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Quality in Health Care
Stephanie Green
Grand Canyon University
Performance Improvement and Quality in Health Care NUR 630
Dr. Linnette Nolte
May 12, 2021
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Quality in Health Care
Quality in healthcare means providing the right care to the right patient or population
within the right time frame. This care should be delivered safely in a timely and efficient manner
using the best available practice measures (Busse et al., 2019). The basis of healthcare quality is
to increase patient safety through the creation of a culture of safety within each organization.
This paper intends to discuss the quality issue of inadvertent hypothermia in surgical patients to
reduce postoperative complications such as surgical site infection, risk of blood transfusion, or
increased length of hospital stay. Included in the discussion of this issue will be challenges
associated with inadvertent hypothermia, how evidence-based practice (EBP), quality
improvement (QI), or research would be utilized in addressing the issue, an explanation of the
applied QI initiative with the associated data sources, outcome, and process data and how this
data is to be captured and disseminated. Finally, a discussion of the organizational culture
necessary for the success and sustainability of the QI will be discussed.
Inadvertent Perioperative Hypothermia and Associated Challenges
Inadvertent hypothermia (core body temperature 96.8⁰ F or lower) in the perioperative
period can come from sedatives, anesthetics, or prolonged skin or body cavity exposure. This
issue can cause complications such as patient discomfort in the post-operative period as well as
wound complications such as infection or delayed healing, complications to the heart and
vascular system due to shivering and increase the chance of bleeding requiring blood
transfusions (Madrid et al., 2016). Other potential complications from perioperative hypothermia
include an increased length in hospital stay and increased change of mortality.
Potential challenges to providing a normothermic environment to avoid inadvertent
hypothermia in the perioperative period include maintaining operating room temperature of 68⁰
Quality in Health Care
Stephanie Green
Grand Canyon University
Performance Improvement and Quality in Health Care NUR 630
Dr. Linnette Nolte
May 12, 2021
, 2
Quality in Health Care
Quality in healthcare means providing the right care to the right patient or population
within the right time frame. This care should be delivered safely in a timely and efficient manner
using the best available practice measures (Busse et al., 2019). The basis of healthcare quality is
to increase patient safety through the creation of a culture of safety within each organization.
This paper intends to discuss the quality issue of inadvertent hypothermia in surgical patients to
reduce postoperative complications such as surgical site infection, risk of blood transfusion, or
increased length of hospital stay. Included in the discussion of this issue will be challenges
associated with inadvertent hypothermia, how evidence-based practice (EBP), quality
improvement (QI), or research would be utilized in addressing the issue, an explanation of the
applied QI initiative with the associated data sources, outcome, and process data and how this
data is to be captured and disseminated. Finally, a discussion of the organizational culture
necessary for the success and sustainability of the QI will be discussed.
Inadvertent Perioperative Hypothermia and Associated Challenges
Inadvertent hypothermia (core body temperature 96.8⁰ F or lower) in the perioperative
period can come from sedatives, anesthetics, or prolonged skin or body cavity exposure. This
issue can cause complications such as patient discomfort in the post-operative period as well as
wound complications such as infection or delayed healing, complications to the heart and
vascular system due to shivering and increase the chance of bleeding requiring blood
transfusions (Madrid et al., 2016). Other potential complications from perioperative hypothermia
include an increased length in hospital stay and increased change of mortality.
Potential challenges to providing a normothermic environment to avoid inadvertent
hypothermia in the perioperative period include maintaining operating room temperature of 68⁰
