Patients’ safety is the top priority for all healthcare practitioners. Healthcare systems comprising medical institutions, patients, and professionals must put efforts to avoid errors, fostering a safe culture, and learn from failures. Quality in the healthcare organization is advantageous. For example, the quality initiative is systematic and structured with the aim of advancing treatment for the people it helps while preventing injury (Bosler, 2016). It encourages a safe culture, excellence, and openness. Subsequently, quality healthcare is effective. For instance, the institution’s odds of redundancy and failure are reduced when the ‘process’ is improved. Rather than focusing on anecdotes, the improved healthcare organization relies on data-driven research. Finally, quality healthcare is patient-centered. For instance, the management and clinical procedures are becoming more efficient, physicians and staff have enough time to deliver receptive, courteous, and value-centered care to patients. Therefore, better-quality procedures are practical, identifying and resolving matters before they arise.
Quality Initiatives
Indeed, through quality improvement initiatives and informative research, EMR (electronic medical records) collects “point-of-care” data that guide and improve practice. For example, by enhancing management, decreasing medication errors, decreasing unnecessary tastings, and enhancing interaction and communication among patients and primary care providers, EMR increases patient outcomes, safety, and quality of care.
Subsequently, reduced medication administration mistakes is another quality initiative. Adjustments in setting (like being admitted or released from the hospital), healthcare professional, or degree of treatment are all examples of transitions in care (Bosler, 2016). For example, through the organization giving its health care professionals the most up-to-date data it offers, practitioners have the clearest picture of the organization’s situation and help prevent prescription errors. Foster a culture of documenting all drug-related mistakes, especially near misses, as the essential element in decreasing medication errors. Therefore, if one pharmacist makes a mistake, another pharmacist working in the same environment is likely to make the same mistake.
Finally, the hospital readmissions reduction program (HRRP) enhances patients’ health care quality by tying payment to hospital treatment quality. The HRRP is a value-centered buying initiative that promotes hospitals to enhance communications and care coordination to better encompass caregivers and patients in discharging plans and, thus, prevent unnecessary readmissions.
Quality in a Healthcare System and Real-World Examples of Quality Initiatives
Quality in health care comprises providing effective, safe, and inexpensive medical care services to patients whenever they are needed. Patients might be engaged in taking steps to avoid and improve therapy, resulting in more effective care. Quality may be demonstrated in a patient’s shorter hospital stay or fewer infections after surgery, among other things. Different quality initiatives might be used to improve health care quality (Okpala, 2018). Therefore, the following are three quality efforts in healthcare institutions to enhance the quality of healthcare.
One of the quality enhancement programs is the frequent training of healthcare care personnel. The training guarantees that the appropriate knowledge and experience are developed, allowing for the effective and safe delivery of the finest possible care. As a result, the frequency of re-infections or hospital stays would be minimized, resulting in quality. Secondly, documentation of records in an electronic format is an example of quality in healthcare systems. Quality health care is also ensured through the quality initiative because, under an electronic system, a patient’s documentation and prior data would be effectively kept and organized. As a result, quality care will be provided since the people’s medical histories will be recognized by the system, and therapy will be delivered while taking into account the patient’s past medical history. This would improve the delivery of safe and effective medical treatment. Finally, quality in healthcare involves providing items or medications that prevent infections after procedures or shorten a patient’s stay in the hospital. Therefore, the solutions are designed to improve recovery and decrease readmissions, resulting in effective care delivery and high-quality health care.
References
Bosler, B. (2016). Legal versus common sense advocacy to improve home healthcare quality. Home Healthcare Now, 34(5), 281-282. https://doi.org/10.1097/nhh.0000000000000396
The Office of Inspector General for the United States Department of Health and Human Services. (2016, May 16). OIG Compliance Program Guidance for Individual and Small Group Physician Practices. https://oig.hhs.gov/documents/compliance-guidance/801/physician.pdf
Okpala, P. (2018). Balancing quality healthcare services and costs through collaborative leadership. Journal of Healthcare Management, 63(6), e148-e157. https://doi.org/10.1097/jhm-d-18-00020
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