Quality and Safety Measures Analysis
Identification of the Specific Measure
The National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) of the Joint Commission entail one of the key methods through which the organization ensures safety in a healthcare setting. These goals establish standards that serve as prerequisites for medical personnel to follow (Lawati et al., 2018). Besides forming the basic safety standards, NPSGs act as a measure that regulates how surgeries, infections and various illnesses are managed (Lawati et al., 2018). This measure comprises seven major components, including correct identification of patients, improvements in medical staff communication and safe usage of medications. Other components are correct to use of alarms, infection prevention, proper identification of patient safety risks and minimization of surgery mistakes.
Background of the Measure
The main rationale for adopting the Joint Commission’s NPSGs stems from increased mortality rates for healthy and non-healthy individuals due to hospital errors. In 2016, Johns Hopkins University students researched quality care in hospitals and found that more than a quarter-million people in the US succumbed to medical errors (Rosen et al., 2018). This study identified hospital inaccuracies as the third leading cause of death in the country, making the nation lose about $20 billion annually (Melnyk et al., 2018). The Yale School of Medicine also researched how healthy persons are affected by medical errors and found that about 7150 healthy people lost their lives due to inappropriate treatment (Melnyk et al., 2018). The two studies raised the alarm, adopting the Joint Commission’s NPSGs to promote quality care and reduce medical mix-ups. The Joint Commission’s measure was deemed beneficial as the organization liaised with experts in research activities to find patient safety information that would be incorporated in specific healthcare settings such as ambulatory and home care.
Quality Measure’s Alignment with my Healthcare Organization
My current healthcare organization coincides with the seven components of the Joint Commission’s NPSGs, which form the basis of the quality measure alignment. Firstly, the healthcare organization uses the name and date of birth to identify patients for medicine administration and treatment correctly. Secondly, the hospital ensures that important test results are given to the right staff on time. Thirdly, the healthcare setting labels all unlabeled drugs, such as the ones in syringes and records all information regarding a patient before passing it to the next medical personnel. Fourthly, the hospital has built in-ward alarms and regularly ensures that they are heard and responded to on time in cases of emergencies. Fifthly, the healthcare facility has set standards based on handwashing, ensuring every doctor, physician and even nurse correctly cleans their hands before handling patients to prevent nosocomial infections (Rosen et al., 2018). Sixthly, the organization has set drug administration guidelines that help reduce patient safety risks such as patient suicide. Lastly, the hospital establishes surgery guidelines such as marking the correct body part to be operated on and pausing before surgery to ensure no mistakes.
Assessment of the Quality Measure Scope of Influence on the Healthcare Organization
The influence of the Joint Commission’s quality measure will extend to the healthcare organization’s ambulatory, laboratory and nursing care centres. In an ambulatory setting, errors such as delayed diagnoses, medication errors and ineffective communication are prevalent. These errors can be minimized if the seven components of the Joint commission NPSGs measure are implemented. Besides an ambulatory setting, the healthcare laboratory setting serves as a host for various medical errors such as specimen contamination (Santhakumar & Prathap, 2020). Adhering to infection prevention and following laboratory rules can exempt a patient from possible medical errors. Lastly, the nursing care centre arm of the healthcare organization can propagate healthcare errors in cases such as wrong administration of drugs (Santhakumar & Prathap, 2020). Therefore, this branch of the healthcare organization should adhere to the proper use of medication and other quality measure components stipulated by the commission.
Disciplines and Processes Impacted by the Measure
The key disciplines to be impacted by the measure include nursing and paramedicine, while major processes to be affected by the same are drug administration and patient identification. Nurses are involved in health care works such as wound dressing, making them paramount in adhering to Joint Commission measures to prevent the spread of hospital-based infections. Additionally, paramedicine falls under the category of the ambulatory healthcare setting, making then integral in following the components of the NPSGs measures (Haugen et al., 2019). On the other hand, the process of drug administration will be impacted by the measure as the wrong patients can be administered the wrong drug, leading to death. Besides, patient identification will be affected by the measure as failure to adherence the measure might lead to giving the wrong treatment or conducting the wrong surgery on a given patient
Application of Appropriate Systems and Change Theories to Facilitate Measure Implementation
Martha Roger’s unitary nursing system theory and Lewin’s change management theory are imperative in facilitating the implementation of safety measures. According to Martha Roger’s theory, patients are an open system interacting with another open system in the environment. Additionally, the theory suggests that the surrounding open system should be changed to make the patient feel its effect. Besides, Lewin’s change theory state that strengths and resistances should be identified before a change is implemented. Nurses and doctors need to identify strongholds and weak points in their procedure before implementing the measure since doing contrary to this may aggravate patient safety.
Financial Ramifications of Meeting the Quality Measure
The main financial consequences of meeting the quality measure include increased hospital expenditure on value-based interventions. For the hospital to fully implement the quality measure stipulated by the Joint Commission, it will need to introduce high-impact interventions such as digital technology solutions for safety and electronic health record systems (Haugen et al., 2019). These systems are cost intensive, necessitating the healthcare setting to have a substantial funds source to implement the measure. Therefore, meeting the quality measure will increase expenses if the healthcare setting incorporates high-impact interventions.
Impact of the Quality Measure on Reimbursement, Compliance Cost and Long-term Financial Benefits
Implementing the quality measure means that the level of patient care will be heightened. Suppose the healthcare organization was spending an average of $50,000 in reimbursements for patients that got infections due to medical errors. In that case, this amount will be reduced as the intervention measures will promote quality care (Barnett et al., 2018). The reduction means that the reimbursement funds will be directly impacted. Besides, compliance costs include channelling a huge amount of cash to advance technologies that will foster proper patient care. For instance, the healthcare setting will be forced to adopt efficient software systems capable of storing each patient’s health data without losing it or getting hacked. Generally, complying with the quality measure will result in long-term financial benefits since reduced reimbursement funds will allow the hospital to save money previously used to compensate patients affected by medical errors.
Application to Enhanced Patient Safety and Organizational Quality
Enhanced patient safety requires a healthcare setting to use monitoring technology and verify all medical procedures. The Joint Commission quality measure applies to enhanced patient safety as it fosters proper identification of patients, which is part of medical procedure verification (Barnett et al., 2018). Besides, the commission’s standards promote the organization’s quality of care as it gives guidelines to the staff for them to adhere to, improving its efficiency in providing care.
References
Barnett, A., Winning, M., Canaris, S., Cleary, M., Staib, A., & Sullivan, C. (2018). Digital transformation of hospital quality and safety: Real-time data for real-time action. Australian Health Review, 43(6), 656-661. Web.
Haugen, A. S., Sevdalis, N., & SĂžfteland, E. (2019). Impact of the world health organization’s surgical safety checklist on patient safety. Anesthesiology, 131(2), 420-425. Web.
Lawati, M. H. A., Dennis, S., Short, S. D., & Abdulhadi, N. N. (2018). Patient safety and safety culture in primary health care: a systematic review. BMC Family Practice, 19(1), 1-12. Web.
Melnyk, B. M., GallagherâFord, L., Zellefrow, C., Tucker, S., Thomas, B., Sinnott, L. T., & Tan, A. (2018). The first US study on nurses’ evidenceâbased practice competencies indicates major deficits that threaten healthcare quality, safety, and patient outcomes. Worldviews on EvidenceâBased Nursing, 15(1), 16-25. Web.
Rosen, M. A., DiazGranados, D., Dietz, A. S., Benishek, L. E., Thompson, D., Pronovost, P. J., & Weaver, S. J. (2018). Teamwork in healthcare: Key discoveries enabling safer, high-quality care. American Psychologist, 73(4), 433. Web.
Santhakumar, P., & Prathap, L. (2020). Awareness on preventive measures taken by health care professionals attending to COVID-19 patients among dental students. European Journal of Dentistry, 14(1), 105-109. Web.