Using Improvement Science Models to Promote Quality and Safety

Discussion: Using Improvement Science Models to Promote Quality and Safety

…while all changes do not lead to improvement, all improvement requires change.

—United States Agency for International Development

Improvement science models bring together research and evidence-based practice to identify the most effective ways to promote quality and safety in health care. As a central tenet of quality improvement, attention must be paid to the processes that contribute to outcomes.

In this Discussion, you examine quality improvement models and evaluate how they could be applied to address specific issues within health care organizations.

To prepare:

  • Review the improvement models presented in the Learning Resources.
  • Evaluate each of the models and select two on which to focus for this Discussion.
  • Consider how each of the two models could be utilized in a health care organization to promote quality and safety. Think about the following:
    • How does the model bring together research and evidence-based practice to facilitate quality improvement?
    • How does the model contribute to a culture of quality and safety?
    • How does it address changes in process?
  • Reflect on the quality improvement issue and the health care setting that you are addressing for your Course Project ( research papers that have already been started on patient centered safety ) Of the two models that you have selected, determine which one you, as a nurse leader-manager, would use to address this issue. Also consider how this would relate to one or more of the IOM’s six aims for quality and safety.

By Day 3

Post your analysis of how the two improvement models that you selected could foster a culture of quality and patient safety and facilitate changes in process that promote positive outcomes. Explain how you would use one of these models to address the quality improvement issue in the organization that you have selected for your Course Project, and how doing so would relate to one or more of the IOM’s six aims for improving quality and safety.

resources:

Murphree, P., Vath, R. R., & Daigle, L. (2011). Sustaining Lean Six Sigma projects in health care. Physician Executive, 37(1), 44–48.

Lean Six Sigma is a quality improvement model that is frequently used in health care. The authors of this article provide strategies for monitoring improvement projects in order to sustain improved quality outcomes.

Polk, J. D. (2011). Lean Six Sigma, innovation, and the change acceleration process can work together. Physician Executive, 37(1), 38–42.

Dr. Polk describes both the Lean process and the Six Sigma process and explains how health care organizations combine these two improvement models to promote quality outcomes.

http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/HowtoImprove/default.aspx

Ernst, M. M., Wooldridge, J. L., Conway, E., Dressman, K., Weiland, J., Tucker, K., & Seid, M. (2010). Using quality improvement science to implement a multidisciplinary behavioral intervention targeting pediatric inpatient airway clearance. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 35(1), 14–24

Researchers applied a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) quality improvement model in completing an evidenced based study of pediatric patients with cystic fibrosis

Murphree, P., Vath, R. R., & Daigle, L. (2011). Sustaining Lean Six Sigma projects in health care. Physician Executive, 37(1), 44–48

Lean Six Sigma is a quality improvement model that is frequently used in health care. The authors of this article provide strategies for monitoring improvement projects in order to sustain improved quality outcomes.

This assignment only needs to be 250-300 words