Prepare an 8–10-page data analysis and quality improvement initiative proposal based on a
health issue of professional interest to you. The audience for your analysis and proposal is the
nursing staff and the interprofessional team who will implement the initiative.
"A basic principle of quality measurement is: If you can't measure it, you can't improve it"
(Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2013).
Health care providers are on an endless quest to improve both care quality and patient safety.
This unwavering commitment requires hospitals and care givers to increase their attention and
adherence to treatment protocols to improve patient outcomes. Health informatics, along with
new and improved technologies and procedures, are at the core of virtually all quality
improvement initiatives. The data gathered by providers, along with process improvement
models and recognized quality benchmarks, are all part of a collaborative, continuing effort. As
such, it is essential that professional nurses are able to correctly interpret, and effectively
communicate information revealed on dashboards that display critical care metrics.
Reference
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2013). Preventing falls in hospitals. Retrieved from
https://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/systems/hospital/fallpxtoolkit/fallpxtk5.html#tiptop
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
As you prepare to complete this assessment, you may want to think about other related issues to
deepen your understanding or broaden your viewpoint. You are encouraged to consider the
questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or
a member of your professional community. Note that these questions are for your own
development and exploration and do not need to be completed or submitted as part of your
assessment.
Reflect on QI initiatives focused on measuring and improving patient outcomes with which you
are familiar.
•
•
•
How important is the role of nurses in QI initiatives?
What quality improvement initiatives have made the biggest difference? Why?
When a QI initiative does not succeed as planned, what steps are taken to improve or
revise the effort?
Preparation
In this assessment, you will propose a quality improvement (QI) initiative proposal based on a
health issue of professional interest to you. The QI initiative proposal will be based on an
analysis of dashboard metrics from a health care facility. You have one of two options:
Option 1
If you have access to dashboard metrics related to a QI initiative proposal of interest to you:
• Analyze data from the health care facility to identify a health care issue or area of
concern. You will need access to reports and data related to care quality and patient
safety. If you work in hospital setting, contact the quality management department to
obtain the data you need.
•
You will need to identify basic information about the health care setting, size, and
specific type of care delivery related to the topic that you identify. You are expected to
abide by HIPAA compliance standards.
Option 2
If you do not have access to a dashboard or metrics related to a QI initiative proposal:
• You may use the hospital data set provided in the media piece titled Vila Health: Data
Analysis. You will analyze the data to identify a health care issue or area of concern.
• You will follow the same instructions and provide the same deliverables as your peers
who select Option 1.
Instructions
Analyze dashboard metrics related to the selected issue.
•
Provide the selected data set in the proposal.
• Assess the stability of processes or outcomes.
• Delineate any problematic variations or performance failures.
• Evaluate QI initiatives on the selected health issue with existing quality indicators from
other facilities, government agencies, and non-governmental bodies on quality
improvement.
• Analyze challenges that meeting prescribed benchmarks can pose for a heath care
organization and the interprofessional team.
• Outline a QI initiative proposal based on the selected health issue and data analysis.
• Identify target areas for improvement.
• Define what processes can be modified to improve outcomes.
• Propose strategies to improve quality.
• Define interprofessional roles and responsibilities as they relate to the QI
initiative.
• Provide recommendations for effective communication strategies for the
interprofessional team to ensure the success of the QI initiative. Briefly reflect on
the impact of the proposed initiative on work-life quality of the nursing staff and
interprofessional team.
• Integrate relevant sources to support arguments, correctly formatting citations and
references using current APA style.
Note: Remember, you can submit all, or a portion of, your draft to Smarthinking for feedback,
before you submit the final version of your analysis for this assessment. However, be mindful of
the turnaround time for receiving feedback, if you plan on using this free service.
The numbered points below correspond to grading criteria in the scoring guide. The bullets
below each grading criterion further delineate tasks to fulfill the assessment requirements. Be
sure that your Quality Improvement Initiative Evaluation addresses all of the content below. You
may also want to read the scoring guide to better understand the performance levels that relate to
each grading criterion.
1. Analyze data to identify a health care issue or area of concern.
•
Identify the type of data you are analyzing (from your institution or from the
media piece).
•
Discuss why the data matters, what it is telling you, and what is missing.
•
Analyze dashboard metrics and provide the data set in the proposal.
•
Present dashboard metrics related to the selected issue.
•
Delineate any problematic variations or performance failures.
•
Assess the stability of processes or outcomes.
•
Evaluate the quality of the data and what can be learned from it.
•
Identify trends, outcome measures and information needed to calculate specific
rates.
•
Analyze what metrics indicate opportunities for quality improvement.
2. Outline a QI initiative proposal based on a selected health issue and supporting data
analysis.
•
Identify benchmarks aligned to existing QI initiatives set by local, state, or federal
health care policies or laws.
•
Identify existing QI initiatives related to the selected issue, and explain why they
are insufficient.
•
Identify target areas for improvement, and define what processes can be modified
to improve outcomes.
•
Propose evidence-based strategies to improve quality.
•
Evaluate QI initiatives on the selected health issue with existing quality indicators
from other facilities, government agencies, and non-governmental bodies on
quality improvement.
•
Analyze challenges that meeting prescribed benchmarks can pose for a heath care
organization and the interprofessional team.
3. Integrate interprofessional perspectives to lead quality improvements in patient safety,
cost effectiveness, and work-life quality.
•
Define interprofessional roles and responsibilities as they relate to the data and the
QI initiative.
•
Explain how you would you make sure that all relevant roles are fully engaged in
this effort.
•
Explain what non-nursing concepts would you incorporate into the initiative?
•
Identify how outcomes to measure the effect of the intervention affect the
interprofessional team.
•
Briefly reflect on the impact of the proposed initiative on work-life quality of the
nursing staff and interprofessional team. Describe how work-life quality is
improved or enriched by the initiative.
4. Apply effective communication strategies to promote quality improvement of
interprofessional care.
•
Identify the kind of interprofessional communication strategies that will be
effective to promote and ensure the success of this performance improvement
plan or quality improvement initiative.
•
In addition to writing, identify communication models (like CUS, SBAR) that you
would include in your initiative proposal.
5. Communicate evaluation and analysis in a professional and effective manner, writing
content clearly and logically with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
6. Integrate relevant sources to support arguments, correctly formatting citations and
references using current APA style.
Submission Requirements
•
•
Length of submission: 8–10 double-spaced, typed pages, not including title and reference
page.
Number of references: Cite a minimum of five sources (no older than seven years, unless
seminal work) of scholarly, peer-reviewed, or professional evidence that support your
evaluation, recommendations, and plans.
•
Vila Health: Data Analysis | Transcript.
Quality Improvement Examples and Results
These resources explore the effectiveness and lessons learned from various quality improvement
initiatives.
•
Ohde, S., Terai, M., Oizumi, A., Takahashi, O., Deshpande, G. A., Takekata, M., . . .
Fukui, T. (2012). The effectiveness of a multidisciplinary QI activity for accidental fall
prevention: Staff compliance is critical. BMC Health Services Research, 12, 197.
• Berman, J., Nkabane, E. L., Malope, S., Machai, S., Jack, B., & Bicknell, W.
(2014). Developing a hospital quality improvement initiative in Lesotho. International
Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 27(1), 15–24.
These articles showcase examples of strategic QI projects.
•
Nazir, A., Dennis, M. E., & Unroe, K. T. (2015). Implementation of a heart failure
quality initiative in a skilled nursing facility: Lessons learned. Journal of Gerontological
Nursing, 41(5), 26–33.
• Schoenfelder, S. L., Wych, S., Willows, C. A., Harrington, J., Christoffel, K. K., &
Becker, A. B. (2013). Engaging Chicago hospitals in the baby-friendly hospital
initiative. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 17(9), 1712–1717.
This resource evaluates a QI initiative based on a communication strategy.
•
Wysham, N. G., Mularski, R. A., Schmidt, D. M., Nord, S. C., Louis, D. L., Shuster, E., .
. . Mosen, D. M. (2014). Long-term persistence of quality improvements for an intensive
care unit communication initiative using the VALUE strategy. Journal of Critical
Care, 29(3), 450–454.
Benchmarks for Quality Indicators
These databases provide recognized benchmarks for quality indicators.
•
•
Montalvo, I. (2007). The national database of nursing quality indicators. Online Journal
of Issues in Nursing, 12(3), 1–11.
The Joint Commission. (2017). National patient safety goals. Retrieved from
https://www.jointcommission.org/standards_information/npsgs.aspx
Data Analysis and Quality Improvement Initiative Proposal Scoring Guide
CRITERIA
NONPERFORMANCE
Analyze data to
identify a
health care
issue or area of
concern.
Outline a QI
initiative
proposal based
on a selected
health issue
and supporting
data analysis.
BASIC
PROFICIENT
DISTINGUISHED
Does not
analyze data to
identify a
health care
issue or area of
concern.
Attempts to
analyze data,
but misses
trends or
opportunities
for quality
improvement,
or fails to
persuasively
link data to a
health care
issue or area of
concern.
Analyzes data
to identify a
health care
issue or area of
concern.
Analyzes data
to identify a
health care
issue or area of
concern, and
evaluates the
quality of the
data.
Does not
outline a QI
initiative
proposal based
on a selected
health issue
and supporting
data analysis.
Attempts to
outline a QI
initiative
proposal, but
proposal is
missing
benchmarks, is
not evidencebased, is
impractical, or
is not clearly
linked to the
selected health
issue or
supporting data
analysis.
Outlines a QI
initiative
proposal based
on a selected
health issue
and supporting
data analysis.
Outlines a QI
initiative
proposal based
on a selected
health issue
and supporting
data analysis,
and identifies
knowledge
gaps,
unknowns,
missing
information,
unanswered
questions, or
areas of
uncertainty
(where further
information
CRITERIA
NONPERFORMANCE
BASIC
PROFICIENT
DISTINGUISHED
could improve
the proposal).
Integrate
interprofession
al perspectives
to lead quality
improvements
in patient
safety, cost
effectiveness,
and work-life
quality.
Does not
integrate
interprofession
al perspectives
to lead quality
improvements
in patient
safety, cost
effectiveness,
and work-life
quality.
Attempts to
integrate
interprofession
al perspectives,
but misses
relevant roles
or concepts, or
fails to consider
key
interprofession
al perspectives
related to
patient safety,
cost
effectiveness,
or work-life
quality.
Integrates
interprofession
al perspectives
to lead quality
improvements
in patient
safety, cost
effectiveness,
and work-life
quality.
Integrates
interprofession
al perspectives
to lead quality
improvements
in patient
safety, cost
effectiveness,
and work-life
quality, and
identifies
assumptions on
which the
suggestions are
based.
Apply effective
communication
strategies to
promote
quality
improvement
of
interprofession
al care.
Does not
suggest
communication
strategies to
promote
quality
improvement
of
interprofession
al care.
Suggestions for
communication
strategies are
not sufficient
to promote
quality
improvement
of
interprofession
al care.
Applies
effective
communication
strategies to
promote
quality
improvement
of
interprofession
al care.
Applies
effective
communication
strategies to
promote
quality
improvement
of
interprofession
al care, and
identifies
assumptions on
which the
suggestions are
based.
CRITERIA
NONPERFORMANCE
BASIC
PROFICIENT
DISTINGUISHED
Communicate
evaluation and
analysis in a
professional
and effective
manner,
writing content
clearly and
logically with
correct use of
grammar,
punctuation,
and spelling.
Does not
communicate
evaluation and
analysis in a
professional
and effective
manner,
writing content
clearly and
logically with
correct use of
grammar,
punctuation,
and spelling.
Attempts to
communicate
evaluation and
analysis in a
professional
and effective
manner, but
content is not
consistently
clear and
logical, or
errors in use of
grammar,
punctuation, or
spelling distract
from the
message.
Communicates
evaluation and
analysis in a
professional
and effective
manner,
writing content
clearly and
logically with
correct use of
grammar,
punctuation,
and spelling.
Communicates
evaluation and
analysis in a
professional
and effective
manner.
Content is
clear, logical,
and persuasive;
grammar,
punctuation,
and spelling are
without errors.
Integrate
relevant
sources to
support
arguments,
correctly
formatting
citations and
references
using current
APA style.
Does not
integrate
relevant
sources to
support
arguments,
correctly
formatting
citations and
references
using current
APA style.
Sources lack
relevance or
are poorly
integrated, or
citations or
references are
incorrectly
formatted.
Integrates
relevant
sources to
support
arguments,
correctly
formatting
citations and
references
using current
APA style.
Integrates
relevant
sources to
support
assertions,
correctly
formatting
citations and
references
using current
APA style.
Citations are
free from all
errors.
Purchase answer to see full
attachment