Two Major Components of Health Care Process - Essay Example

A process map provides a visual diagram of a sequence of events that result in a particular outcome. By reviewing the steps and their sequence as to who performs each step, and how efficiently the process works, an organization can often visualize opportunities for improvement. The process mapping tool may also be used to evaluate or redesign a current process. Additional information, including tools and resources to assist an organization that wants to adopt process mapping as an improvement strategy, can be found in the Redesigning a System of Care to Promote QI module.

Specific steps are required to deliver optimal healthcare services. When these steps are tied to pertinent clinical guidelines, then optimal outcomes are achieved. These essential steps are referred to as the critical (or clinical) pathway. The critical pathway steps can be mapped as described above. By mapping the current critical pathway for a particular service, an organization gains a better understanding of what and how care is provided. When an organization compares its map to one that shows optimal care for a service that is congruent with evidence-based guidelines (i.e., idealized critical pathway), it sees other opportunities to provide or improve delivered care.

In this module, improvement strategies are presented based on what has worked for other healthcare organizations. Changes are applied throughout an existing critical pathway so it works more effectively. QI strives to enable an organization to achieve the ideal critical pathway, which allows the care team and patient to interact productively and efficiently to achieve optimal health outcomes.

2 Quality Improvement
The following illustrative example reinforces the benefits of understanding systems and key processes in approaching a performance improvement project:
Focus on Patients
An important measure of quality is the extent to which patients’ needs and expectations are met.
Services that are designed to meet the needs and expectations of patients and their community include:
• Systems that affect patient access
• evidence-based Care provision
• Patient safety
• Support for patient engagement
• Coordination of care with other parts of the larger healthcare system
• Cultural competence, including assessing the health literacy of patients, and patient-centered
communication, and linguistically appropriate care Read More