BHM320 - Module 5 - SLP - Quality Management and Accountability - Admission/Application Essay Example

Quality Management and Accountability al Affiliation: The Quality Improvement Model (The Care Model) The interview with Professor Lawton R. Burns was particularly insightful into the different and underlying aspects of the quality improvement model employed and taught in the Wharton Center of Health Management and Economics. The Wharton Center of Health Management and Economics employs and teaches a quality improvement model that is founded on four primary pillars (the Care Model);Attention on patientsAttention on the collection, storage and use of informationSystemic and procedural assessment and improvementAttention on the creation of functional teams (Kennedy, Caselli, Berry, & Mishra, 2011)Quality Assurance ProceduresProfessor Burns pointed out the essential procedures that can be used to address quality assurance in the Wharton healthcare program.

Rules and regulations have been set to ensure quality. They aim to ensure medical laboratory competence. They include:Safe work practiceCollection of data and procurement or receipt of specimenSpecimen analysis and result validationDiagnostic proceduresAnalysis and documentation of resultsQuality ManagementPerformance measurement and management (Chasin, Loeb, Schmaltz, & Watcher, 2010)Issues Affecting the Quality of ServicesAll these procedures fall in line with the quality improvement Care Model.

This model is geared towards implementing small changes and keeping track of the effects of these changes so as to ensure that the quality improvement performs at its maximum potential relative to the underlying factors such as technology, availability and efficiency of equipment, the availability of skilled and trained labor. These are the fundamental elements that influence and impact the quality of services as they all translate to the costs associated with sustaining an efficient quality improvement model (James & Savitz, 2011).

Quality MeasuresAccountability is assessed by the ability of staff and healthcare personnel to effectively apply skills, knowledge and perceptions of the different individuals so as to create and sustain lasting solutions to underlying and identified systemic and procedural problems. Such procedures include;An official quality vision statementAn official QI team made up of diverse selections from the employeesA breakdown of the program’s structureSpecific goals, targets and milestonesReferencesChasin, M., Loeb, J., Schmaltz, S.

, & Watcher, R. (2010). Accountability Measures - Using Measurement to Promote Quality Improvement. The New England Journal of Medicine, 363(7), 683-688.James, B., & Savitz, L. (2011). How Intermountain Trimmed Health Care Costs Through Robust Quality Improvement Efforts. Health Affairs, 30(6), 1185-1191.Kennedy, D., Caselli, R., Berry, L., & Mishra, P. (2011). A Roadmap for Improving Healthcare Service Quality. Journal of Healthcare Management, 56(6), 385-400.