NURS 8302 Week 3 Assignment: Tools for Measuring Quality NURS 8302 Week 3 Assignment: Tools for Measuring Quality Assignment: Tools for Measuring Quality
Healthcare facilities aim to deliver high-quality medical services to patients. The demand for high-quality patient services is motivated by adjusting to upcoming organizational structures, healthcare system changes, and available procedures. Recently, there has been an increased focus on delivering high-quality medical treatment, as recognized by the government, medical experts, and patients (Palese et al., 2020). Assessing the probability and frequency of encountering quality issues is crucial to determining the provision of high-quality services. This paper identifies three rate-based measures of patient care.
Rate-based Measurements
Rate-based measurements effectively assess healthcare service quality by utilizing data from events at a specific frequency. Different forms can express these measures, including rates and proportions, means, and ratios (Dart & Cunningham, 2023). Using rate-based measurements to assess the quality of care for three patients, focusing on patient safety, timeliness, and patient-centeredness, is recommended. This approach facilitates comparisons of trends over time or among providers, aiding in identifying areas requiring improvement.
Patient Safety Measure
Definition of the Measure
A patient safety measure assesses the quality of care provided in a healthcare setting. This tool evaluates the safety of healthcare settings by analyzing adverse events, including medical errors, infections, and other such incidents. Patient safety measures assess various aspects of care quality, including the proficiency of healthcare professionals, the precision of medication orders, and the safety of the healthcare setting (Elliott et al., 2020). Patient safety measures assess compliance with regulatory standards and guidelines in healthcare settings.
Numerical Description
Quantifying a patient safety measure in a healthcare setting involves calculating the frequency of adverse events within a specific timeframe. The number is divided by the total number of patients seen during the specified period and multiplied by 100 to obtain a percentage. The given study by Palese et al. (2020) found that a hospital with a monthly occurrence of ten adverse events out of 500 treated patients had a safety measure of 2%.
Data Collection
Incident reports, surveillance systems, and patient records are typically used to gather data for patient safety measures. A thorough summary of a patient’s treatment may be found in their medical records, which can also be utilized to spot any possible negative outcomes. To further evaluate the safety of the treatment given, incident reports include comprehensive details about any unfavorable incidents. By recording and observing unfavorable occurrences, surveillance systems provide a more thorough understanding of the safety of the care given (Uddin et al., 2021). Surveys, focus groups, and other data sources, including test results and electronic medical records, may also be used to gather data. The safety of the care being given may then be evaluated, and possible areas for improvement can be found using the data that has been gathered.
Comparison to Other Settings
The effectiveness of a healthcare setting may be assessed by comparing its patient safety measures to those of other environments. The proportion of settings that perform better or worse than the measured setting might be shown in a percentile ranking as part of this comparison (Elliott et al., 2020). Regulatory agencies’ benchmarks for patient safety measures may also be compared to ascertain if the environment is according to norms and requirements.
Risk Adjustment
Any possible variations in patient populations that can impact the outcomes of a patient safety measure can be considered using risk adjustment. The process of risk adjustment involves estimating the seriousness of a negative occurrence. The outcomes of the patient safety measure are then modified using this weight. For instance, the risk-adjusted patient safety measure would be 4% if a hospital had ten adverse occurrences in a month, five of which were deemed serious (Braun & Clarke, 2020).
Goals for Aggressive Organization
An ambitious company looking to dominate its industry would aim higher than the regulatory authorities’ standards for patient safety measures. For example, the company may aim for a 2 percent patient safety measure higher than the 3 percent guideline (Braun & Clarke, 2020). The company can also aim to enhance the standard of treatment and lessen the severity of unfavorable situations.
Importance to a Clinical Organization
A clinical organization prioritizes pati