Assessing the Problem: Quality, Safety, and Cost Considerations

In a 5 page written assessment, assess the effect of the patient, family, or population problem youve previously defined on the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual. Plan to spend approximately 2 direct practicum hours exploring these aspects of the problem with the patient, family, or group youve chosen to work with

Organizational data, such as readmission rates, hospital-acquired infections, falls, medication errors, staff satisfaction, serious safety events, and patient experience can be used to prioritize time, resources, and finances. Health care organizations and government agencies use benchmark data to compare the quality of organizational services and report the status of patient safety. Professional nurses are key to comprehensive data collection, reporting, and monitoring of metrics to improve quality and patient safety.

In this assessment, youll assess the effect of the health problem youve defined on the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual. Plan to spend at least 2 direct practicum hours working with the same patient, family, or group. During this time, you may also choose to consult with subject matter and industry experts.

Part 1

Assess the effect of the patient, family, or population problem you defined in the previous assessment on the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual. Plan to spend at least 2 practicum hours exploring these aspects of the problem with the patient, family, or group. During this time, you may also consult with subject matter and industry experts of your choice.

Report on your experiences during your first 2 practicum hours, including how you presented your ideas about the health problem to the patient, family, or group.

Whom did you meet with?

What did you learn from them?

Comment on the evidence-based practice (EBP) documents or websites you reviewed.

What did you learn from that review?

Share the process and experience of exploring the influence of leadership, collaboration, communication, change management, and policy on the problem.

What barriers, if any, did you encounter when presenting the problem to the patient, family, or group?

Did the patient, family, or group agree with you about the presence of the problem and its significance and relevance?

What leadership, communication, collaboration, or change management skills did you employ during your interactions to overcome these barriers or change the patients, familys, or groups thinking about the problem (for example, creating a sense of urgency based on data or policy requirements)?

What changes, if any, did you make to your definition of the problem, based on your discussions?

What might you have done differently?

Explain how the patient, family, or population problem impacts the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.

Cite evidence that supports the stated impact.

Note whether the supporting evidence is consistent with what you see in your nursing practice.

Explain how state board nursing practice standards and/or organizational or governmental policies can affect the problems impact on the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.

Describe research that has tested the effectiveness of these standards and/or policies in addressing care quality, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.

Explain how these standards and/or policies will guide your actions in addressing care quality, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.

Describe the effects of local, state, and federal policies or legislation on your nursing scope of practice, within the context of care quality, patient safety, and cost to the system and individual.

Propose strategies to improve the quality of care, enhance patient safety, and reduce costs to the system and individual.

Discuss research on the effectiveness of these strategies in addressing care quality, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.

Identify relevant and available sources of benchmark data on care quality, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.

Document the time spent (your practicum hours) with these individuals or group in the Core Elms Volunteer Experience Form.

Competency 3: Transform processes to improve quality, enhance patient safety, and reduce the cost of care.

Explain how a patient, family, or population problem impacts the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.

Propose strategies to improve the quality of care, enhance patient safety, and reduce costs to the system and individual and document the practicum hours spent with these individuals or group in the Core Elms Volunteer Experience Form.

Competency 5: Analyze the impact of health policy on quality and cost of care.

Explain how state board nursing practice standards and/or organizational or governmental policies can affect a patient, family, or population problems impact on the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.

Competency 8: Integrate professional standards and values into practice.

Use paraphrasing and summarization to represent ideas from external sources.

Apply APA style and formatting to scholarly writing.

Expect to spend at least 2 hours with the patient, family, or group youll be working with during this portion of your practicum, assessing the health problem youve defined from a leadership, collaboration, communication, change management, and policy perspective. This includes time you may elect to spend in consultation with subject matter or industry experts. Youll report on the results of this work as part of your next assessment. For this portion of your practicum, consider the following: Identify the patient, family, or group you intend to work with. Think about what you hope to learn. o Whats your rationale for choosing this particular patient, family, or group? Consider how youll present your ideas about the problem to the patient, family, or group and convince them of its significance. Which leadership, collaboration, communication, and change management skills will you need to apply in order to work successfully with your chosen patient, family, or group? Which potential barriers do you foresee in presenting the problem to this patient, family, or group? Which change management strategies might you employ to overcome these barriers? o For example, you might consider creating a sense of urgency supported by data or policy requirements.