Data Analysis and Quality Improvement Initiative Proposal

Prepare an 8-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.

Instructions

Use your current role as Director of Nursing. 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 about your quality improvement initiative proposal.

· Analyze the 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 the 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.

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 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, 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.”

· 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.