Measuring performance standards - Research Paper Example

This paper will discuss the hospital’s patient falls, hospital acquired infection, and patient satisfaction regarding data collection. It includes other examples of data management and display tools in performance and quality improvement and their use in healthcare. Patient Falls The term ‘fall’ of a patient describes “a person coming to rest inadvertently on the ground or at a lower level” (Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, 2007, p. 2). Whether the resulted injury is mild or severe, health institutions recognize how it affects the patients and could lead to other complications, aside from the current illness the patient possesses.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (2010), falls represented nearly 47% of all safety reports and aggregated events in 2003 comprising about 11% of all root cause analyses. The statistics is relatively high and consequently calls for immediate prevention. In order to properly monitor and prevent the patient falls, the hospital needs data designed to assess this problem. According to the Veterans Health Administration National Center for Patient Safety (n.d.), there are three simple rules to carry out proper measures: (a) the data should contain a numerator and a denominator to determine the ratio of patient falls and persons to assist intervention; (b) the data should “specify the time in which the information [is] collected” (p. 70), making the range of time for each set of data equal, which is one of the factors of accuracy; (c) the data should mention measurement strategy (as cited in Joint Commission Resources, Inc [JCR], 2006).

Appropriate strategies are a vital part of a reliable patient falls’ data (as cited in Joint Commission Resources, Inc [JCR], 2006). Furthermore, a reliable data is a product of a long-term research. For example, Morse’s (2008) research about patient falls where it took her “32 years to collect enough data” (p. xi). Therefore, a data collection that ranges in weeks would not be reliable, but consistent data collection for a period of predetermined years would provide a solid base to design interventional strategies.

Hospital Acquired Infection Hospital acquired infection is one of the dangers originated by poor sanitation of hospital equipments and improper use and disposal of hospital waste. The World Health Organization (2002) stated, “infections acquired in health care settings are among the major causes of death and increased morbidity among hospitalized patients” (p. 1). Since these infections affect both developed and underdeveloped countries, all medical centers should be aware of its prevention.

The American Hospital Association Resource Center (2010) recorded about 42,000 adult patients acquired infection during their hospital stay. It is, then, reasonable to apply appropriate measures to prevent such incident. Prevalence and incidence data provide the best way to monitor hospital-acquired infection. The data should contain all the records that reported incidents of infection to assure reliability. In that way, there will be accurate surveillance about the improvement of the hospital with regard to these cases.

In some countries, including the United States, data reporting of hospital-acquired infection is mandatory and reported on a quarterly basis (Horton & Parker, 2002). Patient Survey Satisfaction One of the determinants of the quality of service is patient satisfaction. As Shelton (2000) explained,