NUR 621 Topic 3 DQ 1
answer:
Two main quality metrics are used in a clinical workplace. These metrics are staffing and assessment results/nursing outcomes. The nursing staff would benefit greatly by sharing the results of these metrics with them. One example of this is a tool called VibraCheck, which is a hand-held vibration meter that measures how much vibration is on the patient’s skin, bone, and soft tissue to make sure that when giving treatments, it is not causing pain or discomfort for them. By highlighting the positive results that come from using this tool, nurses are more encouraged to make use of it when treating their patients. This can ultimately lead to a better experience for the patient as they will be more comfortable during the treatment.
The two quality metrics used in my clinical workplace are patient satisfaction and readmission rate. Patient satisfaction is measured by seeing how the patients feel about their care when they leave the hospital. Readmissions are one of the biggest problems for hospitals; it takes money, time, and nursing staff to bring these patients back in.
Two quality measures are used in the clinical workplace to measure a patient’s satisfaction with their care; these are the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ2) and Session Rating Scale (SRS). The PHQ2 is a 2-question, Depression severity rating scale that spans from 0-3, 0 being no depression and 3 being most severe depression. The SRS is actually a scale requested by the patient at the end of every health care visit with its nurses. It includes open ended questions that ask what they liked most, least, wanted to hear more of, or didn’t want to hear as much of. The results of both are recorded on an outside agency’s website and kept anonymous. Results are shared with staff to give them ideas or suggestions on how better help their patients. Benefits include knowing whether you are improving or if there is room for even more improvement. In my case, I use it as a guide to improve my patients’ experience with me and nursing care overall.
High quality health care has been shown to improve patient safety, reduce mortality, and improve the overall quality of life for patients. In order to ensure a high quality performance among the nursing staff, the following two quality metrics must be measured and then shared with the staff. Both are already in place and have proven effective. The first is admitting and discharging patients in a timely manner, while maintaining their comfort throughout the process. The second is preventing falls while getting out of bed by monitoring heart rate and blood pressure every 15 minutes.
Two quality metrics that are measured in the clinical workplace are pressure ulcer prevention and infection prevention. These two quality measures are very important to the nursing staff because they keep patient’s safe from being exposed to these two complications. Pressure Ulcers develop when there is not enough nursing staff to ensure that every patient is changing positions on a regular basis. Infections occur when bacteria in the environment infects a patient. By measuring these two quality tasks, it promotes nurses and doctors to keep their environment clean, following precautions, enforcing change of position and reporting observations on patients.
The Clinical Quality Metrics are the ability to speak a primary language of the patient, and accurate assessments. The reason why these should be shared is that nurses know what the quality of care is like in their environment and can help provide better health care to patients by speaking with other nurses about the different ways that health care could be delivered in a more efficient way.
question:
Identify two quality metrics used in your clinical workplace. How are these measured and are the results shared with the nursing staff? If not, do you think they should be? What would be the benefit?