Overview
When a leader has the facts at hand about patients, the possibility of handling emergencies amicably is very high as this leader will be highly equipped and ready for an emergency. The culture of data evaluation inculcates in leaders the proficiency of offering secure, safe and quality services to their patients. This paper seeks to examine a leader’s role in data evaluation for quality and safety improvement. It will also look at the quality improvement plans and leadership attributes that help in evaluating data, therefore, improving quality and safety.
In evaluating quality improvement, the concept of health quality must be considered. The concept entails the ability of a healthcare service to achieve the expected health results which are in line with the professional guidelines of health (Bradley, Holmboe, Mattera, Roumanis, Radford & Krumholz, 2004). For health practices to qualify as being of quality, they must achieve the following set objectives: competence, timely, benign, even-handed, operative and patient –oriented.
Health concern establishes procedures that have to follow when carrying out care measures so as to meet the healthcare objectives and prevent any procedures that may depict impairment. Evaluating the value of health care helps in establishing the effects of the end results of treatment and the extent to which the health care procedures meet the professional regulations and policies and whether these procedures are in line with patients' derailments.
Quality improvement plan
Quality improvement is a systematic, structured operation that is guided by data to improve health care delivery in health care centres. System and process malfunctions may result in medical inaccuracies; this, therefore, necessitates the adoption of procedures for process advancement so as to identify unproductive care, inadequacies, avertable errors that may arise from poorly-structured systems. It encompasses the following techniques: Analysis and Evaluation of Impacts, having A Plan-Do-Study-Act, Botch modes, Analysis of the Causes of Errors and the Six Sigma Model. Evaluating and measuring quality and making changes using results revolve around these techniques. This, therefore, is an important aspect of evaluating the efficiency of the procedures that a leader has within his or her premises to help provide quality services to patients (Rowe, 2013).
Leadership characteristics
A Leader’s role in evaluating data to improve quality and safety of patients is highly dependent on these attributes:
Dedication and support
A Nurse leader has to inculcate the spirit of teamwork among his or her co-workers so as to create strategies that will help in quality improvement. Team spirit gives a sense of self-drive and this can lay down plans that have passed through various scrutinise from the centre where nurse leaders operate. Additionally, a nurse leader can create a working environment that is patient-centred; this enables a leader to know he needs of the patients. A nurse leader has to show concern for the personal well-being of patients by empowering patients and their kin; this requires a lot of dedication and empathy. A nurse leader also has the responsibility to support patients emotionally and physically. This is to mean that he or she has to continually involve the patients in their recovery processes so as to contribute to their general recovery.
Revolutionary leadership
This is an attribute that a nurse leader has to possess so as to use data gathered about his or her patients and improve quality and safety. A nurse leader has to keep track of data about patients and be up to date with the changing trends in quality and safety improvement. He or she must learn from past mistakes and errors by instigating safety measures in his or her area of work so as to prevent the reoccurrence of such errors. A nurse leader has to be friendly to patients so that they open up about their problems, their preferences, and views on the measures of safety and quality improvement in their work areas.
Summary
In creating a successful and approachable health care delivery, safety and quality are very important factors to consider. Quality enhancement entails proper analyses of data and its interpretation to develop a clinical recital scheme by using apt methods to solve errors in nursing. When data is evaluated properly, nurses have the ability to deal with emergencies in their lines of work. Nurses deal with patients ranging from ranging from young to old. Having a good knowledge about patients helps nurses in handling them with care and understanding of their preferences. Improved quality of health care help in reducing the toll of patient falls. A nurse leader has the sole responsibility for ensuring that he or she offers improved quality and safety for patients under their watch. He or she is mandated to work hand in hand with his or her fellow workers to ensure appropriate measures are implemented to improve quality and security in the health care centres.
References
Bradley, E. H., Holmboe, E. S., Mattera, J. A., Roumanis, S. A., Radford, M. J., &Krumholz, H. M. (2004). Data feedback efforts in quality improvement: lessons learned from US hospitals. Quality and Safety in Health Care, 13(1), 26-31.
Cronenwett, L., Sherwood, G., Barnsteiner, J., Disch, J., Johnson, J., Mitchell, P., & Warren, J. (2007). Quality and safety education for nurses.Nursing outlook, 55(3), 122-131.
Rowe, R. J. (2013). Preventing Patient Falls: What Are the Factors in Hospital Settings That Help Reduce and Prevent Inpatient Falls?. Home Health Care Management & Practice, 25(3), 98-103.
