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.Reflect on QI initiatives focused on measuring and improving patient outcomes with which you are familiar.

• How important is the role of nurses in QI initiatives?
• What quality improvement initiatives have made the biggest difference? Why?
• When a QI initiative does not succeed as planned, what steps are taken to improve or revise the effort?

Resources

Required Resources

MSN Program Journey

Please review this guide for your degree program. It can help you stay on track for your practicum experience, so you may wish to bookmark it for later reference.

• MSN Program Journey | Transcript.

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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.

Capella Multimedia

Use this media piece if you do not have access to dashboard metrics to complete the final assessment.

• Vila Health: Data Analysis | Transcript.

Quality Improvement Examples and Results

These resources explore the effectiveness and lessons learned from various quality improvement initiatives.

• Ohde, S., Terai, M., Oizumi, A., Takahashi, O., Deshpande, G. A., Takekata, M., . . . Fukui, T. (2012). The effectiveness of a multidisciplinary QI activity for accidental fall prevention: Staff compliance is critical. BMC Health Services Research, 12, 197.
• Berman, J., Nkabane, E. L., Malope, S., Machai, S., Jack, B., & Bicknell, W. (2014). Developing a hospital quality improvement initiative in Lesotho. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 27(1), 15–24.

These articles showcase examples of strategic QI projects.

• Nazir, A., Dennis, M. E., & Unroe, K. T. (2015). Implementation of a heart failure quality initiative in a skilled nursing facility: Lessons learned. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 41(5), 26–33.
• Schoenfelder, S. L., Wych, S., Willows, C. A., Harrington, J., Christoffel, K. K., & Becker, A. B. (2013). Engaging Chicago hospitals in the baby-friendly hospital initiative. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 17(9), 1712–1717.

This resource evaluates a QI initiative based on a communication strategy.

• Wysham, N. G., Mularski, R. A., Schmidt, D. M., Nord, S. C., Louis, D. L., Shuster, E., . . . Mosen, D. M. (2014). Long-term persistence of quality improvements for an intensive care unit communication initiative using the VALUE strategy. Journal of Critical Care, 29(3), 450–454.

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

In this assessment, you will propose a quality improvement (QI) initiative proposal based on a health issue of professional interest to you. The QI initiative proposal will be based on an analysis of dashboard metrics from a health care facility. You have one of two options:

Option 1

If you have access to dashboard metrics related to a QI initiative proposal of interest to you:

• Analyze data from the health care facility to identify a health care issue or area of concern. You will need access to reports and data related to care quality and patient safety. If you work in hospital setting, contact the quality management department to obtain the data you need.
• You will need to identify basic information about the health care setting, size, and specific type of care delivery related to the topic that you identify. You are expected to abide by HIPAA compliance standards.

Option 2

If you do not have access to a dashboard or metrics related to a QI initiative proposal:

• You may use the hospital data set provided in the media piece titled Vila Health: Data Analysis. You will analyze the data to identify a health care issue or area of concern.
• You will follow the same instructions and provide the same deliverables as your peers who select Option 1.

Instructions

Analyze dashboard metrics related to the selected issue.

• Provide the selected data set in the proposal.
  • Assess the stability of processes or outcomes.
  • Delineate any problematic variations or performance failures.
• Evaluate QI initiatives on the selected health issue with existing quality indicators from other facilities, government agencies, and non-governmental bodies on quality improvement.
  • Analyze challenges that meeting prescribed benchmarks can pose for a heath care organization and the interprofessional team.
• Outline a QI initiative proposal based on the selected health issue and data analysis.
  • Identify target areas for improvement.
  • Define what processes can be modified to improve outcomes.
  • Propose strategies to improve quality.
  • Define interprofessional roles and responsibilities as they relate to the QI initiative.
  • Provide recommendations for effective communication strategies for the interprofessional team to ensure the success of the QI initiative. Briefly reflect on the impact of the proposed initiative on work-life quality of the nursing staff and interprofessional team.
• Integrate relevant sources to support arguments, correctly formatting citations and references using current APA style.

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 data to identify a health care issue or area of concern.
   • Identify the type of data you are analyzing (from your institution or from the media piece).
   • Discuss why the data matters, what it is telling you, and what is missing.
   • Analyze dashboard metrics and provide the data set in the proposal.
   • Present dashboard metrics related to the selected issue.
   • Delineate any problematic variations or performance failures.
   • Assess the stability of processes or outcomes.
   • Evaluate the quality of the data and what can be learned from it.
   • Identify trends, outcome measures and information needed to calculate specific rates.
   • Analyze what metrics indicate opportunities for quality improvement.
2. Outline a QI initiative proposal based on a selected health issue and supporting data analysis.
   • Identify benchmarks aligned to existing QI initiatives set by local, state, or federal health care policies or laws.
   • Identify existing QI initiatives related to the selected issue, and explain why they are insufficient.
   • Identify target areas for improvement, and define what processes can be modified to improve outcomes.
   • Propose evidence-based strategies to improve quality.
   • Evaluate QI initiatives on the selected health issue with existing quality indicators from other facilities, government agencies, and non-governmental bodies on quality improvement.
   • Analyze challenges that meeting prescribed benchmarks can pose for a heath care organization and the interprofessional team.
3. Integrate interprofessional perspectives to lead quality improvements in patient safety, cost effectiveness, and work-life quality.
   • Define interprofessional roles and responsibilities as they relate to the data and the QI initiative.
   • Explain how you would you make sure that all relevant roles are fully engaged in this effort.
   • Explain what non-nursing concepts would you incorporate into the initiative?
   • Identify how outcomes to measure the effect of the intervention affect the interprofessional team.
   • Briefly reflect on the impact of the proposed initiative on work-life quality of the nursing staff and interprofessional team. Describe how work-life quality is improved or enriched by the initiative.
4. Apply effective communication strategies to promote quality improvement of interprofessional care.
   • Identify the kind of interprofessional communication strategies that will be effective to promote and ensure the success of this performance improvement plan or quality improvement initiative.
   • In addition to writing, identify communication models (like CUS, SBAR) that you would include in your initiative proposal.
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: 8–10 double-spaced, typed pages, not including title and reference page.
• Number of references: Cite a minimum of five sources (no older than seven years, unless seminal work) of scholarly, peer-reviewed, or professional evidence that support your evaluation, recommendations, and plans.

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.