and healthcare quality – both crucial elements of a healthcare organization and its functioning. However, a very alarming issue is that there exist a huge percentage of population, which has low health literacy, or is completely health illiterate. Although there have been various measures taken targeting this issue, there still...
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...collection programs should use strong and effective policies to ensure that privacy and confidentiality of personal data are not infringed (Cdc.gov, 2015). The data collection activity should also ensure that they respect the rights of patients, individuals or even communities involved in the data collection. The data collection activity should ensure that the whole process upholds the desired level of quality. The period of reporting and presenting the results should also be predetermined in advance. Data collection should also ensure that the data is legitimately used and that it entails the creation of data-use agreements. The collected data should be kept securely and analyzed efficiently. The end users of the data should also ensure that the data is analyzed and recommendations made (Cdc.gov, 2015). In the health sector, it is crucial to measure the performance of patient care and their services using the best methods and tools. It helps in establishing the effects of healthcare on the expected outcomes. The processes also assist in determining the level to which the health care aligns to the methods being applied. The tools and measures also ensure consistency with the needs of patients. They can also be used to find out whether each healthcare personnel has attained the desired objectives and to avoid those practices that can cause harm (Hughes, 2014). The health care organizations are usually responsible for monitoring and selection of the medical professionals in their...
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...Patient-Centered Care Delivery Model, a Multidisciplinary Team Approach NR532 Healthcare Operational Planning and Management Patient-Centered Care Delivery Model, a Multidisciplinary Team Approach Increased emphasis from the Institute Of Medicine (IOM) and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on improving quality, safety and reducing care cost has brought forth challenges among hospital executives (Cama, 2009). Nurse executives must develop low cost, innovative and effective ways to deliver patient care. The focus of this manuscript is to develop and implement a care delivery model emphasized in a patient-centered care delivery model using multidisciplinary team approach. Patient-centered Care Delivery Model According to the Institute of Health Improvement (IHI), “patient-centered family care is care through a patient’s experience that is coordinated, informed and grounded in respectful interactions with providers that are consistent with the patient’s values, expectations and care decisions” (Balik, 2011). Evidence-based practice has drastically increased this past decade with one of its cornerstones being “patient-centered care and nursing being at the frontline to lead this change. Professional nurses are prepared to effectively lead the healthcare team to achieve patient and organizational goals. Patients are unique in every facet of their needs and therefor multiple disciplines are critical to best deliver patient-centered outcome (Cama, 2009)...
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...Improving Quality of Care Ottawa University Abstract Assessing and improving quality health care in the United States is a high priority in this day and age of health care. As health care providers we have an obligation to serve as leaders and visionaries and actively demonstrate and document the advances to patient-centered care. Many agencies and organizations have developed initiatives to advance patient care through quality improvement measures and patient safety programs. Evaluating quality health care is important for consumer, providers and society. Developing a quality measure of health care is an important objective for organizations that value health care quality. Improving Quality of Care The continuing growth of technology in healthcare is ground breaking at this time. With the advancements in technology and health care, there has become a rift between providers and patients. Patients want the best quality care from the health care system. Despite this justifiably positive view that, overall, quality of care is high in this country, many factors point to the fact that the quality of care is declining. It is believed that patient-physician relationships are not as strong as they once were, causing distrust and uncertainty. The health care field is ever changing and health care providers need to stay current on those changes, both now and in the future. Quality patient care will greatly remain impacted from the health care provider shortages and in return...
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...to provide support to the patients, health care worker and, and health care stakeholders. It is called the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. The government provided the funding for the office to create initiatives in regards to safety in healthcare and improvement in the quality of healthcare in Australia. According to the article written by Sophie Scott, the Productivity Commission reported an increase in serious medical errors made in hospitals in Australia from 87-107 cases. However, despite of the report there is a decrease of serious adverse events from 2007-2012. There...
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...Running head: QUALITY AND SAFETY IN HEALTH CARE MANAGEMENT 1 Quality and Safety in Health Care Management Murimi Stephen muriets@gmail.com JKUAT December 2014 QUALITY AND SAFETY IN HEALTH CARE MANAGEMENT 1. Introduction 2 Although health care facilities are designed to ensure people are safe, they remain a dangerous place to be (Mitchell, Gardner, & McGregor, 2012). The sources of risks in the hospital include medical errors, falls, and health care associated infections (HAIs). The World Health Assembly (WHA) held on 18th May 2012 passed a resolution that addressed the issue of patient safety and quality in health care (Briš & Keclíková, 2012). WHA called for continued improvements in health care quality and patient safety (Briš & Keclíková, 2012). Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the existent health care systems in order to identify the causes of risks and come up with a plan that can improve health care standards. The plan should also aim at improving the safety techniques applied in other high risk industries, such as the mass transportation, chemical engineering, and nuclear power generation sectors (Shillito, Arfanis, & Smith, 2010). According to the accident causation model developed by Reason in 1990, accidents are caused by many factors that work in concert (Shillito, Arfanis, & Smith, 2010). Such accidents must be prevented by instituting the necessary checks and controls within the system (Shillito, Arfanis, & Smith, 2010). According to Shillito...
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...an Electronic Health Record (EHR). CPOE’s can improve a patient’s safety, patient quality of care and physician’s efficiency. The implementation of CPOE’s in healthcare facilities have been recommended by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Quality Forum. CPOE - Computerized Provider Order Entry Computerized Provider Order Entry or CPOE is a computer application that accepts physician’s orders electronically and replaces handwritten orders and prescriptions. It is considered one of the key features of an Electronic Health Record (EHR). CPOE’s can improve a patient’s safety, patient quality of care and physician’s efficiency. “CPOE is recommended by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Quality Forum as one of the 30 “Safe Practices for Better Healthcare.” The Leapfrog Group also recommends CPOE implementation as one of its first three recommended “leaps” for improving patient safety” (Computerized Provider Entry, p1p7). There are many benefits that CPOE’s provide such as eliminating problems with handwriting, reducing storage space, since they have taken the place of traditional paper-based charts, reducing medication errors, faster transmission of prescriptions to the pharmacy. The CPOE also offers alerts and decision making benefits to the physician. It can compare a prescribed medication to a patient’s allergy list and other medications that the patient is currently taking. If the CPOE system finds anything wrong, it...
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...Abstract Healthcare unlike many high-risk industries has made slow progress in improving patient’s safety. The role of nursing in improving medication safety has been largely underestimated. Much of the research undertaken to date in relation to adverse medication events has neglected the impact that nurses have or could have in improving patient safety. In examining literature regarding adverse medication events one can see the urgent need for significant improvement in medication practices and processes. In addition that this health care issue will only improve with the participation of all disciplines working towards a common goal of improving the safety of those in our care. Introduction Medications play a key role in healthcare but can also be a significant key cause of medical error and of adverse patient outcomes. Nurses by the nature of their roles in medication administration can be the last line of defense in eliminating or reducing adverse medication events. The administration of medication is a common and almost routine activity in a nurse’s daily work, yet it is fraught with complexity and risk for both the patient and nurse. As a student nurse working in partnership with a registered nurse I have observed a variety of practices in medication administration that have varied from what I have been taught in class. On reflecting on these practices and questioning nurses why such practice has been adopted has illustrated to me both the flawed processes and environment...
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...head: COST AND QUALITY ANALYSIS Healthcare cost and quality Grand Canyon University July 24th, 2012 Ethics, Policy, and Finance in the Health Care System Sally L. Clark A challenge that the healthcare nation is facing is to provide the quality of care that is expected and obtain low healthcare cost. Working hand in hand with the private sector and government is in hopes of improving the quality of care that each patient deserves and maintaining the cost so that research can continue. The purpose of this paper is to look into relationships between healthcare cost and quality healthcare. Differences in HealthCare Cost and Quality Working in the healthcare system, you often wonder if the nation works on quality of care or do they work more on cost of healthcare. Quality of care is an important role in achieving the best healthcare. Cost of healthcare is based on incentives that support the effectiveness while curving the spending growth (MacReady, 2012). Reform needs to be provided a baseline in evaluating healthcare delivery systems for a broader success of payments and delivery models with payment providers (2012, p.2). Sometimes higher cost effects quality of care. Some decisions need to be made that may affect the “clinical and fiscal health of the nation” (2012 p.1). Differentiating Roles and Major Activities Public and Private agencies plays an important role on how healthcare is delivered. The Commonwealth Fund is a private...
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...Running head: QUALITY AND SAFETY IN HEALTH CARE MANAGEMENT 1 Quality and Safety in Health Care Management Murimi Stephen muriets@gmail.com JKUAT December 2014 QUALITY AND SAFETY IN HEALTH CARE MANAGEMENT 1. Introduction 2 Although health care facilities are designed to ensure people are safe, they remain a dangerous place to be (Mitchell, Gardner, & McGregor, 2012). The sources of risks in the hospital include medical errors, falls, and health care associated infections (HAIs). The World Health Assembly (WHA) held on 18th May 2012 passed a resolution that addressed the issue of patient safety and quality in health care (Briš & Keclíková, 2012). WHA called for continued improvements in health care quality and patient safety (Briš & Keclíková, 2012). Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the existent health care systems in order to identify the causes of risks and come up with a plan that can improve health care standards. The plan should also aim at improving the safety techniques applied in other high risk industries, such as the mass transportation, chemical engineering, and nuclear power generation sectors (Shillito, Arfanis, & Smith, 2010). According to the accident causation model developed by Reason in 1990, accidents are caused by many factors that work in concert (Shillito, Arfanis, & Smith, 2010). Such accidents must be prevented by instituting the necessary checks and controls within the system (Shillito, Arfanis, & Smith, 2010). According to Shillito...
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...institutions. There are concerns that healthcare agencies have not made much progress in ensuring that the consumers of health services receive the appropriate medication from the hospital personnel (Rash-Foanio et al., 2017). Among the methods of enhancing accurate medication procedures are increased training of health care providers engaged in administering medications and the expansion of oversight from government agencies. Additionally, many health institutions have transitioned to computer-based applications; Electronic Health Records (EHRs) – that store patient data to ensure accurate physician orders. Medication errors can result from the lack of patient/staff education and the overwhelming workload of nurses, and ultimately could lower hospital income due to an increase in the expenditures used to correct these errors. Health institutions and their respective EHR systems need to create more algorithms that flags possible errors in medication prescription/administration to track and lower the incidences at which the healthcare employees are likely to make mistakes. Causes of Medication Errors Patient safety has been a...
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...Risk and Quality Management Assessment Summary Beverly L. Rivera HCS/451 April 1, 2015 Kevin Stevens Risk and Quality Management Assessment Summary The healthcare industry is growing rapidly with significant changes directing new trends and advance technology for the future. Within recent years, the shift from manual medical records to electronic medical records allows individuals to be an active participant in direct control of their health care. As these changes continue to increase, the risk and quality departments within health care organizations has an enormous duty to enhance the quality of care for its internal and external customers. Gwinnett Medical Center is one of many healthcare organizations that embraces change along with enhancing the quality of care their patients receive. The executive summary assessment will describe details of Gwinnett Medical Center, the risk, and quality management department policies, and how the risk and quality management determines the quality outcome for the goals the hospitals. Gwinnett Medical Center Gwinnett Medical Center (GMC), also known as Gwinnett Hospital System, Inc. (GHS), was established in the early 70s and is a not-for-profit health care network. The hospital is a 553-bed facility, which includes 464-inpatient and 89-skilled licensed nursing and long-term facility. Gwinnett Medical Center has two acute-care hospitals, and facilities in different cities and the metro Atlanta area. The facility in Lawrenceville...
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...In the 1999 research studies began to review the problem of medical errors and how they occurred. Studies and reports, such as the Institute of Medicine IOM report in 1999, strongly suggest that most medical errors are related to systems and processes and not individual negligence or misconduct. The IOM report recommended that the key to addressing medical errors is to focus on improving the processes used to deliver healthcare and not placing blame on the individuals involved. Approximately 1.3 million people are injured annually in the United States following "medication errors". The FDA defines a medication error as “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or harm to a patient”. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) currently review medication error reports that come from drug manufacturers and through Med Watch, the agency's safety information and adverse event reporting program. The agency also receives reports about medication errors from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) and the U.S. Pharmacopeia. Some things the FDA has put into place to prevent medication errors: * Drug Name Review: To minimize drug name confusion, FDA reviews about 400 drug names a year that companies submit as proposed brand names. The agency rejects about one-third of the names that drug companies propose. * Drug Labels: FDA regulations require all over-the-counter (OTC) drug products (more than 100,000) to have a standardized...
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...Chelsea Millard Performance Measures An intensive care unit (ICU), also referred to as a critical care unit, is a healthcare operating unit that treats persons who have been inflicted with life-threatening injuries and illnesses. Patients in an intensive care unit are observed closely by specially trained health care providers. Problems that are treated range from accidents to severe breathing problems. Patients are normally exposed to monitors, intravenous (IV) tubs, feeding tubes, catheters, and breathing machines. These particular items are used to extend a patient’s life, but infection risk can become common also. In an intensive care unit, many patients recover and are moved to a regular hospital room to receive care. Death is a common outcome for patients in an intensive care unit. If a patient’s family and health care providers have to make end-of-life decisions, advance directives will help the individuals come to a final decision (“Critical Care“). In the article “The Competitiveness and Balanced Scorecard of Health Care Companies,” the balanced scorecard has become an idea that has become influential to the business aspect. A balanced scorecard measures employee knowledge, relationship with customers, cultures of innovation, and change generated success. Many businesses has improved their performance by improving processes and becoming more competitive in the market (Mavlutova, Babauska, 2013). In the article “Pabon Lasso and Data Envelopment Analysis: A Complementary...
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