The Use of Process and Outcome Data in the Delivery of Safe, Quality Nursing Care in Health Institutions - Essay Example

Written Assessment Name Institution The use of process and outcome data in the delivery of safe, quality nursing care in health institutions Introduction Safe and quality nursing care in health institutions is a necessity for every individual. The quality of health that is provided has impacts on a patient and the overall costs. Quality measures give insights into the quality of care that individuals receive in a setting. The quality measures include process and outcome measures. The process and outcome measures use data to give insight into quality of care patients receive. The process data is useful in assessing a health care service on behalf of the patient. Such measures are useful in assessing adherence to clinical guidelines. Largely it is possible for the process measures to identify areas that need improvement. Outcome data measure results from health care. Such measures can be useful in assessing the quality of care as influenced by care services. The outcome-based measures ensure quality care through multiple processes of care. Examples of outcome data measures include number of patients re-admitted to hospitals and the mortality rates. Such measures can be useful in determining areas that require improvement to improve the quality and safety of care that is given to patients (Zell, 2010). From the ancient times, the use of process and outcome data to deliver safe and quality nursing care in health institutions is evident. There exist strengths and weaknesses of outcome and process data in delivery of quality care. Healthcare is one determinant of health but there are other factors such as nutrition, lifestyle, environment, and poverty. Process measures are sensitive to differences in quality of care and they are measures of quality directly. Outcome measures reflect all aspects of care inclusive of technical expertise and operator skill, which is difficult to measure. Standardized data collection and adjustment on the systems can improve the efforts of outcome data on quality health. Outcomes data management is like a technology that is meant to help patients and medical providers to make rational medical care choices that are based on the effects of the choices to the patient’s life. The technology contains a language of health outcomes, national database that contains clinical and financial information, and the health outcomes. The health outcomes estimate the relation between health outcomes and money. The outcome data draws from techniques such as great reliance on guidelines and standards, systematic interval measures of a patient, pooled clinical data and results that are appropriate from the database and has been analyzed to meet concerns of every decision maker. Outcomes data has relevance to emergency medicine. There is a need to relate the patient’s outcomes to the care they receive. Assessors of outcome data have referred to death, disease, disability, discomfort, and dissatisfaction. Outcome data extends value through medical outcomes, patient satisfaction, functional status, and cost (Loeb, 2013). The measurements of clinical performance include process and outcome data measures which are in high demand in today’s healthcare. The payers require information based on clinical performance in order to make decisions and track payments to health care providers. The healthcare professionals require information on performance in order to develop cost effective systems and high quality care. The researchers need information on processes and outcome data to be able to develop policy and implement it. Increase in demand for clinical performance leads to reinforcement of the need for healthcare providers to be aware of the measurements systems that are in place. Physicians need the process and outcome data to understand the clinical entities that are being measured, the limitations of statistical factors and the effects of clinical pertinence. The process and outcome data is useful in development of clinical performance to ensure it is valid and reliable (Gray, 2006). Outcome is quantified by structure and process of the healthcare. Structure refers to organizational structure or physical plant. Processes are interventions that are carried out by healthcare professionals to result to an outcome. Some of the processes include immunization of children while outcomes are the results of interactions of the patient and healthcare professionals. An example of outcome measure is the mortality associated with diagnoses. Process data is used in measurement of performance within a healthcare unit. The process measures are easy to construct since they need less data collection procedures and are easy to analyze. The clinicians and non-clinicians easily understand the process data and thus easily use them to improve the quality of health. Some of the measures of process data include health plan employer data information set (HEDIS). Improvement on processes can be proven through use of random clinic trials, which is important to ensure continuous improvement on health care. Implementing quality health improvement programs reduce variation while enhancing patient care. Process data is used to improve patient care, for example, the efforts put in place to maximize the number of patients who receive thrombolytic agents and reducing the time used in administering the agents (Aslam, 2013). Developments of process data measures are easier than development of outcome data measures. However, there are steps that must be followed to ensure precision of every process measure. The steps include identifying the processes of interest, reviewing the evidence available that supports the process, developing a process indicator, developing a data collecting system that is standardized, and generating a process indicator. Process data considers factors such as the populations that are cared for, populations of interest, the processes being examined, and the possible opportunities for improvement. Through using process indicators, the health care delivery is measured. Therefore, the strength existing between the association of process indicator and outcome can be examined. A grading system evaluates the strength of guidelines in process measures. Process measures that are supported by large and well-controlled clinical trials are giving an ‘A’. A ‘B’ is given to the process measures that have support from small clinical trials or observational studies. A ‘C’ rating is given to guidelines that are developed from opinions of an expert but have little scientific evidence (Westmore, 2012). To develop process data indicators it is important to define the eligible populations and develop an abstraction tool for data collection to ensure standardization of data collected thus ensuring the reliability and validity of the health care organization. The outcome data measures are useful in examining discrete and patient end -points such as length of stay, readmission, mortality, and morbidity. When outcomes are used in measurement of performance of the health care systems, developing the adjustment system that isolates contributions made by the system to the outcome is necessary. For example in cancer mortality with age, risk adjustment is carried out. This is a method used in adjusting the outcome such as cancer mortality for the risks of age. Risk adjustment is capable of removing effects of age, which is the confounder, on the outcome of interest. The risk adjustment is important when the consumers and payers use the outcome data measures to make purchasing decisions. An example of a risk adjustment measure is the New York Department of Health outcome model of measurement for coronary surgery. The model removes contributions of the patient’s severity of disease and other co morbid conditions to the outcome, which is mortality. On removal of the patient factors that affect the survival rate, the rest of the data shows the contributions of the practitioners to survival of the patient. However, there are concerns on data sources, the adjustment models, and risks of the measurements. However, outcome data measurements of quality health care lead to good conclusions on the health care providers and systems (Jordan, 2014). The use of process and outcome data ensures patient satisfaction. Even though the hospital needs, physician needs, and payer needs are met, without patient satisfaction, healthcare cannot be said to be of quality. Data gathered is useful in ensuring patient satisfaction and for the organization to be able to gauge itself in the quality of care they provide. From studies carried out it is evident that when a patient is not satisfied he or she will inform up to ten people about their dissatisfaction. Therefore, an institution that wishes to expand requires ensuring patient satisfaction. Use of process and outcome data to evaluate patient satisfaction is essential to come up with innovative projects. Patient oriented outcome data is a focal point of health care and it redirects the health indicators. The outcome data changes how clinical decisions are made, and make suggestions on new approaches on allocation of health resources. The use of process and outcome data in rehabilitation medicine is a common practice and is often stimulated by the need to reduce expenditures and to pay more attention to the patient outcomes and their health status. Through this, there is development of tools used in measuring quality and safety in healthcare and the functional status (Gillespie, 2014). Process and outcome data has evolved the standard means of assessing clinical outcomes and the quality of healthcare provided. Quality of health care provided is measured by the physical, social, and mental functioning of the patients and the process data consists of all these measures. With outcome data, physicians recognize the importance of expanding assessment on patients so that global function and quality of life is included. The need has been created by the rare incorporation of standardized health status assessments since it is difficult to obtain expensive measures (Kliethermes, 2014). The use of process and outcome data sheds light on the measures of health that are based on new paradigm. The measures are designed for clinical settings to document the natural history of disease while evaluating how effective treatment in healthcare is managed. The measures help in reaching a definition of health that has been agreed upon and in determining components of health status. The data is also useful in dealing with many measurements of an entity, creating indices, changing routines, and interpreting health status measures within a healthcare setting. Process and outcome data enable integration of health assessment into a busy clinical practice. Integration of health assessment instruments is very useful since it helps in screening for any functional problems, monitoring disease progression, improves doctor-patient communication, and in ensuring access of good quality care. The health assessment measures are also useful in patient care directly since it is important to monitor patient changes over a period to check for any detectable differences. When evaluative instruments are used, then quality and safe healthcare is assured. The health status measures put in place are useful in assurance of quality health care (Basinga, 2013). With use of process and outcome data, it is clear that the medical records are accurate and certain. The data ensures that the clinical measures are focused upon and that they are effective. Patient-centered outcome data is defined as the health status that is perceived by a patient. Health processes and outcome data is part of a CQI cycle that measures the status of a patient, develops treatment plans, and monitors a patient’s progress to ensure improvement on the structure and health care quality improvement. Use of process and outcome data in clinical research is also important to improve in quality and safety in health care (Zomorodi, 2014). Both process and Outcome data reflect direct healthcare costs and the indirect social costs. Healthcare costs and outcomes help in understanding the importance of cost-effective analysis to ensure promotion of quality health in healthcare facilities. It is possible to analyze the cost utility, which includes the quality of healthcare offered. Evaluation of process and outcome data involves evaluating different healthcare interventions such as effectiveness, efficacy, efficiency, availability, and distribution. Process data assesses the activities that the healthcare professionals carry out in order to deliver quality services. Such activities in most cases are guided by clinical guidelines that are evidence based. The data provides a look at the performed activities of the professionals and relates the processes to outcomes. With this data changes that can lead to improvement of the outcomes are developed. Process measures are mostly useful in improving quality of health care given through improving incentive programs (Mackey, 2011). Process and outcome data are useful as quality improvement strategies by measuring the quality of health care provided and its safety. The availability of data on process and outcome measures acts as a research link in the nursing profession. The quality of nursing care is related to assessments that are intended for optimization of patient outcomes. Quality of nursing care is directly linked to safety issues such as accuracy of administering medication. Safe care entails monitoring of patients, which is possible through execution of assessments as presented by process and outcome data. Quality nursing care goes hand in hand with safety of the patients and therefore process and outcome data plays a role in monitoring quality of nursing care. The measures demand for system and professional accountability to make reforms on healthcare systems that do not provide quality healthcare to patients. For a long time process and outcome, measures have been useful in contributing towards high quality care and in conducting research on ways to provide better safe health care to patients. In all nursing care settings, standardized process and outcome data facilitates comparison of health care quality. The data is useful in optimizing safe and quality health care through ensuring needs of the patients are readily met and giving the healthcare setting a chance to plan for the future (Hasnain-Wynia, 2013). Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that process and outcome data is useful in fostering quality and safe healthcare in institutions. Process and outcome data creates opportunities for improvement on efficiency, lessening of waste, and provision of reasonable of quality care to ensure satisfaction to the patients as well as the physicians. With continued use of process and outcome data, we should expect rapid growth on the health sector resulting from patient satisfaction. The data enables continued research in healthcare setting. It is through process and outcome data that development and promotion of standardized forms of clinical step to provide care happens. Consequently, it helps in establishing bases for dissemination of data in clinical forms to ensure quality treatment is offered. High quality research in nursing setting is carried out using process and outcome data as a platform to identify important areas that need to be researched. The data helped in assessing effects of interventions, provide feedback on the effects to the researchers, practitioners, and patients. Only using this data that an emphasis on conducting, and dissemination of quality outcomes is made. The outcome got from any healthcare institution determines the quality of care that the institutions offer. The process and outcome data establishes a grant program for individuals and researchers to address aspects of the healthcare institutions that are preventing delivery of quality healthcare and ensuring safety. Using the data, institutions make changes towards achieving goals on delivery of quality patient care. It is a basis for extensive research to be carried out on how safe and quality care can be delivered (Kelly, 2014). References Aslam, H. (2013). Benefits of psychosocial intervention and continuity of care by child and family health nurses in the pre- and postnatal period: process evaluation. Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 69(8), 1850-1861 Basinga, P. (2013). Approaches to ensuring and improving quality in the context of health system strengthening: a cross-site analysis of the five African Health Initiative Partnership programs. BMC Health Services Research, 13(Suppl 1), 1-11. Gillespie, C. (2014). Unannounced standardized patients: a promising method of assessing patient-centered care in your health care system. BMC Health Services Research, 14(1), 1-16. doi:10.1186/1472-6963-14-157 Gray, D. (2006). Building on a foundation: strategies, processes and outcomes of health promotion in primary health care settings. Primary Health Care Research & Development (Sage Publications, Ltd.), 7(3), 269-277. Hasnain-Wynia, R. (2013). Hospital Commitment to Community Orientation and Its Association With Quality of Care and Patient Experience. Journal Of Healthcare Management, 58(4), 277-289. Jordan, L. (2014). Quality and Performance Measurement: National Efforts to Improve Quality of Care Through Measurement Development. AANA Journal, 82(3), 184-187. Kelly, L. (2014). Improving patient safety and quality of care for patients receiving electroconvulsive therapy. Mental Health Practice, 17(5), 35-39. Kliethermes, M. (2014). Outcomes evaluation: Striving for excellence in ambulatory care pharmacy practice. American Journal Of Health-System Pharmacy, 71(16), 1375-1386. Loeb, J. M. (2013). High-Reliability Health Care: Getting There from Here. Milbank Quarterly, 91(3), 459-490. Mackey, T. (2011). Quality and Safety in Medical Care: What Does the Future Hold?. Archives Of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, 135(11), 1425-1431. Westmore, K. (2012). Systems and processes that ensure high quality care. Nursing Management - UK, 19(6), 18-20. Zell, B. L. (2010). A Healthy Bottom Line: Healthy Life Expectancy as an Outcome Measure for Health Improvement Efforts. Milbank Quarterly, 88(1), 30-53. Zomorodi, M. (2014). A New Mindset for Quality and Safety: The QSEN Competencies Redefine Nurses' Roles in Practice. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 41(1), 15-72. Read More