Quality Improvement practice problem

Quality Improvement Practice Problem
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Introduction
A quality improvement practice problem that will be of much concern in this capstone paper is the common underuse, overuse, and misuse of services. Underuse of services is an act of health professionals delivering services to the patients which are not sufficient or in other words; such health services do not meet the are requirements of patients. This is as good as not being entitled to necessary health care services which lead to patients suffering unwanted health complications which are too costly with obviously lower effectiveness.
Overuse of the hand is the giving of unnecessary medication which is just a waste which is too costly and life-threatening at the same time (Kohn & Corrigan 2010). Misuse of services causes unwanted injuries, especially during treatment. All the ways contribute to loss of life and high expenditure. This practice problem has been selected because it is one of the main quality health improvement practices being closely associated high mortality rates in the health care system.
Literature Review
In healthcare, understanding the scope and the depth of a patient’s problem is essential to administering and providing the most appropriate health care services. Poor quality healthcare services take a form of underuse of services. The practice problem may occur just in some health facilities such as the low-volume health facilities where patients may not receive proper healthcare services which satisfy their needs.

This is the underuse of services because patients die in the process when they do not access appropriate the proper health services. In the “New England Journal of Medicine indicates the comparison in the medical data on elderly cancer patients who received inadequate services in low volume hospitals and those who received services from high volume hospitals. The findings stipulated that chances of survival were high at the high volume hospital than at the low volume hospital.
An article published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) portrays several medical practice problems including the underuse of services. It collected data through studies of medical reports and fact sheets concerning patients who have been under underuse of services health care attention. It did this to help come up with ways to which the problem can be rectified to improve the quality of services. This study by AHRQ examined the importance of beta blockers a short moment before the performance of heart bypass surgery. The findings showed that cancer patients who went through this therapy before the surgery stood high chances of surviving while those who did not be at a higher risk of perishing.
There was an analysis of hysterectomies as an aspect of health which was performed on some women involving about seven health plans (Kohn & Corrigan 2010).
. The purpose of the research was to determine the aspect of overuse of services in the samples. In the findings of the study, it was found out that the most costly antibiotics were used inappropriately than required. Then an assumption was that if the right medical scheme were adhered to, about $400,000 would have been saved otherwise.
Negligence has been rated as a number one cause of injuries under the misuse of services. One journal in the New York State published health information out of a research study whose purpose was to establish incidences of misuse of services and their adversities. This article highlighted that negligence was the cause of the most, about twenty-five percent of adverse events of injuries. Errors in medication also account for cases of misuse of services because it is also a practice that is life-threatening as one national research study indicates.
The quality management measurement for this practice problem includes performance measurement, improvement of quality and consumer involvement (Kohn & Corrigan 2010).
. In addition, it helps in both measuring and reporting information mainly on performance of healthcare service providers is essential to everyone who is concerned. People need to be encouraged to behave as if they are the consumers in matters of healthcare to create some need and urgency for quality health care.
Quality Improvement Process Details
Quality health care is a concern for everyone. The following ways may be used by both health professionals and healthcare consumers to improve the quality of healthcare services. First, there must be a designation of a healthcare system where patients should be able to partner with health service providers to manage their health care at an individual level. This means that patients need to work hand in hand with doctors to help them improve their quality (Kohn & Corrigan 2010).
Secondly, there is an aspect of promoting evidence-based practice and care which is aimed at prevention. Doctors may only give the most required care to patients when using treatment decisions sourced from reliable research works and available data. This will reduce this practice problem of underuse, overuse, and misuse of services.
By measuring performance, health professionals may know whether they are giving out the most appropriate care to the patients. In addition, public reporting of health information is a guide to patients who will be the right course to take and which health professional and facility to visit based on their track records.
Reference
Kohn LT & Corrigan JM, (2010). To Err Is Human: Building A Safer Health Care System. Washington: National Academies Press.