Continuous Quality Improvement Initiative

 Read the following attachments:

*An Evaluation of Medicare’s Hospital Compare as a Decision-Making Tool for Patients and Hospitals.

*U.S. Hospital Performance Methodologies: A Scoping Review to Identify Opportunities for Crossing the Quality Chasm Download U.S. Hospital Performance Methodologies: A Scoping Review to Identify Opportunities for Crossing the Quality Chasm

*Impact of Teaching Intensity and Sociodemographic Characteristics on CMS Hospital Compare Quality Rating

Your role in this scenario is that you work in the department of quality improvement (QI) at the University of Iowa Hospital & Clinics. Your CEO calls upon you in the QI department to resolve the low performing quality and patient safety issues. The Quality Improvement Measure focus is on “Patients who "Strongly Agree" they understood their care when they left the hospital” under the “Survey of Patients' Experiences” category.

-For this first part of the quality improvement (QI) initiative, you will explore the University of Iowa Hospital & Clinics (https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/details/hospital/160058?city=Iowa%20City&state=IA&zipcode=). Explore the categories listed on the hospital’s webpage to get an understanding of how it scores. Be sure to scroll down and expand each category to see the measures nested within the category. For example, for one particular hospital, under the category “Timely and Effective Care for Sepsis Care,” the hospital scored 53% for this measure. This is the percentage of patients who received appropriate care for severe sepsis and septic shock. The national average was 60%, and the state average was 55%. This is a low performing quality and patient safety issue that could be explored. Here is another example: Under the category “Timely and Effective Care for Emergency Department Care,” this hospital had 146 minutes for the measure, “average (median) time patients spent in the emergency department before leaving from the visit.” The national average had 172 minutes, and the state average had 158 minutes. But another hospital in the same area had 125 minutes.

In three- to five-pages address the following:

• Describe      the nature of the business,      services or products, and customers      served by the University of Iowa Hospital & Clinics.
• Evaluate      the Quality Improvement Measure “Patients who "Strongly Agree"      they understood their care when they left the hospital” under the “Survey      of Patients' Experiences” category.
• Discuss the      importance of patients being able to understand their care when they leave      the hospital (e.g., accreditation status, patient      safety, and/or financial status of the hospital).
• Define      two to three SMART goals for the measure, “Patients who      "Strongly Agree" they understood their care when they left the      hospital,” to improve. 
  • Be       sure to include all five elements—specific, measurable, attainable,       relevant, and time-bound—in each goal. 
  • For       example: To implement an up-and-running emergency department tracking       system by 12/31/2022. To hire and train additional five nurses to meet       the staff-to-patient ratio during peak times by 12/31/2022.  To       reduce the turnaround time at 10% for lactic acid/lactate levels       laboratory testing by 12/31/2022.
• Analyze      specific local, state, or national policies (e.g., The Joint Commission      Standards) that have been developed to improve patients being able to      understand their care when they leave the hospital based on evidence-based      practice research.
• Must      use at least three scholarly or peer-reviewed sources published in the      past 5 years and format in APA style.

-See the attached Quality Improvement Initiative template for guidance on completing this.