Question

Read your textbook, and review the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality site and the On-Time Quality Improvement Manual for Long-Term Care Facilities. Then select ONE key priority for quality in the long-term care settings (possibly prevention of pressure ulcers, use of restraints, etc).

1. describe WHY this is a priority for quality and identify the steps you would take as a leader to make this a quality indicator for your long-term care organization.

• Be sure your post incorporates key characteristics of quality improvement tools and involves the interdisciplinary care team

Answer 1

1. Improved patient health outcomes that involve both process outcomes and health outcomes.

Improved efficiency of managerial and clinical processes.By improving processes and outcomes relevant to high priority health needs,an organisation reduce waste and costs associated with system failure and redundancy.Often QI processes are budget neutral,where the cost to make the changes are offset by the cost savings incured .

Avoided costs associated with process failure, error and poor outcomes Costs are incurred when nonstandard and inefficient system increase error and causes rework.When an organisation implement an effective QI program,the result can be a balance of quality,effiency and profitability in its achievement of organization goals.

2. Individuals on the QI team work in fundamentally different ways when doing improvement work compare with actual patients care delivery.common role within a QI team include:

*.Day to-day leadership---- organizes and drives the ongoing work, measurements,and team .This person needs to work effectively with the executive leadership and members of the improvement team.The day to day leadership also serve as the ""key contacts" responsible for co ordinating communication on the progress on a QI project to the overall organization,staff and board of directors.

Provider champion is a essential member of a QI team due to the clinical nature of the work.The provider champion works regularly with those patients whose care is directly affected by QI efforts.

The complexity of health care system and delivery of services,and unpredictable nature of healthcare,and the occupational and differentiation and interdependence among clinicians and systems 16-19 make measuring quality defficult .one of the challenge in using measures in healthcare is the attribution variability associated with high level cognitive reasoning , discretionary decision-making ,prbl pro solving,and experiential knowledge.