Safety and Quality in Healthcare - Essay Example

SAFETY AND QUALITY IN HEALTHCARE (Student’s name) (Student’s number) (Institutional Affiliation) Abstract There in need to provide quality and safe healthcare in the hospital systems. Quality healthcare is the one provided to the patient satisfaction level while quality refers to the care given that leads to the desired outcomes (Higher rate of satisfaction with staff communication, 2013). It has to be cost effective and increase the productivity of healthcare providers. This will provide increased encouragement and standardization of work processes. Quality and safety also ensures significant increase in profits and market expansion. Therefore quality care and safety should be continuous, effective and timely. This is in most cases made possible if there is effective communication across all disciplines in the healthcare system. There are various nursing models that favor enhanced nurse communication with other professionals about patient care. Research has to be carried out to find the most effective that ensures both increased quality and safety of patients. Communication as the main part in patient care leads to reduced mortality rates, reduced hospital stay and reduced cost of hospital bills besides enhanced satisfaction on the side of healthcare providers. What is the main purpose of the study? The main purpose of the study was to compare and find out by evaluating the similarities and differences of the two nursing care models; patient allocation (PA) model which was the one in use and the shared care nursing (SCN) model which was the one to be implemented and adopted based on the research outcome, while focusing on their outcomes of nurses’ perception on enhancement of the interdisciplinary communication and communication within nursing discipline in the general medical and surgical ward setup (Fernandez R, 2010). Increased interdisciplinary communication and communication within the nursing discipline in the hospital set up while providing patient care shows increment in quality of care of the patient. Hypothetically, shared care nursing (SCN) which involved working as a team of nurses in provision of care to the patient was thought to raise and multidisciplinary communication and communication within the nursing discipline as compared to patient allocation model (PA) where one specific nurse is allocated a single patient to provide holistic care. Another factor that was aimed at is the acceptability of the shared care model by all disciplines involved in the patient care and the impact it has on the quality and safety of the patient. How does the purpose of the study relate to quality and safety in healthcare, and how does the author/s justify investigating this issue? Efficient communication among the hospital staff involved in provision of patient care leads to increased collaboration and it is the fundamental effective and fruitful way of working in the healthcare system. It greatly contributes to client safety. Interdisciplinary communication and communication with other nurses is specifically important when communicating alteration of patient condition whether positive or negative, response of the patient and jointly developing strategies of care of the patient. Therefore good communication, proper interaction of multidisciplinary hospital staff with appropriate governance, respect and shared accountability play are the factors in increased healthcare system productivity (Higher rate of satisfaction with staff communication, 2013). Inefficient communication between healthcare provides is the main cause of otherwise preventable patient harm and loss of lives. Undependable communication cycle leads to uncalled for discontinuity in patient care that usually leads to prolonged hospital stay, waste of resources, and resistance of patient to some drugs or loss of life. Therefore it is necessary to develop strategies and solutions to the preventable communication problem to counter its effects. One of these strategies is development of new effective nursing care models that increase interdisciplinary communication and contribution in the patient care. Hypothetically such as shared care nursing (SCN), as opposed to patient allocation model (PA). With proper communication, there is reduced replication of activities in the facility. This effective communication can be made possible my improving the intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary attitudes among the staff involved in providing care. Change of attitude towards one another shows appreciation and marked level of respect towards one another. It too improves interaction and collaboration. Open channels and trust among the staff makes it easy for the patient to express themselves. The information obtained can be used to improve the care through all cadre collaboration. Honesty improves trust, therefore education on communication and social skills have to be considered in the research and appropriate educative forums developed to ensure the patient care are collaboratively enhanced. What are the main findings in the article? How do these findings relate to quality and safety in healthcare? Shared care nursing was found to have increased interdisciplinary participation and communication. It showed rise in timeliness of communication, open-mindedness, and increase in appropriate leadership skills among team members and improvement in relationship with other wards (Fernandez R, 2010). There was also effectiveness of recruiting and retaining nursing staff which resulted in increased quality of care, problem solving skills and Nurse Unit Manager budgeting authority at baseline. On the other hand with patient allocation model approach, there was no statistically significant difference in openness in communication, uncoordinated channel of communication among the hospital staff which could not allow development of leadership skills. In aspects such as communication timeliness, nursing leadership, ward relations with other wards, effectiveness at recruiting and retaining nurses, absolute technical quality of care, problem-solving. conflict strategy among nurses and Nurse Unit Manager budgeting authority at baseline, it was essentially the same statistically but in relation with physician and nurse response, all these factors showed a slight improvement in shared care nursing. The rating of effectiveness of communication with other staff in terms of perception was found to be high among the physicians in the older patient allocation model as opposed to the response from the nursing staff who perceived lack of effective communication between them and the physicians. Effectiveness in communication may be affected by such factors as gender, difference in responsibilities of patient care among medical and nursing staff, different expectations of communication standards by the staff, level of educational qualification and background of the participants and respective procedures that should be used in communication with staff of other disciplines. What recommendations are made by the author/s for nursing practice? How do these recommendations relate to quality and safe care? The authors provide recommendation on any future research that concerns investigation of the effectiveness of the SCN model in interdisciplinary communication and communication within the nursing staff in the general and surgical wards to involve a considerably large sample number of nurses in the research. There also could be inclusion of the nurses’ designation. Age and duration of working in hospital environment while providing nursing care that involved communication with other nurses and interdisciplinary communication. The adoption of longitudinal research design that involves a follow up of about two years may be efficient and effective in capturing the transformation in communication skills and retention of staff that takes place in the transition period. In the subsequent researches, the large sample size of staff that will be involved in the research should have a varying composition in skills. There should be those with high experience in patient allocation model and those new in the field of nursing (the recently qualified) .Communication skills training that could be continuous may be necessary for duration of one to two years after the implementation of the new nursing model to ensure its effectiveness. This is to enable the staff to be aware of the requirements of the new model and the expectations that will contribute to increased quality and safe patient care. Training programs that are effective should also be put in place to facilitate working as a team in both interdisciplinary interaction and within the nursing staff. Nurse Managers should play a key role in ensuring successful transition phase by moderating the environment and involvement in interdisciplinary conflict resolution which is evident in both models of care. Harmonization and adoption of new methods which can be as a result of recommendation from staff can be done to improve the model to cater for everyone’s needs and make communication to be effective. Nursing managers are also supposed to use varying multiple models of care to support communication in patient related issues among the hospital staff both interdisciplinary and within the nurse staff. Works Cited Fernandez R, T. D. (2010). Interdisciplinary communication in general medical and surgical wards using two different models of nursing care delivery. Journal of Nursing Management , 265-274. Higher rate of satisfaction with staff communication. (2013). Nursing Standard.27 , 8-9. Read More