The implemented quality initiative has helped the hospital to make tremendous milestones in reducing the rates of hospital readmissions. Besides, additional indicators that can be used to enhance further and expand quality outcomes were also evident. For instance, quality improvement can also be guaranteed through standardization of care. Care standardization ensured the other processes involved in patient care within the healthcare system were measured based on set standards and continuously aimed to surpass that specified standard. The other indicator is the Model for Improvement, which can ensure continuous, high-quality patient outcomes. The model also offers an approach for constructing improvement projects and entails two parts where the first part has three questions while the second part is the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle. The first part of the model with the three questions asked what needed to be achieved, how to tell if there is an improvement, and the appropriate changes to guide the improvement. The PDSA cycle was used to comprehend the effects of the changes made prior to implementing them and adopting the healthcare system changes. In my current healthcare system, the PDSA cycle can help the interprofessional team identify the processes, system features, and patients linked with anon-standardized behaviors. This continuous cycle can make the behaviors more aligned, systematic, and easy to understand. For instance, the interprofessional team can incorporate the standard behavior of double-checking medication during admission and discharge and ensured continuity of care while adhering to the hospitalist SNF quality improvement model (Petigara, Krishnamurthy, & Livert, 2017). The other indicator is telehealth technology, which can also expand quality outcomes using biometric and video devices to monitor and provide care remotely, especially to patients with mobility issues (Kruse & Beane, 2018). Moreover, telehealth also permitted face-to-face and real-time interaction between physicians and patients and can lower readmissions.
Overall, quality improvement initiatives are vital if a healthcare institution wants to realize high-quality patient care. Even though many hospitals have quality improvement strategies, they are unlikely to improve the quality of care if there is a lack of communication and interprofessional collaboration. Notably, hospital readmission is still a significant health problem that many hospitals in the US have to deal with to ensure quality patient outcomes. Besides, hospital readmissions can result from poor communication, limited access to physicians, and medication errors attributed to understaffing. More importantly, other improvement indicator protocols like Model for Improvement telehealth and standardization of care can assist in improving and expanding quality outcomes by reducing medication errors.
Braet, A., Weltens, C., & Sermeus, W. (2016). Effectiveness of discharge interventions from hospital to home on hospital readmissions: a systematic review. JBI Evidence Synthesis, 14(2), 106-173
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