Quality Improvement Initiatives
In this assignment, you will propose a quality improvement initiative from your place of employment that could easily be implemented if approved. Assume you are presenting this program to the board for approval of funding. Write an executive summary (750-1,000 words) to present to the board, from which the board will make its decision to fund your program or project. Include the following: 1. The purpose of the quality improvement initiative. 2.The target population or audience. 3.The benefits of the quality improvement initiative. 4.The interprofessional collaboration that would be required to implement the quality improvement initiative. 5.The cost or budget justification. 6.The basis upon which the quality improvement initiative will be evaluated. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required. This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
Sample Answer
Quality Improvement Initiatives: Addressing the Issue of Nursing Staff Shortage
One of the main challenges facing healthcare facilities in contemporary times is the significant challenge of nursing staff shortages. As the population has continued to age in developed countries as a result of a better quality of life, the demand for health care services has continued to increase, which has outstripped the supply for health caregivers (Drennan & Ross, 2019). Nearly all healthcare facilities across the US experience the challenge of nursing staff shortages. According to Rosenberg (2019), nursing staff shortages are also associated with numerous negative issues in healthcare settings, including an increase of mistakes and errors, an increase in patient mortality, high levels of nurse burnout, and reduction in quality of health care services provided to patients. Numerous scholarly sources have therefore indicated clear links between short-staffed healthcare facilities and high death rates among patients (Rosenberg, 2019). Another significant negative effect of nursing shortages in healthcare facilities is high nurse burnout rates. A small number of nurses in understaffed healthcare facilities will therefore be forced to perform a lot of duties and have large workloads. Such nurses are therefore more likely to encounter nurse burnout and also be more predisposed to medication errors and mistakes. Healthcare facilities that are significantly understaffed are also likely to experience a low patient satisfaction rate. This is because health caregivers, including nurses, will only spend less time with patients and may struggle to address all the patient’s needs (Drennan & Ross, 2019).
Purpose of the Quality Improvement Initiative
The purpose of the quality improvement initiative (QII) is to address the issue of nursing staff shortage in a healthcare facility. A quality improvement initiative to increase the staffing ratios in a healthcare facility can therefore go a long way in improving the quality of care in a healthcare facility. Increasing the staffing ratios in a healthcare facility can therefore help to reduce negative outcomes, including nurse burnout errors and mistakes, patient mortality rate, and low patient satisfaction rates (Griffiths et al., 2018).
Target Population or Audience
The target population for the QII that involves increasing the staffing ratios in a healthcare facility to address the issue of nursing staff shortages is patients. This is because patients will be the most affected by the challenge of nursing staff shortages in healthcare facilities. Nursing staff shortages significantly affect the quality of health care delivered to patients, with such shortages being attributed to higher patient mortality, high incidence of medication errors, and low patient satisfaction rates in healthcare facilities (Griffiths et al., 2018).
Benefits of Quality Improvement Initiative
The QII to address the issue of nursing staff shortages in a healthcare facility and to ensure the maintenance of appropriate nursing staff levels will have numerous benefits on the various stakeholders of a healthcare facility and especially patients. According to Rosenberg (2019), having appropriate nursing staffing levels in a healthcare facility will play a significant role in enhancing patient satisfaction. This is because patients are more likely to receive quality healthcare services in a facility with adequate nurses compared to understaffed facilities. The second benefit of the quality improvement initiative involving maintaining appropriate nursing staff levels in healthcare facilities is a reduction in hospital readmissions, length of stay, medication errors, and patient mortality (Griffiths et al., 2018). Adequate nurse staffing levels in a healthcare facility will also help to boost safety outcomes such as healthcare-associated infections, falls, and pressure ulcers. Finally, the QII initiative that includes maintaining adequate nurse staffing levels in a healthcare facility will play a significant role in reducing nurse burnout rates and the rate of turnover (Griffiths et al., 2018).
Interprofessional Collaboration Required to Implement the Quality Improvement Initiative
The interprofessional collaboration that would be required to implement the QI I of maintenance of adequate nursing staffing levels in a healthcare facility would involve the executive management, unit manager, supervising physician, and charge nurses in a healthcare facility. The executive management and unit managers of a healthcare facility would approve the budget and proposals to hire more nurses in a healthcare facility. On the other hand, the supervising physician and charge nurses would be involved in the assessment of the current nursing staffing ratios in a healthcare facility to determine the number of nurses that would need to be hired to maintain adequate nursing staffing levels. The recommendations by the supervising physician and charge nurse in a given unit of a healthcare facility would determine the adequate number of nurses that would need to be hired.
Cost or Budget Justification
The budget for the QII involving the maintenance of adequate nurse staffing levels in a healthcare facility would include recruitment and interviewing cost, training and orientation course, and salaries for the newly hired nurses. The average recruitment and interviewing costs for every nurse will be $5000, while the training and orientation cost for every nurse will be $5000.The average salary for the recruited nurses would be $120,000.
Basis upon Which the Program or Project Will Be Evaluated
The QII involving the maintenance of adequate staffing levels in a healthcare facility would be adequately evaluated using the quality rating scores of the healthcare facility and also calculating the optimum nursing staff ratios in a healthcare facility. High-quality rating scores and maintenance of optimal nursing staff ratios in a healthcare facility would indicate that the QII involving the maintenance of adequate staffing levels in a healthcare facility is successful.
