Discussion Post: Applying Performance Improvement Tools
Imagine that, for about a year, your nursing unit has been involved in an intensive campaign to improve patient satisfaction scores with pain management. You are getting good data from your patients, as the length of stay on this inpatient geriatric medical nursing unit is only about 6 days. Your hospital does 100% survey to inpatients, and the response rate is about 25%, which is higher than it has been. This notwithstanding, the percent of "patient very satisfied" (top box), with a score of 5, has been in the low 70s. The national benchmark for medical surgical units like yours is about 85% very satisfied. Of all the units in your hospital, your unit is the lowest scoring on this HCAPHS survey. But as your unit is the only geriatric medical nursing unit in the hospital, you'd always thought it was the nature of the patient population.
You have been the day shift representative to the QI team, and the scores on your unit are posted monthly. Here are the numerous strategies that have been tried on your unit and the timeframes.
The discussion must include:
For this Discussion, examine the strategies and interventions tried in your unit and consider the following questions: I) Were the strategies effective in creating a sustainable change on your nursing unit, and II) To what extent can your nurse manager and CNO count on your unit exceeding the national benchmark in the next quarter, the next year? That is, does this run chart have some predictive ability? Does the run chart support the nursing unit's decision to celebrate? To what extent can the leadership be confident that the trend will continue?
The response must include a reference list. Using Times New Roman 12 pnt font, double-space, one-inch margins, and APA style of writing and citations.
Reference
• Spath, P. (2018). Introduction to healthcare quality management (3rd ed.). Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.
o Chapter 4, "Evaluating Performance" (pp. 79-118)
o Chapter 5, "Continuous Improvement" (pp. 119-142)
o Chapter 6, "Performance Improvement Tools" (pp. 143-174).