• Competency 2: Plan quality improvement initiatives in response to routine data surveillance.
  • Recommend additional indicators and protocols to improve and expand quality outcomes of a quality initiative.
• Competency 3: Evaluate quality improvement initiatives using sensitive and sound outcome measures.
  • Analyze a current quality improvement initiative in a health care setting.
  • Evaluate the success of a current quality improvement initiative through recognized benchmarks and outcome measures.
• Competency 4: Integrate interprofessional perspectives to lead quality improvements in patient safety, cost effectiveness, and work-life quality
  • Incorporate interprofessional perspectives related to initiative functionality and outcomes.
• Competency 5: Apply effective communication strategies to promote quality improvement of interprofessional care.
  • Communicate evaluation and analysis in a professional and effective manner, writing content clearly and logically with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
  • Integrate relevant sources to support arguments, correctly formatting citations and references using current APA style.

Competency Map

Check Your ProgressUse this online tool to track your performance and progress through your course.

Context

The purpose of the report is to assess whether specific quality indicators point to improved patient safety, quality of care, cost and efficiency goals, and other desired metrics. Nurses and other health professionals with specializations and/or interest in the condition, disease, or the selected issue are your target audience.

Questions to Consider

As you prepare to complete this assessment, you may want to think about other related issues to deepen your understanding or broaden your viewpoint. You are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional community. Note that these questions are for your own development and exploration and do not need to be completed or submitted as part of your assessment.Show LessReflect upon data use in your organization as it relates to adverse events and near-miss incidents.

• How does your organization manage and report on adverse events or near-miss incidents?
• What data from your organization’s dashboards help inform adverse events and near-miss incidents?
• What additional metrics or technology are you aware of that would help ensure patient safety?
• What changes would you like to see implemented to help the interprofessional team better understand data use and data trends as quality and safety improvement tools?

Resources

Suggested Resources

The resources provided here are optional. You may use other resources of your choice to prepare for this assessment; however, you will need to ensure that they are appropriate, credible, and valid. The Nursing Masters (MSN) Research Guide can help direct your research, and the Supplemental Resources and Research Resources, both linked from the left navigation menu in your courseroom, provide additional resources to help support you.

Capella Resources

Capella provides a thorough selection of online resources to help you understand APA style and use it effectively.

• APA Module.

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Quality Improvement Initiatives

These resources explore how quality initiatives are applied in clinical settings.

• Vachon, B., Desorcy, B., Gaboury, I., Camirand, M., Rodrigue, J., Quesnel, L., . . . Grimshaw, J. (2015). Combining administrative data feedback, reflection and action planning to engage primary care professionals in quality improvement: Qualitative assessment of short term program outcomes. BMC Health Services Research, 15, 1–8.
• Abdallah, A. (2014). Implementing quality initiatives in healthcare organizations: Drivers and challenges. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 27(3), 166–181.

This article addresses competing quality improvement projects in organizations.

• Nyström, M. E., Garvare, R., Westerlund, A., & Weinehall, L. (2014). Concurrent implementation of quality improvement programs: Coordination or conflict? International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 27(3), 190–208.

Benchmarks for Quality Indicators

These databases provide recognized benchmarks for quality indicators.

• Montalvo, I. (2007).The national database of nursing quality indicators. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 12(3), 1–11.
• The Joint Commission. (2017). National patient safety goals. Retrieved from https://www.jointcommission.org/standards_informat…

Assessment Instructions

Preparation

You have been asked to prepare and deliver an analysis of an existing quality improvement initiative at your workplace. The QI initiative you choose to analyze should be related to a specific disease, condition, or public health issue of personal or professional interest to you. The purpose of the report is to assess whether specific quality indicators point to improved patient safety, quality of care, cost and efficiency goals, and other desired metrics.Your target audience consists of nurses and other health professionals with specializations or interest in your selected condition, disease, or issue. In your report, you will define the disease, analyze how the condition is managed, identify the core performance measurements used to treat or manage the condition, and evaluate the impact of the quality indicators on the health care facility:Note: Remember, you can submit all, or a portion of, your draft to Smarthinking for feedback, before you submit the final version of your analysis for this assessment. However, be mindful of the turnaround time for receiving feedback, if you plan on using this free service.The numbered points below correspond to grading criteria in the scoring guide. The bullets below each grading criterion further delineate tasks to fulfill the assessment requirements. Be sure that your Quality Improvement Initiative Evaluation addresses all of the content below. You may also want to read the scoring guide to better understand the performance levels that relate to each grading criterion.

1. Analyze a current quality improvement initiative in a health care setting.
   • Evaluate a QI initiative and explain what prompted the implementation. Detail problems that were not addressed and any issues that arose from the initiative.
2. Evaluate the success of a current quality improvement initiative through recognized benchmarks and outcome measures.
   • Analyze the benchmarks that were used to evaluate success. Detail what was the most successful, as well as what outcome measures are missing or could be added.
3. Incorporate interprofessional perspectives related to initiative functionality and outcomes.
   • Integrate the perspectives of interprofessional team members involved in the initiative. Detail who you talked to, their professions, and the impact of their perspectives on your analysis.
4. Recommend additional indicators and protocols to improve and expand quality outcomes of a quality initiative.
   • Recommend specific process or protocol changes as well as added technologies that would improve quality outcomes.
5. Communicate evaluation and analysis in a professional and effective manner, writing content clearly and logically with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
6. Integrate relevant sources to support arguments, correctly formatting citations and references using current APA style.

Submission Requirements

• Length of submission: A minimum of five but no more than seven double-spaced, typed pages.
• Number of references: Cite a minimum of four sources (no older than seven years, unless seminal work) of scholarly peer reviewed or professional evidence that support your interpretation and analysis.
• APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to current APA style and formatting.

Note: Faculty may use the Writing Feedback Tool when grading this assessment. The Writing Feedback Tool is designed to provide you with guidance and resources to develop your writing based on five core skills. You will find writing feedback in the Scoring Guide for the assessment, once your work has been evaluated.