Dear Dr. Scott and class
Improving patient outcomes and decreasing adverse events is paramount to success of a
healthcare organization. Auditing of patient records is an effective method to gather data about
a specific process or quality metric. The data obtained can be utilized to either identify areas of
improvement or monitor adherence to an initiative that is already in place. A key factor to most
quality improvement initiatives is to engage frontline staff in the process and help them to
understand the value. As the nurse administrator at SLMC, I would start by presenting the idea
of auditing elderly patient readmissions to the nursing leadership of units where the readmissions
are the highest. I would then seek their input on the content of the auditing tool and ask them to
engage some frontline staff to participate in the auditing process since they are instrumental to
the success of the project. The audit should include patient demographics, diagnosis, physician
team, location, length of stay, medications, discharge instructions and presence of post discharge
support. Ideally, the staff nurses would assist leadership at the unit level in performing the audits
since they have more contact with patients than other caregivers and are major drivers of
outcomes related to safety, quality, and the experience of care. Engaging the nurses in process
improvement is key to its success. According to Macauley (2015), engaged employees have an
emotional and functional commitment to the organization and are more likely to value
organizational change.
After reading Deming’s 14 Total Quality principles, I would apply the first point of
creating a constancy of purpose for improvement. Constancy of purpose focuses on the long
term thinking about an organization’s goals in order to remain competitive and create jobs. As
leaders within an organization, nurse administrators have quality, safety and financial
responsibilities. They must support an environment that promotes continual improvement of
service and processes. The nurse administrator must be a strategic thinker who possesses the
ability to influence and motivate staff to meet the goals of an organization. Engaging and
empowering staff to strive for excellence will improve patient outcomes (Jeffs et al., 2018).
References
Jeffs, L., Baker, G. R., Tagger, R., Hubley, P., Richards, J., Merkley, J.,…Fong, J. H. (2018).
Attributes and actions required to advance quality and safety in hospitals: Insights from
This study source was downloaded by 100000801755870 from CourseHero.com on 03-17-2022 04:37:12 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/37163397/NR-531-week-7docx/
Improving patient outcomes and decreasing adverse events is paramount to success of a
healthcare organization. Auditing of patient records is an effective method to gather data about
a specific process or quality metric. The data obtained can be utilized to either identify areas of
improvement or monitor adherence to an initiative that is already in place. A key factor to most
quality improvement initiatives is to engage frontline staff in the process and help them to
understand the value. As the nurse administrator at SLMC, I would start by presenting the idea
of auditing elderly patient readmissions to the nursing leadership of units where the readmissions
are the highest. I would then seek their input on the content of the auditing tool and ask them to
engage some frontline staff to participate in the auditing process since they are instrumental to
the success of the project. The audit should include patient demographics, diagnosis, physician
team, location, length of stay, medications, discharge instructions and presence of post discharge
support. Ideally, the staff nurses would assist leadership at the unit level in performing the audits
since they have more contact with patients than other caregivers and are major drivers of
outcomes related to safety, quality, and the experience of care. Engaging the nurses in process
improvement is key to its success. According to Macauley (2015), engaged employees have an
emotional and functional commitment to the organization and are more likely to value
organizational change.
After reading Deming’s 14 Total Quality principles, I would apply the first point of
creating a constancy of purpose for improvement. Constancy of purpose focuses on the long
term thinking about an organization’s goals in order to remain competitive and create jobs. As
leaders within an organization, nurse administrators have quality, safety and financial
responsibilities. They must support an environment that promotes continual improvement of
service and processes. The nurse administrator must be a strategic thinker who possesses the
ability to influence and motivate staff to meet the goals of an organization. Engaging and
empowering staff to strive for excellence will improve patient outcomes (Jeffs et al., 2018).
References
Jeffs, L., Baker, G. R., Tagger, R., Hubley, P., Richards, J., Merkley, J.,…Fong, J. H. (2018).
Attributes and actions required to advance quality and safety in hospitals: Insights from
This study source was downloaded by 100000801755870 from CourseHero.com on 03-17-2022 04:37:12 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/37163397/NR-531-week-7docx/
