Approach the Quality Improvement Process

Approach the Quality Improvement Process

As a manager in a health care facility, one must be knowledgeable in how to track outcomes and to improve quality and safety. The collection of data will reveal the outcomes of improvements implemented and how quality was affected by those improvements. it is a manager’s function to organize data in a way that the outcomes are evident when presented to others. Managers must know how external and internal standards impact quality, the role of continuous improvement and technology in quality and safety and how to plan for employee development in quality and safety Approach the Quality Improvement Process.

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The Role of Continuous Improvement

Continuous Quality Improvement is an organizational process in which employees continually identify and address problems in their work processes (Buchbinder, Shanks, & Kite, 2021). There are five elements of Continuous Quality Improvement which are process focus, customer focus, data-based decision making, employee empowerment, and organization wide-impact. Improvement should be ongoing and should not be limited to one activity. Employee should always seek to make their area more efficient. CQI should have focus on the transactions between patient and provider during the delivery of care which is the definition of process in the Donabedian model (Donabedian, 1988). By having this focus, a better quality of care will be provided to patients and better organizational performance because the factors that cause a defect in administrative and clinical processes can be understood and addressed. Customer focus is when an organization does all they can to make the customer happy. In health care, a customer is any person, group, or organization impacted by a process like a patient or doctor. Data-based decision making refers to using data collection to make informed decisions on what aspects of the process to improve. This makes the problems visible. Employee empowerment allows for people who actually do the work and are knowledgeable in the aspect of the process that needs improvement to have an input. My former boss always allowed the staff to make suggestions on how to improve the quality of service because we were the ones who knew the department the best since we spent years working there. Lastly, organization-wide impact speaks to strategically implementing continuous improvement throughout the organization Approach the Quality Improvement Process.

The Role of Technology

Technology will be utilized for data collection and to create visuals of the collected data. It will help to make using Quality Improvement tools for mapping and analysis easier. Technology allows data to be organized into diagrams and graphs to make the data easy to digest.

Planning for Employee Development

Managers must plan for employees to adjust and become better with the implementation of quality improvement strategies. Let employees give their input on how the changes affect their work. They would know if a new process is working better than a manager would because they perform the processes daily. This goes back to the aforementioned employee empowerment. Take heed to their feedback and encourage them to share their perspective. Also, create improvement teams so that employees can train on improvement tools and methodology. Employees spend time most of their time together so they can influence one another to be accepting of the new changes.

Conclusion

Managers must be ready to facilitate the Quality Improvement process by prioritizing the encouragement of communication, engagement and participation for all the stakeholders that the process affects, plan to implement improvements in small doses, and remember that quality improvement is an iterative process (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, n.d.). By making the stakeholders a priority, one can find ways to help them adjust to the changes. Planning to implement improvements in small doses is less overwhelming for everyone. If a manager tests out changes on a small group, they can see how to enhance the processes and show how the changes will impact practices and outcomes. As a manager, I will also keep in mind that, as I gain experience, I will have to frequently make adjustments to the process and find new actions to add to my strategic plan Approach the Quality Improvement Process.

References

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (n.d.).  Section 4: Ways to Approach the Quality Improvement Process. https://www.ahrq.gov/cahps/quality-improvement/improvement-guide/4-approach-qi-process/index.html

Buchbinder, S.B., Shanks, N.H., & Kite, B.J. (2021). Introduction to Health Care Management (4th ed.). https://bibliu.com/app/#/view/books/9781284156553/epub/EPUB/xhtml/01_Titlepage.html#page_i.

Donabedian A. (1988). The quality of care. How can it be assessed?. JAMA, 260(12), 1743–1748. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.260.12.1743 Approach the Quality Improvement Process