Quality Improvement Strategies

1.      What did I expect to learn about this topic before beginning the unit?

I was expecting to learn about strategies to improve quality improvement meaning things we can do as nurses or what other members of the interdisciplinary team can do to improve quality.

2.      What I actually learned:

Measurement is essential in continuous quality improvement. I guess I realized the value of collecting accurate data and being able to display it using charts/graphs/pictures/explanation in a way that makes sense and shows trends or issues. It does take time to gather the information but without it, how does a facility know what areas to improve in? I can apply this to myself and my nursing practice. Each day after a shift I can take some time to reflect on that day-what went well, what still needs improving. I can organize it in my head or even write some things down in a way that allows me to analyze the “data” and see progression/digression over time. By doing this I will be able to continuously improve my quality of care and that will translate to the continuous quality improvement of my facility.

I also realized that everything is going to vary-variability is not a bad thing but you have to identify what the variability is and either remove it or minimize its overall influence in order to reach the goal in mind.

I also learned about care processes and how analyzing the processes I use as a nurse can help determine why errors are made. This goes back to what I previously mentioned about reflecting on my day. As I look at the care processes I use for patients, I may notice a trend I have or way of doing something that may be setting me up for failure or potentially causing harm to patients. I don’t want that to happen so I can use these strategies to minimize that risk.

The group discussion this week helped me realize how much I do know about involving other members of the interdisciplinary team. I work very closely with PT, OT, speech, and dietary on my  floor because its neuro/rehab. Patients are always battling with learning how to eat again and many have feeding tubes because they cannot tolerate oral intake yet. Dietary is so helpful in helping the patients as well as me to understand how to decide what is best to eat and to help provide patients with their preferred options so they want to eat and are able to meet their daily calorie goal.

The critical thinking exercise made me realize that it is important to read all the options and pick an option that is all encompassing…especially when we are defining something (in this case, a fall). I think it was beneficial that the definition I chose outlined from beginning to end what a “fall” in the hospital actually is.

3.      My feelings/experiences from the individual and team activities:

I always enjoy the discussions and felt this week that my team had a many of the same views as to how to involve the patient/family with eating and who we can call upon for help from the interdisciplinary team. It’s always helpful to have insight from other class members and I feel that I learned some things. The individual activities were very straight forward this week and really helped to solidify some concepts for me.

4.      How I will utilize the information learned in my nursing practice:

I mentioned this previously but I really feel that I can benefit from this week by learning how to analyze my own care processes, identify the variables, and organize the information in a way that allows me to improve my quality of care. In addition, this will help improve the quality care at my facility. I have realized how helpful other members of the team are to a patient’s care and the fact that we all work together for the same common goal.

4.      My personal feelings about the material covered:

I thought this week was full of good concepts. It was very straightforward, not too deep, and are concepts we can all apply and relate to.