Description
Overview
As a student of healthcare quality management, it is vital that you are able to identify problems that arise in healthcare organizations and propose strategies for their improvement. A critical part of this process requires you to be familiar with quality and accreditation standards and navigate the communication channels of the organization.
For your summative assignment, you will identify a departmental problem within a healthcare organization and develop a collaborative performance improvement initiative to address it. Ideally, the proposed evidence-based solution will serve to improve the departmental problem, thus contributing to the overall success of the healthcare organization. The project is divided into three milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Two, Four, and Six. The final product will be submitted in Module Seven.
In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:
Evaluate appropriate methods of healthcare data collection and interpretation for informing organizational decision making
Assess healthcare performance improvement initiatives for addressing gaps in organizational performance
Evaluate requirements of current quality and safety initiatives for how they promote the culture of safety in healthcare organizations
Formulate communication and teamwork strategies in quality management that engage diverse stakeholders within healthcare organizations
Evaluate information management systems and patient care technologies that promote healthcare quality
Prompt
Begin by identifying an organizational problem within your own workplace healthcare setting or a hypothetical healthcare organization. Propose an initiative that addresses this chosen problem, utilizing evidence-based literature and quality standards. If you choose a problem in your workplace, be sure to utilize data from that healthcare organization; if you have created a hypothetical healthcare organization, you may use a public domain database with instructor permission. As this is a scholarly initiative, this assignment must adhere to all APA requirements and formatting and include peer-reviewed and evidence-based sources to support any and all claims.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
What Is the Organizational Problem?
Provide the organizational problem that you have chosen. How does this problem fail to meet quality or other regulatory requirements?
Articulate organizational challenges posed by the problem (e.g., interdepartmental conflicts, communication failure, budgeting issues).
Evidence-Based Support
Provide data that supports the existence of the problem. You may utilize public sources to find data related to your selected problem.
How has this problem been addressed in the past? What information management systems or patient care technologies have been utilized when addressing this problem? Be sure to use peer-reviewed literature to support your answer.
Discuss relevant accreditation standards, safety standards, compliance standards, and quality initiatives. How do these standards promote a culture of safety within the department? Be sure to cite the appropriate standards within your answer.
Performance Improvement Initiative
Propose an initiative that will address this problem within the department of your chosen healthcare organization. What specific relevant quality standard will this quality initiative address?
Describe the type of data that will reveal a quality outcome.
Implementation of the Plan in the Organization
How will this implementation plan be communicated among departments?
How will the data be displayed and shared with the organization?
If the plan for this initiative was implemented, what do you believe would be the hypothetical effect(s) on patient care outcomes? How will health information systems support those improvements in patient care?
What do you think the hypothetical effect of the quality or performance plan would be on the culture of safety within the organization?
Success of the Performance Improvement Plan
If this initiative is successful, how would the organization monitor the financial implications?
How would the current information management systems contribute to the success of your plan?
What current organizational processes will help the plan be successful?
How will the plan be communicated among departments? How will this communication help team members commit to the performance improvement plan?
Milestones
Milestone One: Identify Organizational Problem
In Module Two, first, you will identify a problem in a healthcare organization. You may use a problem from your organization or a problem from a fictional organization. This milestone is graded with the Milestone One Rubric.
Milestone Two: Initiative Proposal
In Module Four, you will build upon the work you completed on milestone one. In this milestone, you will propose an improvement plan that focuses on the problem you selected in Milestone One. If you chose a problem in your workplace, be sure to use data from that healthcare organization; if you created a hypothetical healthcare organization, you might use a public domain database with instructor permission. Next, you will develop an implementation plan for the problem that you are focusing on. Then, you will discuss the predicted success of the performance improvement plan after implementation. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.
Milestone Three: Implementation of Performance Initiative
In Module Six, you will implement your performance improvement plan. Also, you will discuss what success of the performance improvement plan will look like. If you choose a problem in your workplace, be sure to use data from that healthcare organization. If you created a hypothetical healthcare organization, you might use a public domain database with instructor permission. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Three Rubric.
Final Submission: Organizational Performance Initiative
In Module Seven, you will submit your final project. The final project should be a complete, polished paper containing all of the items listed on the grading rubric. Your paper should show that you have applied all of the instructor feedback. This submission is graded with the Final Project Rubric.
What to Submit
Your organizational performance initiative should be 8–10 pages in length; however, the quality of this submission is much more important than the length. All resources must be appropriately cited in APA format.
Final Project Rubric
Criteria Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value
Problem: Provide Meets “Proficient” criteria and includes insightful detail about how the problem fails to meet quality or regulatory requirements Comprehensively provides details about how the problem fails to meet quality or regulatory requirements Provides details about how the problem fails to meet quality or regulatory requirements but with gaps in detail or logic Does not provide details about how the problem fails to meet quality or regulatory requirements 4.5
Problem: State Meets “Proficient” criteria and offers greater depth of information regarding the organizational challenges posed by the problem Clearly states organizational challenges posed by the problem States organizational challenges posed by the problem, but articulation is not clear Does not state organizational challenges posed by the problem 6
Support: Provide Meets “Proficient” criteria and data provided demonstrates nuanced understanding of the problem Provides data that supports the existence of the problem Provides data but data does not fully support existence of the problem Does not provide data or data provided does not support 6
Support: Addressed Meets “Proficient” criteria and description includes insightful detail regarding how this problem has been addressed in the past Thoroughly describes how this problem has been addressed in the past, including the information management systems or patient care technologies utilized, and supports answer with peer-reviewed literature Describes how this problem has been addressed in the past but with gaps in detail, and supports answer but support does not include peer-reviewed literature or is irrelevant Does not describe how the problem has been addressed in the past or does not support answer 6
Support: Discuss Meets “Proficient” criteria and offers professional insights concerning how accreditation, safety, compliance, and quality standards promote a culture of safety Clearly discusses relevant accreditation, safety, and compliance standards, as well as quality initiatives, including how these standards promote a culture of safety within the department, and cites appropriate standards Discusses accreditation, safety, and compliance standards, as well as quality initiatives, but with gaps in detail or clarity, and cites standards but citations are irrelevant or inappropriate Does not discuss accreditation, safety, compliance, and quality standards and does not cite standards 9
Performance: Propose Meets “Proficient” criteria and proposal demonstrates a nuanced insight into the relationship between the performance improvement plan and the quality standard being addressed Proposes a performance improvement plan to address the chosen problem, including the quality standard being addressed Proposes a performance improvement plan to address the chosen problem but proposal has gaps in detail or logic Does not propose a performance improvement plan 4.5
Performance: Describe Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates great insight into the type of data that will reveal a quality outcome Accurately describes the type of data that will reveal a quality outcome Describes the type of data that will reveal a quality outcome Does not describe the type of data that will reveal a quality outcome 6
Implementation: Communication Meets “Proficient” criteria and description is exceptionally clear in how the implementation plan will be communicated among departments Thoroughly describes how the implementation plan will be communicated among departments Describes how the implementation plan will be communicated among departments but description has gaps in detail Does not describe how the implementation plan will be communicated among departments 6
Implementation: Data Meets “Proficient” criteria and choices of how the data will be displayed and shared with the organization demonstrate nuanced insight into communication within the chosen healthcare organization Accurately describes how the data will be displayed and shared with the organization Describes how the data will be displayed and shared with the organization but description is inaccurate Does not describe how the data will be displayed and shared with the organization 6
Implementation: Initiative Meets “Proficient” criteria and offers reasoning concerning the hypothetical effects of the initiative on patient care outcomes Comprehensively describes the hypothetical effects of this initiative on patient care outcomes, including how health information systems support improvements in patient care Describes the hypothetical effects of this initiative on patient care outcomes but description is cursory Does not describe the hypothetical effects of the initiative on patient care outcomes 6
Implementation: Effect Meets “Proficient” criteria and offers reasoning concerning the hypothetical effect of the quality plan on the culture of safety within the organization Comprehensively describes the hypothetical effect of the quality plan on the culture of safety within the organization Describes the hypothetical effect of the quality plan on the culture of safety within the organization but description is cursory Does not describe the hypothetical effect of the quality plan on the culture of safety within the organization 9
Success: Financial Meets “Proficient” criteria and offers reasoning pertaining to how the organization will monitor the financial implications if this initiative is successful Comprehensively describes the how the organization will monitor the financial implications if this initiative is successful Describes how the organization will monitor the financial implications if this initiative is successful but description is cursory Does not describe how the organization will monitor the financial implications if this initiative is successful 4.5
Success: Information Meets “Proficient” criteria and hypothesis demonstrates nuanced insight into the relationship between information management systems and performance improvement initiatives Logically hypothesizes how the current information management systems would contribute to the success of this plan Hypothesizes how the current information management systems would contribute to the success of this plan but hypothesis is illogical Does not hypothesize how the current information management systems would contribute to the success of this plan 6
Success: Processes Meets “Proficient” criteria and provides nuanced insight into the organizational processes that will help the plan be successful Accurately describes the organizational processes that will help the plan be successful Describes what organizational processes will help the plan be successful but description is inaccurate Does not describe what organizational processes will help the plan be successful 4.5
Success: Communication Meets “Proficient” criteria and provides keen insight into how communication will help team members commit to the performance improvement plan Comprehensively explains how the plan will be communicated among departments and analyzes how that communication will help team members commit to the performance improvement plan Explains how the plan will be communicated among departments and analyzes how that communication will help team members commit to the performance improvement plan but patterns are not interdepartmental or analysis is cursory Does not explain how the plan will be communicated among departments or analyze how that communication will help team members commit to the performance improvement plan 6
Articulation of Response Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-to-read format Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas 10
Total: 100%
