Quality Improvement Proposal
Introduction
Quality improvement initiatives within any healthcare facility are intended to enhance
patient outcomes. According to Barnhorst, Martinez and Gershengorn (2015), such initiatives
play a vital role in the prevention of medical errors which have become a major quality concern
within most healthcare facilities. Applying Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) helps large hospital
corporations to reduce medical errors to their patients (Barnhorst et al., 2015). Formulating and
implementing safety policies ensures that all medical practitioners adhere to the rules thus
avoiding medical errors. Medical errors may be prevented through proper collection and storage
of patient data and implementing change initiatives (Barnhorst et al., 2015). This proposal sheds
light on medical errors in a large medical corporation and recommends a quality improvement
initiative in this regard.
Overview of Medical Errors
Medical errors occur when healthcare practitioners make mistakes that result in physical
or psychological injury to the patient. According to Keers, Williams, Cooke and Ashcroft (2013),
medical errors are preventable blunders that occur as a result of lack of effective communication
between medical practitioners. Other causes of medical errors include stress, improper
documentation, and management of patient records, and inexperienced clinicians. Medical errors
occur from failure to adhere to five rights which include the right medicine, patient, route, time,
and the right dosage (Keers et al., 2013). These types of blunders are a serious concern as they
are the third cause of death in the U.S alone (Barnhorst et al., 2015).
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Quality Improvement Initiative
To prevent medical errors within this facility, the primary Quality Improvement (QI)
initiative in this regard involves restructuring the communication framework to promote
effective communication among healthcare practitioners. According to Wang et al. (2015), there
are different QI initiatives that include studying peer-reviewed databases, proper documentation
of patient records in form of Electronic Health Records (EHR), and effective communication
among healthcare practitioners, the patients, and family. QI is highly recommended to prevent
medical errors thus reducing harm and mortality that can be avoided. Furthermore, avoiding
medical errors is important in reducing legal issues in the form of penalties that may arise as a
result of a patient’s death. The hospital’s reputation can also be damaged as a result of medical
errors thus leading to a shortage in healthcare practitioners (Wang et al., 2015). It is expected
that when healthcare practitioners adhere to the proposed QI initiatives, there will be a reduction
in adverse events hence improving quality care, nurse-patient satisfaction, and positive outcome
(Wang et al., 2015). Effective communication initiative will involve evaluating medical errors in
a span of one month and monitoring how many medical errors happen prior to the
implementation of the QI and after implementing.
Literature Review
Different researches have proved that effective communication among healthcare
practitioners is crucial in preventing medical errors. There are different forms of communication
including verbal and written information that must be conveyed properly to avoid medical errors.
Research according to Vermeir et al. (2015) that needed to find out the importance of effective
communication on patients safety indicated that effective communication helps nurses avoid
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patient dissatisfaction and discontinuity of care. Furthermore, the research argued that
documented information is important in keeping medical records to promote patient safety. The
research is in line with my study which needs to understand the importance of effective
communication in preventing medical errors. Another research by Yürür, Valdez and Yurur
(2018) that needed to find out the reasons for medical errors stated that effective communication
and collaboration between clinicians and the patient’s family is an essential initiative to prevent
medical errors. The authors’ results were that effective communication is an essential factor to
ensure patient safety and prevent medical errors. A paper by Shitu, Hassan, Aung, Tuan
Kamaruzaman and Musa (2018), which focused on showing how ineffective communication can
lead to medical errors, indicated that proper communication among healthcare practitioners and
the patients is importa