Identify the type of data you are analyzing from your institution or from the Vila Health activity.

Instructions: Nursing Paper– Quality Improvement Care

Data Analysis and Quality Improvement Initiative Proposal

Prepare an 8-10 page data analysis and quality improvement
initiative proposal based on a health issue of interest. Include internal and
external benchmark data, evidence-based recommendations to improve health care
quality and safety, and communication strategies to gain buy-in from all
interprofessional team members responsible for implementing the initiative.

Introduction
Health care providers are perpetually striving to improve
care quality and patient safety. To accomplish enhanced care, outcomes need to
be measured. Next, data measures must be validated. Measurement and validation
of information support performance improvement. Health care providers must
focus attention on evidence-based best practices to improve patient outcomes.

Health informatics, along with new and improved technologies
and procedures, are at the core of all quality improvement initiatives. Data
analysis begins with provider documentation, researched process improvement
models, and recognized quality benchmarks. All of these items work together to
improve patient outcomes. Professional nurses must be able to interpret and
communicate dashboard information that displays critical care metrics and
outcomes along with data collected from the care delivery process.

For this assessment, use your current role or assume a role
you hope to have. You will develop a quality improvement (QI) initiative
proposal based on a health issue of professional interest. To create this
proposal, analyze a health care facility’s dashboard metrics and external
benchmark data. Include evidence-based recommendations to improve health care
quality and safety relating to your selected issue. Successful QI initiatives
depend on the support of nursing staff and other members of the
interprofessional team. As a result, a key aspect of your proposal will be the
communication strategies you plan to use to get buy-in from these team members.

Preparation
To develop the QI initiative proposal required for this
assessment, you must analyze a health care facility’s dashboard metrics. Choose
Option 1 or 2 according to your ability to access dashboard metrics for a QI
initiative proposal.

Option 1
If you have access to dashboard metrics related to a QI
initiative proposal of interest to you, complete the following:

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. For example, in a hospital setting,
you would contact the quality management department to obtain the needed data.
It is your responsibility to determine the appropriate resource to provide the
necessary data in your chosen health care setting. If you need help determining
how to obtain the needed information, consult your faculty member for guidance.
Include in your proposal basic information about the health
care setting, size, and specific type of care delivery related to the
identified topic. Please abide by Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance standards.
Option 2
If you do not have access to a dashboard or metrics related
to a QI initiative proposal:

Use the hospital data set provided in Vila Health: Data
Analysis. You will analyze data to identify a health care issue or area of
concern.
Include in your proposal basic information about the health
care setting, size, and specific type of care delivery related to the
identified topic.
Use your current role or assume a role you would like to
have. Choose a quality improvement initiative of professional interest to you.
Your current organization is probably working on quality improvement
initiatives that can be evaluated, so consider starting there.

To develop your proposal you will:

Gather internal and external benchmark data on the subject
of your quality improvement initiative proposal.
Analyze data you have collected.
Make evidence-based recommendations about how to improve
health care quality and safety relating to your chosen issue.
Remember, your initiative’s success depends on the
interprofessional team’s commitment to the QI initiative. Think carefully about
these stakeholders and how you plan to include them in the process, as they
will help you develop and implement ideas and sustain outcomes. Also, remember
how important external stakeholders, such as patients and other health care
delivery organizations, are to the process. As you are preparing this
assessment, consider carefully the communication strategies you will employ to
include the perspectives of all internal and external stakeholders in your
proposal.

The following numbered points 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
proposal addresses all of the content below. You may also want to read the
scoring guide to better understand the performance levels related to each
grading criterion.

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 Vila Health activity.
Explain why data matters. What does data show related to
outcomes?
Analyze the dashboard metrics. What else could the
organization measure to enhance knowledge?
Present dashboard metrics related to the selected issue that
are critical to evaluating outcomes.
Assess the institutional ability to sustain processes or
outcomes.
Evaluate data quality and its implications for
outcomes.&
Determine whether any adverse event or near-miss data needs
to be factored in to outcomes and recommendations.
Examine the nursing process for variations or performance
failures that could lead to an adverse event or near miss.
Identify trends, measures, and information needed to
critically analyze specific outcomes.
Specify desired outcomes related to prevention of adverse
events and near misses.
Analyze which metrics indicate future quality improvement
opportunities.
Develop a QI initiative proposal based on a selected health
issue and supporting data analysis.
Determine benchmarks aligned to existing QI initiatives set
by local, state, or federal health care policies or laws.
Identify any internal existing QI initiatives in your
practice setting or organization related to the selected issue. Explain why
they are insufficient.
Evaluate external national or international QI initiatives
on the selected health issue with existing quality indicators from other
facilities, government agencies, and nongovernmental bodies on quality
improvement.
Define target areas for improvement and the processes to be
modified to improve outcomes.
Propose evidence-based strategies to improve quality.
Analyze challenges that meeting prescribed benchmarks can
pose for a health care organization and the interprofessional team.
Communicate QI initiative proposal based on
interdisciplinary team input to improve patient safety and quality outcomes and
work-life quality.
Define interprofessional roles and responsibilities relating
to data and the QI initiative.
Explain how to ensure all relevant interprofessional roles
are fully engaged in this effort.
Identify how outcomes will be measured and data used to
inform interprofessional team performance related to specific tasks.
Reflect on the impact of the proposed initiative on
work-life quality of the interprofessional team.
Describe how the initiative enhances work-life quality due
to improved strategies supporting efficiency.
Determine communication strategies to promote quality
improvement of interprofessional care.
Identify interprofessional communication strategies that
will help to promote and ensure the success of the QI initiative.
Identify communication models, such as SBAR and CUS, to
include in your proposal.
SBAR stands for Situation, Background, Assessment, and
Recommendation.
CUS stands for “I am Concerned about my resident’s
condition; I am Uncomfortable with my resident’s condition; I believe the
Safety of the resident is at risk.”
Consult this resource for additional information about these
fundamental evidence-based tools to improve interprofessional team
communication for patient handoffs:
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). (n.d.).
Module 2: Communicating change in a resident’s condition.
https://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/systems/long-term-care/resources/facilities/ptsafety/ltcmod2ap.html
Communicate QI initiative proposal in a professional,
effective manner, writing clearly and logically, with correct use of grammar,
punctuation, and spelling.
Integrate relevant sources to support arguments, correctly
formatting citations and references using APA style.
Example Assessment: Refer to QI Initiative Proposal Exemplar
[PDF] for an idea of what an assessment given a proficient or higher rating on
the scoring guide would look like.

Additional Requirements
Submission length: 8-10 typed, double-spaced pages of
content plus title and reference pages.
Font: Times New Roman, 12 point.
Number of references: Cite a minimum of five current
scholarly and/or authoritative sources to support your QI initiative proposal.
Current means no older than 5 years unless a seminal work.
APA formatting: Citations and references need to adhere to
APA style and formatting guidelines. Consult these resources for an APA
refresher:
Evidence and APA.
APA Module.
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). APA style.
https://www.apastyle.org/
Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will
demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring
guide criteria:

Competency 1: Plan quality improvement initiatives in
response to adverse events and near-miss analyses.
Determine whether any adverse event or near-miss data must
be factored in to outcomes and recommendations.
Competency 2: Plan quality improvement initiatives in
response to routine data surveillance.
Develop a QI initiative proposal based on a selected health
issue and supporting data analysis.
Competency 3: Evaluate quality improvement initiatives using
sensitive and sound outcome measures.
Analyze data to identify a health care issue or area of
concern.
Competency 4: Integrate interprofessional perspectives to
lead quality improvements in patient safety, cost effectiveness, and work life
quality.
Communicate QI initiative proposal, based on
interdisciplinary team input, to improve patient safety and quality outcomes
and work-life quality.
Competency 5: Apply effective communication strategies to
promote quality improvement of interprofessional care.
Integrate relevant sources to support arguments, correctly
formatting citations and references using APA style.
Determine evidence-based communication strategies to promote
quality improvement of interprofessional care.
Communicate QI initiative proposal in a professional,
effective manner

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