Assessment 3 Instructions: Data Analysis and Quality Improvement Initiative Proposal PRINT Prepare a 6-page data analysis and quality improvement initiative proposal based on a health issue of interest. Include internal and external benchmark data, evidence-based recommendations to improve healthcare quality and safety, and communication strategies to gain buy-in from all interprofessional team members responsible for implementing the initiative. Data Analysis and Quality Improvement Initiative Proposal Data Analysis and Quality Improvement Initiative Proposal Introduction Healthcare providers are perpetually striving to improve care quality and patient safety. To accomplish enhanced care, outcomes need to be measured. Next, data measures must be validated. Measurement and validation of information support performance improvement. Healthcare providers must focus attention on evidence-based best practices to improve patient outcomes. Health informatics, along with new and improved t

Analysis of Dashboard Metrics to Identify Quality Issues

The hospice program provides end-of-life care and comfort for patients with terminal diseases. This program does not offer urgent care or life-saving interventions. Instead, this program aims to treat symptoms. Both patients and family members are recipients of care. Due to the vulnerable nature of patients in the hospice program, the quality and safety of care are the primary priorities. There is a regular assessment of quality and safety indicators. Accordingly, nurses, hospice physicians, volunteer coordinators, chaplains, and social workers are part of the multi-disciplinary team in the hospice program.

Table 1: Hospice and Home Health Adverse Event Data 2014-15

The data from the Hospice and Home Health Adverse Event Report in Table 1 indicated that the LOS of less than seven days reduced from 50 in 2014 to 46 in 2015, while the number of IPU admissions reduced from 47 in 2014 and 27 in 2015. However, the pain levels between 7-10 increased from 13 in 2014 to 17 in 2015. Inadequate symptom relief also increased from 13 in 2014 to 22 in 2015. Thus, this shows that the quality of care based on the two quality indicators has reduced between 2014 to 2015. This data should be a cause of concern for the hospital since it can affect healthcare professionals, patients, and the hospital in many ways. Public reporting involves providing data on healthcare outcomes to the general public. Subsequently, this allows them to compare performances and make informed healthcare decisions on hospitals to take care of (Prang et al., 2021). If the hospital’s quality outcomes are not up to standards, the hospital may lose clients since patients will prefer other hospitals. Patients with terminal conditions have extreme pain due to medications or their conditions (Hagarty et al., 2020). It is thus essential for hospitals to manage their patients. The adverse events report revealed that 17 patients had pain more than 7. This was, therefore, an area in the hospice program that did not perform well. The program failed in its primary role of providing comfort and managing symptoms.

The quality of nursing care is an effective tool in predicting favorable quality outcomes. The Director of Medical Support Services stated that the main reason for the inadequacy of the hospice program was staffing issues. They spend too much time travelling to patient homes or care loads which burden patients resulting in adverse events. He also noted that most patients are referred to the hospice program when close to their end-life. Consequently, this results in these patients not receiving the full benefits of hospice care, such as effective pain and symptom management.

Outline for the Quality Improvement Initiative Proposal

Charge nurses have a critical role in influencing their subordinates to engage in patient care. Their duties include staffing, care coordination, budgeting, and developing patient plans (Delamater & Hall, 2018). Significantly, one of the issues in the hospice program is staffing issues. Staffing issues may result in staff dissatisfaction, ineffective communication, or competition from nurses due to different caseloads. It is thus vital to implement a leadership style that will promote effective nursing services. The leadership style proposed for this quality initiative is transformation leadership. Transformational leaders focus on the professional values of their team members and help them align these values with the mission and vision of the organization. The values of a transformational leader, such as creativity and optimism, will motivate team members to ensure their commitment to the organization (Collins et al., 2019).

The Plan-Do-Study-Act model will be used in this quality improvement (QI) initiative. Furthermore, the PDSA model can be applied when a fast-tracked change is required. The PDSA model has four steps that can be utilized to promote a long-term QI initiative. The four steps of the PDSA cycle include:

Plan: The plan section involves identifying a multi-disciplinary team, determining the goal of the QI initiative, describing the problem, identifying causes, and developing alternatives (Knudsen et al., 2019). The nurse leader will be in charge of the multi-disciplinary team. Other team members will include the hospice physician, social wor