Answer 2 for NRS 415 Provide an example of how you would apply CQI in your current or past position
Nurses and other healthcare professionals consistently and collaboratively work together to deliver the best care to patients. During this onerous task, there is need to regularly review the plan of care and other activities within the healthcare facility which aid in the implementation of plan of care with the intention of improving the service delivery. The act of identifying these areas of improvement and developing strategies to effectively address the areas identified is known as continuous quality improvement. According to Thomas (2022), continuous quality improvement helps in keeping up with increased demand for health care services, constant practice changes as well as increasing health care standards. It is important to recognize that nurses are the closest in line of communication and care to the patient.
A typical example of how I would apply continuous quality improvement is to consistently collect data regarding patients’ health outcomes and analyzing the data which would aid to identify areas of possible improvement, collaborating with other health professionals to discuss how to address these areas of improvement and proposing changes and strategies to be adopted to improve the standard of care. According to Thomas (2022), continuous quality improvement within health care must involve the collaboration of interdisciplinary teams within an organization to contribute to decisions to improve health outcomes. On the other hand, if I were a new nurse, important healthcare practice issues that could be addressed with continuous quality improvement is fall among patients on admission in the hospital. Having identified an issue and evaluating past intervention as well as recent cases of fall, it would help me understand areas that need more improvement in terms of hospital protocols and policies and adopting evidence-based practices.
Among the quality improvement methods, the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) methodology will most appropriately fit the issue identified. According to Comfere, Matulis, & O’Horo (2020) Plan-Do-Study -Act is a four-step process for quality improvement which uses a structured planning approach to develop an intervention, test on a small scale, improve and enlarge the implementation. To apply the PDSA method on the identified issue, which is falls among hospitalized patients, it would involve developing a workout plan which invariably is the strategy adopted after which such plan could be implemented at a small scale to have a review of its effectiveness. Where the result is positive as regards addressing the issue identified, the team can comfortably adopt such method while also consistently reviewing for further improvement within the healthcare facility.
References
Comfere, N., Matulis, J., & O’Horo, J. (2020). Quality improvement and healthcare: The Mayo Clinic quality Academy experience. Journal of clinical tuberculosis and other mycobacterial diseases, 20, 100170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jctube.2020.100170
