NRSG 314 Unit 3- Individual Project

You are a team leader and have been asked to teach a short lesson to new employees during an orientation meeting concerning the value of continuous quality improvement (CQI).

• Develop a 3-page (double-spaced) lesson plan that outlines the application of CQI practices to a safety issue that a medical facility is currently experiencing. Address the following:
  • Identify the safety issue and surrounding issue(s).
  • Determine the cause of the issue.
  • Apply CQI to solve the issue.
  • Identify the proposed outcome.
  • Provide an evaluation plan of the process.
  • Use APA format.

Please click on this APA Style for CTU Students link for help with APA formatting. Use the CTU Writing Style Guide (templates provided)—not the Introductory Writing Style Guide.

Individual Project Rubric

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Nursing is a profession of healing, and its practice has continued to improve overtime. As stated by Sherwood and Barnsteiner, “nursing as a profession has been committed to providing safe and quality care for our patients (2021, p. 186). One of the ways that nurses can improve patient outcomes is by the process of continuous quality improvement. By promoting changes and improvements, processes can be enhanced to improve the quality of patient care. One of the continuous quality improvements that is taking place in my health care system is the triage and charge process for patient flow.  Jeffries briefly stated that “emergency departments are frequently overwhelmed by the volume of patients presenting for care” (2019, p. 8). Due to this fact, it was important to develop a better system that would decrease wait times in our department. With improved wait times, patients are seen at a more rapid rate and mortality rates improve (Jerries, 2019). The main aspect was communication between the triage nurse and the charge nurse. The triage nurse would recommend the patients that need to be seen first and the charge would assign those rooms. If the charge nurse becomes overwhelmed, the triage nurse would begin to assign rooms so that there was no halt to the flow of the department. The end goal was to decrease wait times and improve the process flow in the department. Ultimately the flow of the department improved along with improvement of triage wait times. A teamwork approach was applied, and it fared well for the department.

References:

Jeffries, D. (2019). Emergency Department Triage: Not for the Faint of Heart. Journal of Legal Nurse Consulting, 30(2), 8–13. https://search-ebscohost-com.coloradotech.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rzh&AN=136971103&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Sherwood, G., & Barnsteiner, J. (2021). Quality and Safety in Nursing (3rd Edition). Wiley Global Research (STMS). https://coloradotech.vitalsource.com/books/9781119684459

Healthcare facilities are always facing constant changes, financial challenges, and not to mention, competition with neighboring facilities. Because of all these factors, they need to ensure that they stay afloat in delivering the most efficient, the best of quality and the safest care for their patients.  “The goal of quality improvement is to implement best practices to achieve best outcomes, accomplished first by measuring the reality of care delivered compared with benchmarks or the ideal outcome” (Sherwood & Barnsteiner, 2021, pg.4).

A clinical experience that used CQI to improve patient outcomes took place at an outpatient primary care facility.  The clinic noticed that there were more incidents occurring where they were faced with long lines at their check-in areas. Because of this, a domino effect took place where the clinic also had an increase in patient complaints.  The complaints were narrowed down with a patient survey, where they discovered the top complaint was just as they suspected, it was due to the long wait times at check in.

The clinic piloted the use of self-check in kiosks at 3 different primary care locations.  When the pilot rolled out, for the first few weeks they had one designated staff member at each location.  The staff member remained at each location for a duration of 8 hours, and was the go to person ensuring smooth roll out with any questions that may arise regarding use of the new system.  They would also encourage and direct the patients that were in line towards the kiosks for self check in. “It gives people another option.  If there’s a long line, people can check in at the kiosk. The real goal, especially for people on the primary care side, is that you can check in and go straight to your exam room without even having to stop at a desk” (Maras, 2020).

With the new self-check in kiosks, staff immediately noticed a decrease in patient complaints and shorter check in lines.

References:

Maras, Elliot (2020, October 26). Self-check-in kiosks find expanding role in hospitals. https://www.kioskmarketplace.com/blogs/self-check-in-kiosks-find-expanding-role-in-hospitals/

Sherwood, G., & Barnsteiner, J. (2021). Quality and Safety in Nursing (3rd Edition). Wiley Global Research (STMS). https://coloradotech.vitalsource.com/books/9781119684459