Cqi Research Paper free essay sample

CQI Research Paper Dawna J. Krause National American University Abstract The focus of this paper is on the study of continuous quality improvement (CQI) as it is applied to the Joint Commission national safety goals. Particularly the use of medications safely goal (NPSG. 03. 06. 01), this goal reads: record and pass along correct information about the client’s medicines. Find out what medications they are taking, compare them to new medications that they are prescribed and make sure the client knows what to take. By having a more up to date electronic medical record and charting system we can improve the client care within the home. Often the information that is needed is back in the office or another nurse is caring for the client than normal would. In this paper it is of importance that we resolve this problem with a more efficient electronic record to better care for our client’s each and every time we are in the home whether our own client or one of a fellow nurse we are helping out. We will write a custom essay sample on Cqi Research Paper or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page CQI Research Paper Overview Improving quality healthcare services requires strengthening various elements of the services we provide for our clients. One of these is how we store and receive information about our clients (AlNotee, 2003). By using health informatics, we can do just that. Health informatics gives us the knowledge and the skills that we need to collect, manage and share information in the healthcare system as well as promote our clients health (AlNotee, 2003). We can use the continuous quality improvement (CQI) model to help us get what we need to improve client care. Introduction In the CQI process, we need to plan, do, study and act on whatever it is we are trying to improve (Statit, 2007). In this case, we are trying to improve our charting system to involve less use of paper and more online charting so that all the pertinent information is right at our fingertips each time we are in a client’s home doing their cares. The first step of the process is plan. In this step, we need to collect data and establish a baseline of our current process. We also need to identify problems and possible causes and prioritize corrective actions. One of the problems is that we spend a lot of extra time when we have to do an admit. We go into the client’s home and fill out what is referred to as an OASIS (Outcome and Assessment Information Set), then we need to go back to the office and plug all the information into the computer. Another problem is that all of our client assessments are charted on paper and when we go to the client’s house the next time, we have nothing to refer to. This can cause problems when we need to refer back to previous week’s information for the client. Lastly, during the admit, one of the quality indicators that we need to do for Medicare is to review the clients medications and determine any drug to drug interactions. These interactions occur when the effects of one drug are altered by administering another drug (Humphries, 2007). We can correct some of these problems by establishing an electronic medical record for each client and incorporating a drug program that will give all the drug to drug interactions when the client’s medication list is entered. One other corrective action that can be taken is that of each nurse would need to have a laptop computer to enter the information into while in the home as well as access all other client records to know their baseline. The next step of the process is â€Å"do†. In this step we need to make the changes to our current system to improve the client care. First of all, we would need to get a few new laptops because not everyone currently has one. The next would be to purchase a computer program and put it into place. This program would have some of our current programs such as haven. This is a program that all the Medicare quality indicators are placed into. Another program that we would need to continue with is Solomon. With this program, we have access to the client service agreements that are scanned in at the home office. These service agreements are from the county in which the client receives care and tells us exactly how much service the client can have in any given month and not have to pay out of pocket. The new program we would need is that for charting or an electronic medical record and also a drug to drug interaction program. One of the new programs components could be that of the e-485. This is an electronic plan of care for home care nurses that promote physician involvement (Callahan, 2007). Once these are all into place it is essential that all the staff is properly trained on how to use the programs.