Quality Improvement (QI) Plan Explanation

Quality Improvement (QI)-Plan Explanation
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Quality Improvement-Plan Explanation
Patient’s falls in hospitals are common and range from 2-7 falls per every 100 patients. Based on week three and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the falls have been linked with most deaths among old aged patients of 65 years and above. The Joint Commission back in 2014 provided the solution to the falls but didn’t necessarily extrapolate to what a fall program would include. A fall program contains but not limited to a department specific or hospital-wide prevention policy and experts support. The Joint Commission spearheaded the Robust Process Improvement which a brainchild of several organizations within the USA. From the results, it was evident that two tactics can be employed to reduce the falls. First involves holding the staff accountable for having knowledge about the safety measure and doing rounds on patients. Some resources endorsed in the paper include the Six Sigma and Lean.
The objectives of the project involve the conjunction between the Quality Initiatives or Improvement (QI) programs with the specific hospitals fall prevention plans. Research has shown ways to explore and identify both the intrinsic and extrinsic risk which contribute to falling of patients (Pearson & Coburn, 2011). In order to reduce the incidence and improve the reimbursement care, the goal of the QI plan is to provide a recent protocol that will counter the patients falls.

The plan lays out a conclusive teaching method and support for the continual improvement of both the patients and care providers. So one question comes out, does the project implementation of the QI on an acute care unit reduce the number of falls?
Relevance of QI to nursing
The physicians should be made aware of Quality Initiative Indicators which track and give a report of patient’s falls within a consistent level. Because health is essential in the nursing practice, the focus on falls, how to prevent them and ways of avoiding them should be the aim of all nursing practice within all medical settings. Nursing practice guided by the QI is a major concern in patient’s experience. The QI falls projects are a standard for the nursing care. The users are the nurses as the care providers. Clinical experts have supported its provision as the best practice on dealing with this predicament. Advances in research and fall prevention, as well as the pioneering for the reduction among the inpatient, continue to be a significant priority for patient’s safety (Lake et al, 2010).
Research notes that if changes are rigid then individual get little motivation to grow, they also rarely share creativity with the organization. But the isolation of the old guidelines which need updating should follow the evidence-based practice, for instance, the functional and the physical assessment. Extrinsic factors that are relevant to fall prevention include the application of the yellow wristband for the patients, yellow stop signs and electronic under bed monitors all this are attached to the white communication board, finally, a patient/staff education is also applicable. But though the precaution methods got an update based on the best evidence-based practice, the current falls data validates the need for a revision of the prevailing practice methods.
Significance of evidence-based QI
The global significance of this issue includes the lack of money reimbursed from the insurance agencies or Medicare services. From the research of Department of Human Health & Human Services, it showed that the Medicare service implemented a payment program called the Deficit Reduction Act 2005. Here it involves reduced payment to health facilities upon patients developing Hospital-Acquired Conditions while they are in-patients. Medicare and Medicaid also provide incentives to institutions that have shown consistent reductions in the number of falls and other infections or injuries (Pearson & Coburn, 2011).
An updated institution design could lead to better outcomes in reducing patients harm. The cost of acute care providers for treating the 30% of the falls which result in serious injuries is estimated and expected to reach $55 billion by the year 2020. Hence falls are a significant event within the clinical setting; it necessitates the vitality of fall prevention programs as a patient safety project and ensuring implementation through the QI system. The main areas of focus which include daily patients experience involve establishing a safety culture and relate it to the falls. The tactics consist of communication channels between patients, families and nurses. The culture fosters information flow, increase care continuity and build good relationships.
Summary
The objective of the projects was a determination of whether the implementation of the QI within the hospitals was an option to engage in as a solution or an intervention in the prevention of falls programs. To initiate changes, then drivers must be established which identify challenges and retain stability. The stricter legislations make the QI a necessary priority for all clinical institutions to emphasis more on the preventive approaches involved in patient safety. Finally, the QI offers support to the staff members through updating them on the emerging best regulations and research on the policy procedures and changes tactics through closing up the gaps of information.
References
Lake, E. T., Shang, J., Klaus, S., & Dunton, N. E. (2010). Patient falls: Association with hospital Magnet status and nursing unit staffing. Research in nursing & health, 33(5), 413-425.
Pearson, K. B., & Coburn, A. F. (2011). Evidence-based falls prevention in critical access hospitals. Flex Monitoring Team, 24(December), 1-35.