Continuous Quality Improvement in Healthcare system
In spite of sincere efforts from leading nursing and medical institutions of the world, major gaps still exist in the quality of health care system. These gaps can be evaded by adopting prompt Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) measures in the present system. The main obstacles realized in this context can be directly associated with factors like the complexity of the healthcare processes, issues in understanding the prescribed concepts, and awareness of utilizing resources (health care equipment, technology for diagnosis, care and monitoring) by nursing staff.
Importance of understanding theory, concepts and resources to safeguard best practices
Innovation in the present healthcare system is very important to ensure that the above-stated hindrances to healthcare facilities can be routed out of the system. This innovation needs to be implemented via effective leadership techniques and it also needs to address the investment in developing various learning, educating, motivating the nursing staff and in technically enhancing the current systems. The complexity can be resolved by developing a system which promotes a better perception of real time theories in nursing and health care.
For better theoretical understanding, adequate leadership at management level is required to ensure enthusiastic learning and elaborative training modules for most complex healthcare mechanism. For example, SURPASS collaborative group’s surgical norms are detailed guidelines for safety of patients in surgery. Further, the CQI implementation can be done in terms of investing considerably in developing early adopters and innovation-driven approach practitioners in healthcare systems. Proper heed to be paid in disseminating conceptual information on clinical practices like evidence based tools, surgical checklists, rapid treatment scenarios and the other healthcare facilities. The diffusion of innovation driven knowledge needs to percolate to even the lowest tier of health care workers, like the nursing staff. Also, development of field related resources to render better knowledge and for spreading the requisite information in the field and acknowledging the latest practices are very crucial. Social network marketing is nowadays used to spread this proposed innovation (Sollecito & Johnson, 2013).
How can nurses defend the business case for CQI in work setting?
The business case refers to a situation when the investing entity into a business expects some returns from it (bankable dollars) over a certain period. In health care, the investing entities assume a positive yet indirect brunt on the overall sustenance of their facility in the healthcare industry (Sollecito & Johnson, 2013). Hence, the business case in healthcare may develop into a profit making venture that might ebb errors or even battle a variety of CQI processes. Nurses can provide a solution to this mandate of providing better service at lower costs and consequently, lesser investments. Any health care system’s success is estimated over the level of satisfaction and relief testified by patients. Nurses can embrace the notion of low-cost driven high-quality services by accepting the proponents of Continuous Quality Improvement like the better understanding of theories and complex healthcare systems. Nurses can be trained to augment their clinical care with practices like SURPASS. This might lead to the sense of satisfaction developed via patients and a healthcare system is most benefitted by the general perception of its service quality. Hence, nurses can facilitate an adoption of nursing practices which can reorient the CQI postulates to transform the healthcare facility into a high-quality, low cost function for the positive return on investment from the owners (Jones & Gates, 2007).
References
Jones, B.C. & Gates, M. (2007).The Costs and Benefits of Nurse Turnover: A Business Case for Nurse Retention. Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Volume122007/No3Sept07/NurseRetention.aspx
Sollecito, W. A., & Johnson, J. K. (2013). Continuous quality improvement in health care. 4th Ed. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning: 49-57. Print.
