include nosocomial infections driving healthcare costs medication errors W r i t i n g

Quality Benchmark Project

Please read the instructions and rubrics for the entire Quality Benchmark Project before starting this assignment. They will provide you with an overview of all three components.

Due: There is nothing to submit this week. You will work on your proposal over weeks 1 and 2. It is submitted at the end of week 2.

Step 1: By Sunday of week 2, write a two-page proposal identifying a significant quality issue that you will research for this project. Your paper should include a title page and a reference page. Be sure that you address each requirement. Use headings to differentiate each topic areas. In your proposal, provide the following information:

• Write an introduction to the Quality Benchmark Project.
• Describe the quality issue to be addressed.
• Provide background information on the issue.
• Examine previous attempts to address the issue.

Step 2: Save and submit your assignment to the assignment drop box in week 2.

When you have completed your assignment, save a copy for yourself in an easily accessible place and submit a copy to your instructor.

Cite all sources in 7th ed APA format.

Quality Benchmark Project: Description & Due Dates Broad Overview

Week 1: Choose and begin researching a significant quality issue. It can be anything that you believe is vital to patient safety and/or improving overall quality of care. Some examples may include:

Hand hygiene, to include nosocomial infections driving healthcare costs

Medication errors, to include transcription errors or staffing issues. How does fixed hospital budgets fit in?

Patient falls, to include alarm fatigue or short hospital stays – Who pays the cost if a patient falls while in the hospital?

Bed sores acquired in the hospital. Who pays if the patient gets a bed sore while at the hospital?

Misdiagnosis and how that affects short and long-term patient care. How does that affect healthcare costs?

Issues with patient identification – may tie into treatment errors and billing issues.

Documentation quality and how it negatively affects reimbursement and drives hospital costs.

Budget costs limiting up-to-date technology or research-based interventions from being implemented.

Inter-departmental communication, to include nursing triage and efficient, safe decision-making. Consider if this is an effective use of time management and how it can be improved.

Staffing ratios – is it really a nursing shortage or just budgetary restrictions? How does this negatively affect quality of care, nursing retention and hospital costs long-term? How does it affect patient and staff satisfaction?

Integrating mental health into medical. When a patient comes in for a heart transplant, for example, we need to consider depression and anxiety – quality of life issues after discharge, psychosocial issues etc. Dissolve the current system of medical focusing on medical and psych focusing on psych and merge the two for a comprehensive patient overview.

Managing health care costs and chronic disease. Consider cost of prevention to keep acute from becoming chronic and long-term benefit to our society.

Week 2: Quality Benchmark Project, Part 1. “The Proposal” is a minimum of 2-pages, not including title page and reference page. Written in APA format – must follow sample paper provided or you will get it returned to try again. Late penalties may apply.

Title page – Make sure you have headers for each page set up correctly and page numbers – see sample paper

Introduction paragraph – why is this issue important and introduce research. Minimum 5 sentences, not to exceed half of first page

Body – Using research, describe quality issue you chose. Each paragraph should be minimum of 5 sentences – use headers for each section.

Body – Provide background and why you believe it is significant to health care today.

Body – Examine previous attempts to address this quality issue – why did it improve or fail and why do we need to continue to address it today.

You do not need a conclusion for Part 1, as Part 2 will be added to this project to continue your paper.

Week 5: Quality Benchmark Project, Part 2. An additional 2-pages added to Step 1 for a total of 4(+) pages.

Body – Who has jurisdiction over your quality issue – who has control to make change?

Body – Who are the stakeholders, investors or decision-makers in this issue and how do they influence this issue?

Body – What are the resources needed to promote change in this quality issue toward improvement?

Week 9: Quality Benchmark Project, Part 3. An additional 2-pages added to Step 1 & Step 2 for a total of 6(+) pages.

Body – Public policy or regulatory procedures that have already addressed this issue.

Body – How does this quality issue negatively or positively affect nursing and nursing practice?

Body – Potential barriers to implementation?

Conclusion – No new information introduced in conclusion. Tie up all the main points and leave reader in awe of your awesomeness. 🙂

Step 1: By Sunday of Week 9, add 2-3 additional pages to the Quality Benchmark Paper you submitted in week 5. Add to the original document so that Part 1 (the proposal), Part 2, and the content below is contained in a single document. Incorporate any feedback provided by your instructor from Parts 1 and 2.

Step 2: Add the following information to your paper using clear paragraph headers:

• Explain an aspect of quality management within the framework of public policy and/or regulatory procedures that can address the issue.
• Discuss how this affects nursing and nursing practice.
• Explore potential barriers to implementation.
• Provide a concluding paragraph.

Cite all sources in 7th ed. APA format.

For details see the rubric

Note: I hope this helps make more sense and organize this project. If you have any questions, or want to see if your topic fits this assignment, please reach out. It should be a broad topic, not necessarily a specific disease issue or an ethical issue it’s a quality issue. Remember, this is a policy, quality and finance class – not patho or nursing ethics! Have fun with this assignment; I look forward to reading your research.