HLT 362 Assignment: Quality Improvement Proposal

As we begin this session, I would like to take this opportunity to clarify my expectations for this course:

Please note that GCU Online weeks run from Thursday (Day 1) through Wednesday (Day 7).

 

Course Room Etiquette:

• It is my expectation that all learners will respect the thoughts and ideas presented in the discussions.
• All postings should be presented in a respectful, professional manner. Remember – different points of view add richness and depth to the course!

 

Office Hours:

• My office hours vary so feel free to shoot me an email at Kelly.[email protected] or my office phone is 602.639.6517 and I will get back to you within one business day or as soon as possible.
• Phone appointments can be scheduled as well. Send me an email and the best time to call you, along with your phone number to make an appointment.
• I welcome all inquiries and questions as we spend this term together. My preference is that everyone utilizes the Questions to Instructor forum. In the event your question is of a personal nature, please feel free to post in the Individual Questions for Instructor forum I will respond to all posts or emails within 24 or sooner.

 

Late Policy and Grading Policy

Discussion questions:

• I do not mark off for late DQ’s.
•  I would rather you take the time to read the materials and respond to the DQ’s in a scholarly way, demonstrating your understanding of the materials.
• I will not accept any DQ submissions after day 7, 11:59 PM (AZ Time) of the week.
• Individual written assignments – due by 11:59 PM AZ Time Zone on the due dates indicated for each class deliverable.

Assignments:

• Assignments turned in after their specified due dates are subject to a late penalty of -10%, each day late, of the available credit. Please refer to the student academic handbook and GCU policy.
• Any activity or assignment submitted after the due date will be subject to GCU’s late policy
• Extenuating circumstances may justify exceptions, which are at my sole discretion. If an extenuating circumstance should arise, please contact me privately as soon as possible.
• No assignments can be accepted for grading after midnight on the final day of class.
• All assignments will be graded in accordance with the Assignment Grading Rubrics

Participation

• Participation in each week’s Discussion Board forum accounts for a large percentage of your final grade in this course.
• Please review the Course Syllabus for a comprehensive overview of course deliverables and the value associated with each.
• It is my expectation that each of you will substantially contribute to the course discussion forums and respond to the posts of at least three other learners.
• A substantive post should be at least 200 words. Responses such as “great posts” or “I agree” do not meet the active engagement expectation.
• Please feel free to draw on personal examples as you develop your responses to the Discussion Questions but you do need to demonstrate your understanding of the materials.
• I do expect outside sources as well as class materials to formulate your post.
• APA format is not necessary for DQ responses, but I do expect a proper citation for references.
• Please use peer-related journals found through the GCU library and/or class materials to formulate your answers. Do not try to “Google” DQ’s as I am looking for class materials and examples from the weekly materials.
• I will not accept responses that are from Wikipedia, Business dictionary.com, or other popular business websites. You will not receive credit for generic web searches – this does not demonstrate graduate-level research.
• Stay away from the use of personal pronouns when writing. As a graduate student, you are expected to write based on research and gathering of facts. Demonstrating your understanding of the materials is what you will be graded on. You will be marked down for lack of evidence to support your ideas.

Plagiarism

• Plagiarism is the act of claiming credit for another’s work, accomplishments, or ideas without appropriate acknowledgment of the source of the information by including in-text citations and references.
• This course requires the utilization of APA format for all course deliverables as noted in the course syllabus.
• Whether this happens deliberately or inadvertently, whenever plagiarism has occurred, you have committed a Code of Conduct violation.
• Please review your LopesWrite report prior to final submission.
• Every act of plagiarism, no matter the severity, must be reported to the GCU administration (this includes your DQ’s, posts to your peers, and your papers).

Plagiarism includes:

• Representing the ideas, expressions, or materials of another without due credit.
• Paraphrasing or condensing ideas from another person’s work without proper citation and referencing.
• Failing to document direct quotations without proper citation and referencing.
• Depending upon the amount, severity, and frequency of the plagiarism that is committed, students may receive in-class penalties that range from coaching (for a minor omission), -20% grade penalties for resubmission, or zero credit for a specific assignment. University-level penalties may also occur, including suspension or even expulsion from the University.
• If you are at all uncertain about what constitutes plagiarism, you should review the resources available in the Student Success Center. Also, please review the University’s policies about plagiarism which are covered in more detail in the GCU Catalog and the Student Handbook.
• We will be utilizing the GCU APA Style Guide 7th edition located in the Student Success Center > The Writing Center for all course deliverables.

LopesWrite

• All course assignments must be uploaded to the specific Module Assignment Drop Box, and also submitted to LopesWrite every week.
• Please ensure that your assignment is uploaded to both locations under the Assignments DropBox. Detailed instructions for using LopesWrite are located in the Student Success Center.

Assignment Submissions

• Please note that Microsoft Office is the software requirement at GCU.
• I can open Word files or any file that is saved with a .rtf (Rich Text Format) extension. I am unable to open .wps files.
• If you are using a “.wps” word processor, please save your files using the .rtf extension that is available from the drop-down box before uploading your files to the Assignment Drop Box.

Grade of Incomplete

• The final grade of Incomplete is granted at the discretion of the instructor; however, students must meet certain specific criteria before this grade accommodation is even possible to consider.
• The grade of Incomplete is reserved for times when students experience a serious extenuating circumstance or a crisis during the last week of class which prevents the completion of course requirements before the close of the grading period. Students also must pass the course at the time the request is made.
• Please contact me personally if you are having difficulties in meeting course requirements or class deadlines during our time together. In addition, if you are experiencing personal challenges or difficulties, it is best to contact the Academic Counselor so that you can discuss the options that might be available to you, as well as each option’s academic and financial repercussions.

Grade Disputes

• If you have any questions about a grade you have earned on an individual assignment or activity, please get in touch with me personally for further clarification.
• While I have made every attempt to grade you fairly, on occasion a misunderstanding may occur, so please allow me the opportunity to learn your perspective if you believe this has occurred. Together, we should be able to resolve grading issues on individual assignments.
• However, after we have discussed individual assignments’ point scores, if you still believe that the final grade you have earned at the end of the course is not commensurate with the quality of work you produced for this class, there is a formal Grade Grievance procedure which is outlined in the GCU Catalog and Student Handbook.

A Sample Answer For the Assignment: HLT 362 Assignment: Quality Improvement Proposal

Title: HLT 362 Assignment: Quality Improvement Proposal

Quality improvement is a framework that is applied to systematically enhance the ways healthcare processes are delivered to the patients. Quality improvement possesses characteristics that are measurable and controllable. In addition, the measurements can be analyzed and improved. Quality improvements involve dynamic efforts aimed at achieving stable and predictable process outcomes. In other words, the whole process often tend to reduce process variation and improve general outcome of the treatment process for the benefit of the patients, healthcare providers, and the entire organization. Attaining a sustainable quality improvement requires continuous commitment from the entire stakeholders, especially the top level management. Undertaking quality improvement involves research processes aimed at highlighting areas of improvement and the processes that need to be undertaken for the successful completion. Also, quality improvement, just like the research process requires constant communication with the stakeholder to create awareness of the possible changes in the operational processes. Most healthcare institutions are always engaged in the quality improvement processes to ensure efficiency and quality outcome in the operational processes.             

Treatment Errors 

In my organization, treatment and medication errors are some of the challenges that impede effective patient outcome. From the data, there are increasing cases of medication errors that leads to further complication among the patients. Medication and treatment errors are characterized by the wrong prescriptions of drugs, errors in surgical processes, the application of wrong data when managing the patients, misdiagnosis, the provision of improper doses, provision of unauthorized drugs, giving drugs to the wrong patients, and following incorrect routine of drug administration. Treatment and medication errors often cause high number of deaths and increased complications among the patients. In my healthcare organization, there are always numerous cases of medication and treatment errors, as a result, nurses and the entire healthcare professionals are always advised to be more accurate while undertaking treatment processes. In other words, they are always advised to adhere to the quality measures and the organization’s standardized procedures of work. 

Reducing treatment and medication errors has always been the priority of my organization. The management has always opted for quality improvement processes geared towards reducing treatment and medication errors. Healthcare institutions are always characterized by the treatment and medication errors; this follows failures by the healthcare professionals to adhere to the treatment guidelines or confusion caused by the nurse burnout. Also, the low nurse-to-patient ration may lead to the treatment and medication errors. With many patients being admitted to the hospitals, healthcare professionals may become overwhelmed with the increased roles; a scenario that may lead to wrong prescription, administration of wrong drugs, and failure to administer treatment or drugs at the stipulated time.     

Reasons for Quality Improvement Initiatives 

Quality improvement initiatives are required in the treatment processes and medical prescription to enhance effective patient outcomes. Also, quality improvement is needed in this area to reduce the number of deaths resulting from the medication errors. The hospital is experiencing increasing mortalities especially among the infants due to medication errors and wrong treatment approaches. Also, there are always complications arising from the cesarean processes. As a result, the healthcare management ought to develop quality improvement strategies to ensure the reduction in the number of complications associated with the operational processes. Quality improvement is also required to reduce the rate of infant mortalities. With the quality improvement processes, there are high expectations of improved patient outcomes and a drastic reduction in the rate of infant mortalities. The organization also anticipates the reduction in the number of healthcare acquired infections and complications. Some of the quality improvement approaches may include continuous training of medical professionals to adhere to the stipulated quality standards and policies.     

How the Results of Previous Research Demonstrate Support for the Quality Improvement 

There are previous research processes that demonstrate support for the quality improvements to reduce treatment and medication errors. These researches incorporated the ideal strategies in ensuring the reduction in the treatment and medication errors. According to the qualitative research, “Qualitative exploration of practices to prevent medication errors in neonatal intensive care units: a focus group study. Therapeutic advances in drug safety” by Rishoej et al., (2018), technology, education, and improvement of hospital pharmacy services are some of the practices of reducing medication errors. The above qualitative research provides some of the strategies that can be applied to enhance quality improvements in the healthcare settings. The research’s projected outcome was to ensure the reduction of medication errors and the number of mortalities associated with the wrong prescriptions and surgical processes. Additionally, the research, “Medication errors and drug knowledge gaps among critical-care nurses: a mixed multi-method study.”  By Gracia, Serrano, and Garrido, (2019) provides the theoretical framework and the approaches that can be used to enhance quality improvement when it comes to the reduction of medication errors in the healthcare settings. The above research studies provide the foundation for understanding the approaches to take in order to reduce cases of treatment and medication errors in my healthcare institution.  

Steps of Implementing Quality Improvement Initiative 

The first step involves listing and prioritizing the improvement opportunities. In the above case, the healthcare institution should prioritize reduction in the medication and treatment errors. Secondly, the healthcare organization should focus on defining the improvement objectives. Thirdly, there is the need to define the requirement and the procedures for accomplishing the quality improvement initiative. Collection, organization, and analysis of data is the fourth step in the quality improvement initiative (Snijders et al., 2017). The process involves determining the validity of the improvement processes and the steps required for the successful implementation of the quality improvement ideas. The final step is the generation of the potential solution and choosing the best solution or approach to take in an attempt to reduce medication and treatment errors. The outcomes from the above stages, if valid, should be implemented so as to reduce the cases of medication and treatment errors. Quality improvement should be a continuous process that involve all the stakeholders.      

Evaluation of the quality Improvement initiative 

Before the implementation of the quality improvement initiatives, there is always the need to conduct evaluation processes to determine the areas of weaknesses and strength. The evaluation processes should involve the analysis of procedures used and the possible outcomes. The whole process should involve the collection and analysis of the clinical data to identify a valid outcome (Rishoej et al., 2018). The evaluation of the quality improvement will also involve analyzing the patient’s feedbacks and determining the areas of concerns. Finally, the evaluation of the improvement strategies should involve measuring patient’s outcomes and the quality of care given.    

The research processes to determine the level of quality improvement should involve quantitative research processes where there is independent and dependent variables. The dependent variable will be the rate of mortalities while the independent variable will be rate of medication errors. T-test will be needed to compare the means and reject or accept the null hypothesis.    

Conclusion 

Quality improvement is a framework that is applied to systematically enhance the ways healthcare processes are delivered to the patients. Quality improvement possesses characteristics that are measurable and controllable. In my organization, treatment and medication errors are some of the challenges that impede effective patient outcome. Quality improvement initiatives are required in the treatment processes and medical prescription to enhance effective patient outcomes. Also, quality improvement is needed in this area to reduce the number of deaths resulting from the medication errors. Before the implementation of the quality improvement initiatives, there is always the need to conduct evaluation processes to determine the areas of weaknesses and strength. 

 References 

Gracia, J. E., Serrano, R. B., & Garrido, J. F. (2019). Medication errors and drug knowledge gaps among critical-care nurses: a mixed multi-method study. BMC health services research, 19(1), 1-9. 

Rishoej, R. M., Lai Nielsen, H., Strzelec, S. M., Fritsdal Refer, J., Allermann Beck, S., Gramstrup, H. M., … & Almarsdóttir, A. B. (2018). Qualitative exploration of practices to prevent medication errors in neonatal intensive care units: a focus group study. Therapeutic advances in drug safety, 9(7), 343-353. 

Snijders, C., van Lingen, R. A., Molendijk, A., & Fetter, W. P. (2017). Incidents and errors in neonatal intensive care: a review of the literature. Archives of Disease in Childhood-Fetal and Neonatal Edition, 92(5), F391-F398. 

HLT 362 Assignment: Quality Improvement Proposal Grading Rubric

Performance Category	100% or highest level of performance 100% 16 points	Very good or high level of performance 88% 14 points	Acceptable level of performance 81% 13 points	Inadequate demonstration of expectations 68% 11 points	Deficient level of performance 56% 9 points	Failing level of performance 55% or less 0 points
Total Points Possible= 50	16 Points	14 Points	13 Points	11 Points	9 Points	0 Points
Scholarliness Demonstrates achievement of scholarly inquiry for professional and academic topics.	Presentation of information was exceptional and included all of the following elements: Provides evidence of scholarly inquiry relevant to required TD topic(s). Presents specific information from scholarly sources to develop a comprehensive presentation of facts. Uses at least one outside scholarly reference that is relevant, less than 5 years old (use of older references requires instructor permission) and reliable for the required topic.* Uses in-text citation and full reference at end of posting when presenting another person’s thoughts as quotes or paraphrase of information.	Presentation of information was good, but was superficial in places and included all of the following elements: Provides evidence of scholarly inquiry relevant to required TD topic(s). Presents specific information from scholarly sources to develop a comprehensive presentation of facts. Uses at least one outside scholarly reference that is relevant, less than 5 years old (use of older references requires instructor permission) and reliable for the required topic.* Uses in-text citation and full reference at end of posting when presenting another person’s thoughts as quotes or paraphrase of information.	Presentation of information was minimally demonstrated in all of the following elements: Provides evidence of scholarly inquiry relevant to required TD topic(s). Presents specific information from scholarly sources to develop a comprehensive presentation of facts. Uses at least one outside scholarly reference that is relevant, less than 5 years old (use of older references requires instructor permission) and reliable for the required topic.* Uses in-text citation and full reference at end of posting when presenting another person’s thoughts as quotes or paraphrase of information.	Presentation of information is unsatisfactory in one of the following elements: Provides evidence of scholarly inquiry relevant to required TD topic(s). Presents specific information from scholarly sources to develop a comprehensive presentation of facts. Uses at least one outside scholarly reference that is relevant, less than 5 years old (use of older references requires instructor permission) and reliable for the required topic.* Uses in-text citation and full reference at end of posting when presenting another person’s thoughts as quotes or paraphrase of information.	Presentation of information is unsatisfactory in two of the following elements: Provides evidence of scholarly inquiry relevant to required TD topic(s). Presents specific information from scholarly sources to develop a comprehensive presentation of facts. Uses at least one outside scholarly reference that is relevant, less than 5 years old (use of older references requires instructor permission) and reliable for the required topic.* Uses in-text citation and full reference at end of posting when presenting another person’s thoughts as quotes or paraphrase of information.	Presentation of information is unsatisfactory in three or more of the following elements Provides evidence of scholarly inquiry relevant to required TD topic(s). Presents specific information from scholarly sources to develop a comprehensive presentation of facts. Uses at least one outside scholarly reference that is relevant, less than 5 years old (use of older references requires instructor permission) and reliable for the required topic.* Uses in-text citation and full reference at end of posting when presenting another person’s thoughts as quotes or paraphrase of information
	16 Points	14 Points	13 Points	11 Points	9 Points	0 Points
Application of Course Knowledge Demonstrate the ability to analyze and apply principles, knowledge and information learned in the outside readings and relate them to real-life professional situations	Presentation of information was exceptional and included all of the following elements: Applies principles, knowledge and information from scholarly resources to the required topic. Applies facts, principles or concepts learned from scholarly resources to a professional experience. Application of information is comprehensive and specific to the required topic.	Presentation of information was good, but was superficial in places and included all of the following elements: Applies principles, knowledge and information from scholarly resources to the required topic. Applies facts, principles or concepts learned from scholarly resources to a professional experience. Application of information is comprehensive and specific to the required topic.	Presentation of information was minimally demonstrated in the all of the following elements: Applies principles, knowledge and information from scholarly resources to the required topic. Applies facts, principles or concepts learned from scholarly resources to a professional experience. Application of information is comprehensive and specific to the required topic.	Presentation of information is unsatisfactory in one of the following elements: Applies principles, knowledge and information from scholarly resources to the required topic. Applies facts, principles or concepts learned from and scholarly resources to a professional experience. Application of information is comprehensive and specific to the required topic.	Presentation of information is unsatisfactory in two of the following elements: Applies principles, knowledge and information from scholarly resources to the required topic. Applies facts, principles or concepts learned from scholarly resources to a professional experience. Application of information is comprehensive and specific to the required topic.	Presentation of information is unsatisfactory in three of the following elements Applies principles, knowledge and information and scholarly resources to the required topic. Applies facts, principles or concepts learned scholarly resources to a professional experience. Application of information is comprehensive and specific to the required topic.
	10 Points	9 Points			6 Points	0 Points
Interactive Dialogue Initial post should be a minimum of 300 words (references do not count toward word count) The peer and instructor responses must be a minimum of 150 words each (references do not count toward word count) Responses are substantive and relate to the topic.	Demonstrated all of the following: Initial post must be a minimum of 300 words. The peer and instructor responses must be a minimum of 150 words each. Responses are substantive Responses are related to the topic of discussion.	Demonstrated 3 of the following: Initial post must be a minimum of 300 words. The peer and instructor responses must be a minimum of 150 words each. Responses are substantive Responses are related to the topic of discussion.			Demonstrated 2 of the following: Initial post must be a minimum of 300 words. The peer and instructor responses must be a minimum of 150 words each. Responses are substantive Responses are related to the topic of discussion.	Demonstrated 1 or less of the following: Initial post must be a minimum of 300 words. The peer and instructor responses must be a minimum of 150 words each. Responses are substantive Responses are related to the topic of discussion.
	8 Points	7 Points	6 Points	5 Points	4 Points	0 Points
Grammar, Syntax, APA Points deducted for improper grammar, syntax and APA style of writing. The source of information is the APA Manual 6th Edition Error is defined to be a unique APA error. Same type of error is only counted as one error.	The following was present: 0-3 errors in APA format AND Responses have 0-3 grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors AND Writing style is generally clear, focused on topic,and facilitates communication.	The following was present: 4-6 errors in APA format. AND/OR Responses have 4-5 grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors AND/OR Writing style is somewhat focused on topic.	The following was present: 7-9 errors in APA format. AND/OR Responses have 6-7 grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors AND/OR Writing style is slightly focused on topic making discussion difficult to understand.	The following was present: 10- 12 errors in APA format AND/OR Responses have 8-9 grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors AND/OR Writing style is not focused on topic, making discussion difficult to understand.	The following was present: 13 – 15 errors in APA format AND/OR Responses have 8-10 grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors AND/OR Writing style is not focused on topic, making discussion difficult to understand. AND/OR The student continues to make repeated mistakes in any of the above areas after written correction by the instructor.	The following was present: 16 to greater errors in APA format. AND/OR Responses have more than 10 grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors. AND/OR Writing style does not facilitate communication
	0 Points Deducted					5 Points Lost
Participation Requirements	Demonstrated the following: Initial, peer, and faculty postings were made on 3 separate days					Failed to demonstrate the following: Initial, peer, and faculty postings were made on 3 separate days
	0 Points Lost					5 Points Lost
Due Date Requirements	Demonstrated all of the following: The initial posting to the graded threaded discussion topic is posted within the course no later than Wednesday, 11:59 pm MT. A minimum of one peer and one instructor responses are to be posted within the course no later than Sunday, 11:59 pm MT.					Demonstrates one or less of the following. The initial posting to the graded threaded discussion topic is posted within the course no later than Wednesday, 11:59 pm MT. A minimum of one peer and one instructor responses are to be posted within the course no later than Sunday, 11:59 pm MT.