Healthcare quality and safety..
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Nov 24, 2024
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Healthcare Safety and Quality
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Healthcare Safety and Quality Safety in healthcare is paramount to delivering quality and essential healthcare services to
patients. Safety helps to prevent or reduce risks, errors, and harm that might occur to a patient while receiving care. Healthcare safety and quality are intertwined, as one cannot happen without
the other. Healthcare professionals measure care provided to their clients through different ways, one of which is measuring the quality and safety outcomes of the healthcare. Safety and quality outcomes can either be positive or negative, an improvement or a decline. Safety and quality healthcare outcomes inform what research should be conducted to improve and promote safe and
quality care in a healthcare setting. Numerous healthcare institutions are tasked with determining
and improving the safety and quality domains and tenets that healthcare organizations or providers must adhere to ensure patient safety and quality care. This paper will discuss six domains for healthcare quality and the Joint Commission's 11 tenets for safety, analyze entities dedicated to improving healthcare quality and safety, discuss the impact of healthcare quality and safety and offer a Christian worldview to supporting improved healthcare quality and safety. Six domains for healthcare quality
Today, there are numerous institutions/organizations that are devoted to the improvement of quality and safe patient care in healthcare settings. Each of these institutions has strategies and
mechanisms to measure and improve the quality and safety of patients. However, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) developed six main domains regarded as the most influential in driving quality and safety improvement in healthcare (AHRQ, 2018). The IOM framework helps healthcare organizations and providers to understand and value quality and safety indicators that are
influential in improving patient care. These six main domains of healthcare quality as per the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), are as follows: Patient safety
This is the main principle that safeguards the dignity and respect of patients in a healthcare setting. The domain ensures that the healthcare services provided by healthcare professionals treat their patients with respect and understanding (AHRQ, 2018). Through this, patients are able to develop trust in the type of care provided by the organization. Therefore, healthcare providers or organizations must take the initiative to protect their patients from harm through risks or errors. Effectiveness
This denotes the efficacy through which a healthcare organization/provider succeeds in providing healthcare service to patients. Generally, effective healthcare services are more likely to be safe and fated to achieve the desired goals or objectives for the care of the patients (AHRQ,
2018). Healthcare providers must implement the most effective treatments to achieve positive patient outcomes. Patient-centered
This healthcare approach to patient care promotes and emphasizes the patient as the most important stakeholder in the provision of healthcare services. The healthcare professionals work hand in hand with the patient to correctly identify their healthcare needs and ensure they are met and any concerns they might have (AHRQ, 2018). The approach individualizes healthcare providers to ensure that every patient has control over and is fully involved in any healthcare decisions concerning their care.
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Timeliness
This is the ability of healthcare providers to provide care to patients whenever they need it. Patient care should be timely, especially when it comes to emergencies to help treat or provide
the necessary care to the patient for positive outcomes (AHRQ, 2018). Timeliness is observed in patients' medical checkups, cares, and treatments. Ensuring timely care will keep the patient safe and ensure great quality care. Efficiency
This involves the effectiveness of a healthcare organization or institution in using the available resources to produce the desired outcome in patient care. The efficiency is measured in terms of inputs, including financial and human resources, among others, and outputs, including the services provided (AHRQ, 2018). The processes used to provide the services are also important in efficiency measurement. Improving efficiency leads to a reduction in costs or an increase in output. Equity
Equity in healthcare ensures that all patients are treated the same regardless of their socioeconomic, age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or any other beliefs or factor. Equity ensures that everyone in a given society has good access to healthcare (AHRQ, 2018). Joint Commission 11 tenets for safety
A robust safety system begins with the organization's leadership in a healthcare setting. Good leadership ensures the safety culture system is established in the organization and ensures
patients are safe in such environments. The Joint Commission created 11 tenets for safety that organizations follow in shaping their safety culture. These includes: 1.
A transparent and non-retaliatory approach allows for reporting mistakes and learning from those mistakes to ensure the improvement of patient safety (The Joint Commission, 2017). 2.
Establishment of clear and risk-based systems/processes that recognizes and separate the human errors and the errors that arise from faulty systems from unsafe actions. 3.
The adoption of good and proper actions as well as the supporting of all the efforts that seek to eradicate all the intimidating behaviors within the organization (The Joint Commission, 2017). 4.
Establishing, enforcing, and communicating to the stakeholders all the policies and procedures that promote and support a safe culture and reporting unsafe or adverse events
and close calls. 5.
Recognizing the healthcare team members who report any unsafe condition, close call, or
adverse event. Also, the members who suggest safety improvement actions should be recognized. 6.
Establishing an organizational reference point when measuring the organization's safety culture. 7.
Assessing all the safety culture data and information to discover new opportunities for safety culture improvement.
8.
Developing and implementing quality and safety improvement initiatives that are unit based to respond to information gained from every assessment or survey (The Joint Commission, 2017)
9.
Ensuring there is a safety culture training healthcare team in all quality improvement initiatives
10. Initiating a proactive assessment plan to assess the system's strengths and vulnerabilities and ensure their improvement. 11. Initiating an organizational reassessment initiative for safety every 18-24 months to thoroughly review the progress and sustained improvement in safety culture (The Joint Commission, 2017).
Entities dedicated to the improvement of healthcare quality and safety
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
AHRQ is credited for developing the National Quality Strategy (NQS) that effectively improves the health quality and safety of the public healthcare system. AHRQ developed this strategy intending to improve quality and safety in healthcare by building processes and initiatives that drive improvement. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
The CDC has been instrumental in setting standards to improve patient safety and quality of care for the public. In its Division of Laboratory Systems (DLS), the CDC helps develop and adopt standards, regulations, guidelines, and tools to improve the quality of care and safety of clinical laboratories in public healthcare. The CDC collaborates with other institutions, such as
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the FDA, to set safety regulations for drugs and medical devices used in healthcare for patient treatment. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
The FDA's main objective is to protect the public by ensuring that drugs and medical devices are safe, effective, and secure for patients' use or consumption. The FDA ensures improvement in the safety and quality of drugs and medical devices by approving new technology into the healthcare market to improve patient outcomes. Impacts of healthcare quality and safety regulations healthcare quality and safety regulations have positively impacted my specific work environment in terms of processes and outcomes. For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, patients were forced to attend virtual visits due to the restrictions set by the government to prevent the spread of the virus. Although adjusting was difficult, the regulations directed patients
to attend virtual visits to protect them and keep them safe. Also, regulations that required people to wear masks, maintain distance and sanitize their hands regularly when in the hospital went into effect to improve patient safety and the quality of care provided. Throughout the pandemic, patients were kept safe from infection by the Coronavirus while receiving care in the organization. The CDC, FDA, and other entities were instrumental in ensuring patients' safety throughout the pandemic. Christian worldview in my support of improved healthcare quality and safety.
In Proverbs 17:22, the Bible says that “A joyful heart is the health of the body, but a depressed spirit dries up the bones.” This verse is important in healthcare as it shows just how crucial good health is to a person. People go to hospitals when they are sick or ill to find a
treatment that will help them improve. Therefore, hospitals should be places where people feel safe when they seek medical attention. The care provided in the hospitals should be good enough
to ensure the patient is healed as soon as possible. Thus, continuously improving the safety and quality of care in hospitals will help individuals recover from sicknesses and illnesses quickly, returning to their joyful and healthy bodies, just like the Bible says.
References
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2018). Six Domains of Health Care Quality. Retrieved from https://www.ahrq.gov/talkingquality/measures/six-domains.html
King James Bible (n.d). King James Bible Online. Retrieved from https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/
The Joint Commission (2017, Mar 1). The essential role of leadership in developing a safety culture. Sentinel Event Alert Issue 57. Retrieved from https://www.jointcommission.org/-/media/tjc/documents/resources/patient-safety-
topics/sentinel-event/sea_57_safety_culture_leadership_0317pdf.pdf
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