Quality improvement - Term Paper Example

Download file to see previous pages Based on a similar notion, various studies have been undertaken, which focused on one or the other dimension of the healthcare sector. Contextually, as these studies emphasize revealing certain facts regarding the quality improvement aspects of healthcare practices, its reliability tends to be of great significance. Based on a similar perspective, this paper intends to review two different articles focusing on the healthcare treatments for cardiac patients and the common errors or needs for quality improvement associated with the sector. The first article is titled “A Nurse-Led Heart Failure Clinics Improve Survival and Self-Care Behavior in Patients With Heart Failure” and the second article is titled “Reducing Delay in Seeking Treatment by Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome and Stroke.” When reviewing the selected articles, due significance was provided towards the methodology used in the studies to evaluate the findings obtained through the research. What Were the Targeted Population and the Disease State? Stromberg et al. (2003) targeted a population of 106 patients who were either directed to a follow-up in the usual care section or to the nurse-led heart failure clinic section for further treatment. The cardiac diseases diagnosed among the patients included in the study in terms of sample population were identified by the nurses in the initial stage followed by the deliverance of proper healthcare facilities along with adequate education regarding the self-care and other probable strategies to prevent such heart-failure in the future. It is worth mentioning in this context that the nurse-led heart failure clinic was staffed by specially educated people and experienced nurses who were given the responsibility to make necessary changes, especially in the protocol followed during medications, which was further identified to play a vital role in reducing heart-failure among the patients and thus resulting in quality improvements of the clinic (Stromberg et al., 2003). Similarly, Moser et al. (2006) were focused on the patients with acute coronary syndrome and stroke syndromes as the targeted population. The article by the above authors summarizes the advantages of early treatment to such patients and also explains the number of problems a patient has to face when there is a delay in the treatment. The article also depicts the approach of the current system in reducing this delay in treatment (Moser et al., 2006). Why Was This Important to Study? The study conducted by Stromberg et al. (2003) aimed at explaining the effects of nurse-led heart failure clinic follow-ups in preventing the occurrence of coronary diseases generating a self-care attitude among the patients. The importance of this particular study can be thus justified on the basis that the survival rate of a patient with a record of heart failure as compared to other severe diseases has been relatively low, which is often argued to be effectively curable with a greater degree of self-caring attitude and better awareness regarding the diseases (Sutherland, 2010). Emphasizing the positives of nurse-led clinics, this study thus aimed at critically evaluating the performances of the hospitals which would further render noteworthy inputs in enhancing the ...Download file to see next pagesRead More