Healthcare organizations should always be committed to delivering care that meets all the outcome standards. As a result, progressive assessment of performance gaps is necessary to identify areas that need attention and quality improvement. Due to their critical role in primary care provision, nurses engage in evidence-based practice projects within their healthcare settings or other appropriate settings. Generally, these health projects follow the typical phases of project management, including initiation, planning, execution, evaluation, and controlling. Nurses also need to set SMART goals when implementing EBP projects, showing the application of project management principles in healthcare delivery. The purpose of this paper is to describe the quality improvement practice gap, SMART objectives, and project management activities relevant to the project.
I chose readmissions for my nursing practice quality improvement gaps. According to Hekkert et al. (2019), hospital readmissions hamper the quality of care since they are associated with unfavorable patient outcomes. Readmissions indicate that patients do not receive the deserved care and are at risk of health complications. Upadhyay et al. (2019) further mentioned that readmissions have substantial financial implications since more resources are used to address the same problem. Resources used towards readmissions can be used for quality improvement initiatives. Due to the profound implications of readmissions, process improvement and the use of data are essential. Process improvement includes interventions such as preventing hospital-acquired infections and improving handoff communication. Data-driven care includes utilizing technology to enhance accuracy and communication outcomes. Data for at-risk patients can be used to make special arrangements for their care to reduce delays.
As a critical phase in project management, project planning involves laying out the project’s roadmap. In this case, the requirements of the project to facilitate easy implementation are identified. For instance, tasks and technical requirements are identified during the planning phase. Goals and deliverables are also set during the project planning phase (Moran, 2019). As a result, the two SMART objectives indicate the goals and deliverables to be achieved through the project.
Like projects in other fields, DNP projects are tiring and time-consuming. Whether using the agile approach or other methods, it is important to outline the necessary project management activities to guide decision-making and resources allocation. Tasks are also distributed according to the project’s activities (Moran, 2019). A suitable project management activity suiting my project is outlining the scope of the project. Here, the implication is that specific project goals, tasks, deliverables, costs, and deadlines should be outlined. For instance, an education program to increase healthcare providers’ knowledge of reducing readmission rates should be complete in six months. The other activity suiting my project is identifying appropriate stakeholders. Quanbeck (2019) defined stakeholders as influencers in practice change projects since the outcomes directly affect them. Appropriate stakeholders should be identified, including their roles and expectations. The two activities are critical since outlining the scope facilitates efficient resource allocation while stakeholders provide huge support. For instance, organizations’ management prepares the organization for change and provides venues for organizing meetings.
The project management approach can be used in addressing quality improvement practice gaps. In this case, nursing projects can apply similar project management phases and guidelines. SMART objectives ensure that the nurse looks forward to achieving specific and measurable outcomes. Ambiguity should be avoided by all means. As described above, appropriate project management activities for my project including defining the scope and identifying the stakeholders.