Imagine that you are a hospital administrator at Sunlight Hospital in California. The main complaint among the patients is the quality of care. The hospital board has become aware of this issue and wants to see it addressed. Your job is to understand the state of the hospital, create value, increase efficiency, and turn the facility into a local hospital of choice. Whenever you are making visits to various wards to meet the employees and the patients, you hear how the patients love the hospital, but they would like to see certain improvements in care. The employees seem to be very busy executing their duties and not interacting much with the patients. The hospital board has asked you to compile a report of your findings and suggested strategies for achieving the hospital’s current goals.
Note: You may create or make all necessary assumptions needed for the completion of this assignment.
Write a 4-6 page paper in which you:
Identify five measurements of quality of care in a hospital, and explain the major reasons why you believe these measurements matter to patients in their process of choosing a hospital for emergency or inpatient care.
Determine four main features in health care organizations that can be used to design a successful quality improvement plan. Describe the manner in which the features can lead to failure or success of quality of care in Sunlight Hospital.
Propose the main reasons why the quality of care would add value to and create a competitive advantage for Sunlight Hospital. Provide a rationale for your response.
Expert Solution Preview
Introduction:
Improving the quality of care in a hospital is crucial in ensuring patient satisfaction and becomes a competitive advantage. As a hospital administrator at Sunlight Hospital, I will compile a report based on the findings of my visits to various wards to meet the employees and the patients. The report will include suggested strategies for achieving the hospital’s goals by understanding the current state of the hospital, creating value, and increasing efficiency.
1. Identify five measurements of quality of care in a hospital, and explain the major reasons why you believe these measurements matter to patients in their process of choosing a hospital for emergency or inpatient care.
The five measurements of quality care in a hospital include patient safety, infection control, patient experience, readmission rates, and mortality rates. Patient safety is critical in hospitals as it ensures patients are protected from harm caused by medical errors, accidents, or infections. Infection control ensures the hospital provides a safe environment for patients and healthcare workers to reduce the spread of infection. Patient experience measurement measures the patient’s perception of care, including communication, pain management, and responsiveness of hospital staff. Readmission rates measure the number of patients who are readmitted to the hospital after being discharged. Finally, mortality rates measure the number of patient deaths, which can be used to assess the hospital’s standard of care.
These measurements matter to patients in their process of choosing a hospital for emergency or inpatient care because they want a hospital that provides safe and effective care, reduces their risk of infection, ensures a satisfactory experience, reduces the likelihood of readmission, and has low mortality rates. Patients want assurance that they will receive quality care while in the hospital.
2. Determine four main features in health care organizations that can be used to design a successful quality improvement plan. Describe the manner in which the features can lead to failure or success of quality of care in Sunlight Hospital.
The four main features in healthcare organizations that can be used to design a successful quality improvement plan include leadership commitment, stakeholder engagement, data-driven decision-making, and continuous quality improvement. These features can lead to failure or success of quality of care in Sunlight Hospital.
Leadership commitment is essential in ensuring a successful quality improvement plan since it provides direction and resources to support the initiative. If the leadership is not committed, it can lead to a lack of resources and direction, which can cause failure.
Stakeholder engagement involves involving everyone in the hospital from the employees to patients in the quality improvement plan. If the stakeholders are not engaged, it can lead to a lack of ownership, which can cause the initiative to fail.
Data-driven decision making involves collecting data to identify areas of improvement in patient care, satisfaction, and outcomes. Failure to collect and analyze data can cause the quality improvement plan to miss critical areas of improvement, leading to failure.
Continuous quality improvement involves constantly reviewing and improving the quality of care in the hospital. Without this feature, the quality improvement plan will stagnate, leading to failure.
3. Propose the main reasons why the quality of care would add value to and create a competitive advantage for Sunlight Hospital. Provide a rationale for your response.
The quality of care would add value to and create a competitive advantage for Sunlight Hospital because it improves patient satisfaction and reduces costs associated with medical errors, infections, and readmissions. Patients who have a satisfactory experience in the hospital will recommend it to others, resulting in increased revenues and a better reputation. Additionally, reducing the costs associated with medical errors, infections, and readmissions reduces overall healthcare costs, resulting in higher efficiency and better patient outcomes.
In conclusion, creating and implementing a successful quality improvement plan in Sunlight Hospital will improve patient satisfaction, reduce costs, increase efficiency, and create a competitive advantage. The five measurements of quality care identified, including patient safety, infection control, patient experience, readmission rates, and mortality rates, are important in the process of choosing a hospital for emergency or inpatient care. Healthcare organizations should focus on leadership commitment, stakeholder engagement, data-driven decision-making, and continuous quality improvement to succeed in quality improvement planning.
