Quality And Safety: Some Is Not A Number Soon Is Not A Time
Some is not a number. Soon is not a time.
—Slogan for the completed 100,000 Lives Campaign and 5 million Lives Campaign from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)
As reflected in the IHI statement above, safeguarding patients and promoting high-quality care requires more than vague promises. Although sensational headlines highlighting unsafe or inadequate care have brought increasing public attention to troubling events, providers, government agencies, insurers, and nonprofit organizations have taken strides to promote greater transparency and accountability around these issues. Reimbursements from government sources of funding and private insurers have been directly linked to performance through measures of safety and quality. In addition, many groups now acknowledge the need to improve the culture of care and are seeking ways to facilitate inter-professional collaboration that places concern for the patient at the center of health care delivery. As a nurse leader, you can play an integral part in promoting high-quality care and upholding the safety of patients, as well as of health care workers.
This week, you will examine the six aims promoted by the Institute of Medicine for improving health care. You will also consider the value of inter-professional collaboration in addressing health care issues.
Reference:
Overview of the 100,000 Lives campaign. Retrieved from http://www(dot)ihi(dot)org/offerings/Initiatives/PastStrategicInitiatives/5MillionLivesCampaign/Documents/Overview%20of%20the%20100K%20Campaign.pdf
Learning Objectives
Students will:
Analyze the impact of quality and safety issues on health care delivery
Analyze the value of inter-professional collaboration for improving health care quality and safety
Photo Credit: Angela Schmidt/iStock/Getty Images
Learning Resources
Note: To access this week's required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.
Required Readings
Knickman, J. R., & Kovner, A. R. (Eds.). (2015). Health care delivery in the united states (11th ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing.
Chapter 13, “High Quality Health Care” (pp. 273–295)
Chapter 2, “A Visual Overview of Health Care Delivery in the United States” (pp. 13–27)
These chapters discuss the current state of health care quality, as well as efforts to measure and improve quality.
Chapter 14, “Managing and Governing Health Care Organizations” (pp. 297–309)
This chapter details the vital importance of developing a better understanding of why and how heath care organizations are governed and managed in order to improve accountability.
Berwick, D. (2005). My right knee. Annals of Internal Medicine, 142(2), 121–125.
In this article, Donald Berwick describes five specific dimensions of “total quality” care he will need when his right knee is replaced; however, he feels no one health care institution can deliver all five dimensions.
Gardner, D. (2010). Health policy and politics. Expanding scope of practice: Inter-professional collaboration or conflict? Nursing Economic$, 28(4), 264–266.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
This article summarizes the interdisciplinary conflict and collaboration likely to be promoted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The text emphasizes the value of mediators in facilitating discussions between thought leaders from different disciplines.