This project educates personnel on preventing and mitigating cases of hospital-acquired infections in the facility. The issue drew the attention of the QI department after a patient succumbed to an untreatable CRE infection in a recent incident. Upon an investigation, the department determined that HAIs had become an issue worth addressing given obvious causes such as lack of communication, supervision, and improper hand hygiene policies (Barnett, 2015).
The data and tools used to make decisions on project implementation include adequate surveillance systems aimed at monitoring and improving relations at field level. Some of the set QI milestones include educating nurses, installing surveillance initiatives, implementation, and evaluation. Notably, ICT serves the important role of oversight, data management, and EB in assessment and review process (Sutton, Liao, Jimmieson, & Restubog, 2011).
The project’s internal benchmark considers an evaluation of results from various departments, teams, and individual nurses with the hospital. The QI team will determine this process as a way of revealing the best possible outcome. Notably, the facility would consider a reduction in HAI infections as evidence for improved performance (AMN, 2015).
That said, the evaluation and re-evaluation process include looking for areas worth improvement and formulating ideas aimed at advancing such areas. The project takes place within a time frame of four weeks. The team reasons that upon timeframe completion, bedside nurses should have improved their QI levels to reduced QI in CRE infections (Kampf, Loffler, & Gastmeier, 2009).
Finally, the project’s principal players include bedside nurses, the QI and ICT departments, hospital administration, PCPs, and accrediting organizations like the Joint Commission and AHRQ. Bedside RNs have a direct involvement in this process for their active role in interacting with patients under admission. Contrarily, the Joint Commission and AHRQ are vital in their recommendations and assessment measures that ensure healthcare providers comply with quality improvement (AMN, 2015).
References
AMN. (2015). The Nurse's Role in Preventing Hospital-Acquired Infections . Retrieved from AMN Healthcare Inc: http://www.rn.com/nursing-news/nurses-role-in-preventing-hospital-acquired-infections/
Barnett, S. (2015). Infection Control and Clinical Quality: What makes an 'ideal' Chief Quality Officer? Retrieved from Beckers Hospital Review : http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/quality/what-makes-an-ideal-chief-quality-officer.html
Kampf, G., Loffler, H., & Gastmeier, P. (2009). Hand Hygiene for the Prevention of Nosocomial Infections. Duetsches Arteblatt International, 106 (40), 649-655.
Sutton, G., Liao, J., Jimmieson, N., & Restubog, L. (2011). Measuring Multidisciplinary Team Effectiveness in a Ward Based Healthcare Setting: Development of the Team Functioning Assessment Tool . Journal of Healthcare Quality, 33 (3), 10-24.
