The Path Forward Project

The Path Forward Project

Due: Wednesday July 29 

You are invited to participate in The Path Forward Project, based at The Global Action Research Center (Global ARC). https://www.theglobalarc.org/ (Links to an external site.)    President / CEO Paul Watson will be visiting our class on Monday, July 27.

The Path Forward Project collects thoughts, impressions, and critiques of the current uprising from a diverse group of people of all ages, racial identities, gender identities, sexual identities, socioeconomic status, whoever you may be.

You are invited you to share your understanding of what you see going on, or personal experiences that support your understanding, or what you think we can do to transform our society into one that is more just, caring, and equitable.

Your submission can be in the form of:

Written word (from one paragraph, up to four pages in length)

 

You are asked to orient your comments to one or all of the following content areas

Racism (including thoughts on the value of a “Truth and Reconciliation” processes, based on the South African model for Racial Healing. The Global ARC advocates for a national healing campaign that is enacted at neighborhood / regional scale – a well-designed and tightly facilitated process that allows all residents to give account of their experiences, express their feelings, and work toward healing and reconciliation. The Global ARC also advocates for reparations, distributed not to individuals, but rather dedicated to economic strategies that address inequities in employment, business development, housing, education, health care, etc. For the Global ARC, reparations are understood as investments in systemic solutions that atone for centuries of this society’s misconduct.

Police Misconduct (including thoughts on accountability, ensuring equal application of justice for all, including protection of and service to the Black community and all communities of color; and policy constraints on the use of force.)

System Change If democracy is about majorities, how do we build coalitions and collaborations necessary to people together across racial, class, gender, and age lines to create a new America? The Global ARC identifies four basic steps necessary for community change:

  1. Shared Vision– establishing community processes that facilitate people coming together at neighborhood-scale to create a shared vision of the future. “It is our dreams that call us forth”. 
  2. Contradictions– identifying the obstacles to achieving that shared vision right now, and their root causes. It is only by identifying the root causes that we can design effective and sustainable strategies to overcome the obstacles.
  3. Strategic Directions–crafting strategies focused on overcoming the obstacles. Since systems change is difficult and sometimes messy, we must develop short- and long-term strategies. Short-term collective victories deepen motivation and commitment to longer-term ones.
  4. Implementation Plan–developing an implementation plan where everyone has “skin in the game” – not handed off to politicians. All must be vested in the success of the plan and be willing to push and protect it.

SOC205 Assignment 1: The State Judicial Selection Process

The State Judicial Selection Process

The State Judicial Selection Process

Each state within the United States has its own unique judicial selection process within its own court system. 

Using the Internet or Strayer databases, research the judicial selection process for different court systems from different states within the U.S. Court System. 

Write a five to eight (5-8) page paper in which you:

  1. Discuss the judicial selection process of your state. Include, at a minimum, the qualifications and steps that are taken in order to select judges for the different kinds of courts within your specific state.
  2. Choose a second state, and describe the qualifications and the selection process for judges within that state.
  3. Compare and contrast for both states the qualifications necessary for a prospective candidate to become a judge. Next, identify the steps that the relevant persons / entities need to take in order to remove a judge from office for disciplinary reasons for each state.
  4. Justify the selection process for the state that you believe has the best system in place. Justify the response.
  5. Use at least three (3) quality academic resources. Note: Wikipedia and other websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

  • Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
  • Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

CBT versus Existential-Humanistic Therapy 

CBT VS. Existential-Humanistic Therapy

AH is a 39-year-old African American female who lives with her husband and four children. Her children’s ages are 16, 11, 5, and 7 months old. She has been diagnosed with major depressive disorder and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The client had a two-week-old son that died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) two years ago. The client’s symptomology includes tearful episodes, anxiety, nightmares, flashbacks, depression, hopelessness, decreased concentration, and poor sleep.  The client is taking Cognitive behavioral therapy and as the provider thinking about starting extrinsic -humanistic treatment. Cognitive-behavioral therapy has been proven by research to help clients with PTSD (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2019). This paper will explore the strengths and challenges of CBT and existential-humanistic therapy for a client with PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a first-line treatment choice for clients with depression. CBT has a tone of evidence-based practice for treating a wide variety of mental health disorders. Cognitive-behavioral therapy focuses on changing the client’s attitudes and behavior to change behaviors, ultimately, attitudes toward self, and improve emotional reaction. CBT is a broader therapy and offers the client coping skills to deal with life events. Existential-humanistic treatment is a more focused therapy that focuses the clients on self-awareness and individual goal (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2019)s. This type of therapy does not focus on the disease but decreases symptoms by increasing the client’s self-worth.
Both therapy options would be great for AH. I would use CBT first to reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and nightmares. Existential-humanistic therapy would be offered later to increase the client’s self-worth. As a provider, it is essential to understand when to introduce new treatment. According to Wheeler (2014), the humanistic-existential approach has long served as a foundation for psychiatric nursing, emphasizing self-actualization, facilitative communication, and the therapeutic relationship (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2019). Existential-humanistic therapy can be beneficial when a  therapeutic relationship is and the idea that achieving wellness is a process (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2019).

References
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. (2019). Brief Interventions and Brief Therapies for Substance Abuse. Rockville (MD): Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration US. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 34. Chapter 6 – Brief Humanistic and Existential Therapies.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64939
Wheeler, K. (Ed.). (2014). Psychotherapy for the advanced practice psychiatric nurse: A how-to guide for evidence-based practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.

Topic: Chinese Health System

Topic: chinese health system

Type of paper: Term paper

Discipline: Health Care and Life Sciences : Health Care

Format or citation style: MLA

 

1)    Introduction.  Provide a brief overview/outline of what you will do in the rest of the paper.  This should include a brief statement of your research question, your plan for answering it, and a summary of what you conclude.

2)    Background.  This is generally a section that describes the context of your research question.  If you are analyzing a policy change, for example, you would explain the setting (e.g., what part of the health system are you talking about) and the motivation for the policy change (e.g., were people dissatisfied with how the relevant portion of the health sector was performing).

3)    Analysis Plan.  This section would typically explain what data or other information you have assembled and how you plan to use it to answer your research question.

4)    Results. In this section you would describe how you have executed your analysis plan and summarize the resulting evidence.  Your description of you findings should include any caveats.  As a researcher it is important to be up front about reasons why your analysis may not definitively answer your research question.  It is often important, for example, to carefully distinguish between correlation and causation in any data you have analyzed.

5)    Conclusion.  The conclusion can be quite brief.  At minimum it would typically contain a restatement of the question you’ve addressed and the conclusions at which you’ve arrived.

6)    References.  The reference list should report all sources from which you obtained background information, data, and, more generally, that shaped your thinking about your topic.  In economics essays the sources for particular facts and claims are typically cited by parenthetically within the main text.  For example, if David Cutler’s “Your Money or Your Life” is your source for the claim that quality reporting is essential for getting health care markets to generate value-oriented competition, you could write: “Competition in health care markets can only be expected to increase value if coupled with adequate reporting on the quality of health care providers (Cutler, 2004).”  You would then provide a full reference to Cutler’s book in the reference section.  You are free to follow whatever reference system you prefer (e.g., Chicago Manual of Style) so long as you are consistent.

7)    Tables and Figures.  The last section of your paper should contain your tables and figures.  Make sure to couple each table and figure with a detailed explanatory note.  The note should report the sources for any data shown in the table or figure.  It should also define any variables displayed in the figure or in the rows and columns of the table.  It should be possible to interpret tables and figures without having to find the discussion that appears in the paper’s main text.

Additional tips for economics essay writing can be found here:
http://writing.ku.edu/sites/writing.drupal.ku.edu/files/docs/Guide_Writing_Economics.pdf

Emotional Intelligence and Enneagram Activity

Emotional Intelligence and Enneagram Activity

Student name:

This is an individual activity; it is not group work. Students are expected to complete their own work.

Emotional Intelligence: Review the resources in this week’s Brightspace module on EI (two videos, two articles). Answer the following questions. Be sure your answers demonstrate synthesis of the posted resources.

1. In your own words, how would you explain Emotional Intelligence (Emotional Quotient) to others? (add your answer next to bullet point)

·

Why is it important to grow in EQ, especially as a professional nurse? (add your answer next to bullet point)

·

2. What is the difference between the two types of Empathy? Next to your description, provide an example of when you showed each type of empathy.

· Affective Empathy:

· Cognitive Empathy:

3. What is Self-Awareness? Add the three components of self-awareness to the bullet points:

·

·

·

4. What are you Passionate about? How is passion related to your drives to become a nurse? What role does passion play in keeping us sustained in our career?

·

·

·

Enneagram: Take the 5-minute Enneagram test at https://enneagramtest.net/ You will receive your personal results upon submission. Submit your results report from the Enneagram test, along with this worksheet, to the Brightspace submission folder.

1. What were your top three types? (list the number and title):

a.

b.

c.

2. Decide on the one type that is most “you”. Based on the descriptors listed on that report, share your favorite thing from the list – something that you can especially relate to regarding:

a. “How to get along with me”:

b. “What I like about being a… <your number>”:

c. “What is hard about being…<your number>”:

3. In a few sentences, share your reaction to your Enneagram test results.

4. How can information like this assist you in developing Emotional Intelligence?

5. In what ways can you integrate your personality strengths into your work as a professional RN and leader?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDDWvj_q-o8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gpn_06NT9w

ARTICLE 1

http://mkt.medline.com/advancing-blog/emotional-intelligence-interpersonal-skills-are-underlying-causes-of-key-issues/

Healthcare is rich with human interactions and relationships. Whether inter-professional or therapeutic in nature, our relationships influence our communication, teamwork, cultures and systems. When this ‘soft’ skill set is healthy, the influence is more likely to be positive. When it is limited or dysfunctional, the outcomes can be catastrophic.

There are links between such ‘soft’ skills and serious, persistent, and pervasive issues in healthcare such as patient safety, patient experience, and workforce health. The recalcitrant nature of these problems is a compelling reason to look for possible common causes. Understanding these common roots will help explain why our solutions to date are not effective enough and why organizations should consider experiential teaching methods that focus on behavioral rather than more typical intellectual learning.

Common Causes

We can seek common causes of key issues in two ways. First by viewing healthcare as a complex adaptive system (CAS), one that is rich with human interactions. From this vantage point, such problems can be seen as outcomes or emergent properties that are arising from a common foundation, the quality (or dysfunction) of our relationships! Relationships which rely on communication and behavior and are subject to a multitude of individual and organizational variables. The health of the relationships, whether positive or negative, will have a relative effect on teamwork, organizational culture, and the care we provide.

The high incidence of bullying and/or disruptive behavior among healthcare professionals provides a perfect example of troubled relationships with nonlinear or butterfly effects on patient safety, patient experience, and workforce health as shown in the following examples.

· A doctor yells at a nurse on Tuesday. Saturday she hesitates to call him to report a subtle change in a patient’s condition and since it is close to the end of the shift, reports her concern to the oncoming nurse. The oncoming nurse, makes it a priority to check this patient, but the telemetry alarm beats him to it. The patient does not survive.

· A nurse overhears a colleague talking about her in a negative way and interrupts the conversation. “I’d appreciate it if you have concerns about my work that you discuss them with me directly and professionally.” The gossiping nurse apologizes and later offers to help the nurse find an IV pump available for use. This enables the nurse to get her pain medication to her post-op patient quickly and the patient is comfortable. Both he and his wife feel cared for. The patient experience scores increase.

· A nursing assistant is reluctant to ask the other nursing assistant for help because the last time they worked together she teased him about needing too much help. The patient is begging to be repositioned and no other staff is available. He boosts the patient in bed and has acute pain in his low back. The course of his workers’ compensation claim includes evaluation and treatment by emergency and company physicians, medications, physical therapy, case management by the insurance nurse, oversight by the employee health nurse, several days out of work, several weeks of light duty, and a review of ergonomic training. The employee is teased by the same nurses’ assistant during his alternative duty and leaves the organization. Employer turnover problems persist and a new nurses’ assistant is hired.

Notice how the positive or negative ramifications for all of these significant outcomes are linked to invisible and tough-to-measure effects involving human interactions.

Another way to look for commonalities is by examining each of these issues separately to see where communication and behavior are implicated.

A. Patient Safety and the Human Interface

The Joint Commission’s tracking of sentinel events since 2004 reveals much more consistency in the root causes of all events than a particular trend in any type(s) of events. The tracking data shows that human factors and communication are the top two root causes of sentinel events from 2004 through to the most recent summations in 2015[1].

Meanwhile statistics for types of events bounce around such as the number of wrong-site, wrong-patient, wrong-procedure events reviewed which was 109 in 2013, decreased to 67 in 2014, and increased to 92 by the end of the third quarter of 2015.[2] Although not intended to be an exhaustive analysis of this data, the point can be made that there is a persistent and elusive problem with patient safety! Even fifteen years after the release of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) To Err is Human! This same point is fortified by comments regarding medical error reduction and quality improvement by Dr. Ashish Jha, professor of health policy and management at the Harvard School of Public Health. In his testimony before a Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging in July of 2014, Jha states that, “[w]e have not moved the needle in any meaningful, demonstrable way over all. In certain areas, things are better; in certain areas, things are probably worse, but we are not substantially better off compared to where we were [15 years ago] (More than 1,000 preventable deaths a day, 2014, 33:35)[1].

B. Patient Experience and the Human Interface

The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems’ (HCAHPS) surveys that measure patient experience are rich with feedback about interactive behaviors of staff. Of the 32 items surveyed, 18 encompass critical aspects of the hospital experience, including communication with doctors and nurses, the cleanliness of the hospital environment, quietness of the hospital environment, pain management, communication about medicines, discharge information, and overall rating and recommendation of the hospital. Of these 18 items, 14 are directly related to communication and emotional intelligence such as, “During this hospital stay:

· …did nurses treat you with courtesy and respect?

· …did doctors listen carefully to you? · …did nurses explain things in a way you could understand?”[4]

The feedback from these surveys sheds light on the interactive skills of staff and directly or indirectly reflects the quality of collaboration and culture within the organization.

C. Workforce Health and the Human Interface

In 2013, the Lucien Leape Institute-National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) released a roundtable report that focused on the harm experienced by the healthcare workforce. [5] The report focused on physical and psychological harm and included these statistics:

Physical Harm

· Health care workforce injuries 30 times higher than other industries

· More FTE days are lost due to occupational illness and injury in health care each year than in industries such as mining, machinery manufacturing and construction

· 76% of nurses in national survey indicated that unsafe working conditions interfere with the delivery of quality care

· An RN or MD has a 5-6 times higher chance of being assaulted than a cab driver in an urban area

Psychological Harm

· Lack of respect

· A root cause, if not THE root cause, of dysfunctional cultures

· 95% of nurses report it; 100% of medical students; huge issue for patients

· Lack of support

· Lack of appreciation

· Non-value add work

· Production pressures

The emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills that influence both kinds of harm include the awareness of one’s own and others’ limitations, the ability to ask for, offer, and refuse help, and a dynamic culture where giving and receiving constructive feedback is ongoing, trusting, and respectful. So how do you find a unique and engaging way to combine skills and culture to optimize outcomes? Medical improv could be the path to get you there.

Conclusion

“Soft” skills that inform our behavior are fundamental to quality of care and developing them should be a priority. As with all change, raising awareness is a vital step forward.

Where do you see links between emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills in the work you do?

Beth Boynton, RN, MS, author of Successful Nurse Communication: Safe Care, Healthy Workplaces, & Rewarding Careers, is a speaker and medical improv trainer. More information about her work can be found on her website and she can be contacted at beth@bethboynton.com.

ARTICLE 2

What Is Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. Though there is some disagreement among psychologists as to what constitutes true emotional intelligence, it is generally said to include at least three skills: emotional awareness, or the ability to identify and name one’s own emotions; the ability to harness those emotions and apply them to tasks like thinking and problem solving; and the ability to manage emotions, which includes both regulating one’s own emotions when necessary and cheering up or calming down other people.

In this module’s Discussion, you applied the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory to diagnose potential problems with the civility of your organization.

Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment

Clearly, diagnosis is a critical aspect of healthcare. However, the ultimate purpose of a diagnosis is the development and application of a series of treatments or protocols. Isolated recognition of a health issue does little to resolve it.

In this module’s Discussion, you applied the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory to diagnose potential problems with the civility of your organization. In this Portfolio Assignment, you will continue to analyze the results and apply published research to the development of a proposed treatment for any issues uncovered by the assessment.

To Prepare:

  • Review the Resources and examine the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory, found on page 20 of Clark (2015).
  • Review the Work Environment Assessment Template.
  • Reflect on the output of your Discussion post regarding your evaluation of workplace civility and the feedback received from colleagues.
  • Select and review one or more of the following articles found in the Resources:
    • Clark, Olender, Cardoni, and Kenski (2011)
    • Clark (2018)
    • Clark (2015)
    • Griffin and Clark (2014)

The Assignment (3-6 pages total):

Part 1: Work Environment Assessment (1-2 pages)

  • Review the Work Environment Assessment Template you completed for this Module’s Discussion.
  • Describe the results of the Work Environment Assessment you completed on your workplace.
  • Identify two things that surprised you about the results and one idea you believed prior to conducting the Assessment that was confirmed.
  • Explain what the results of the Assessment suggest about the health and civility of your workplace.

Part 2: Reviewing the Literature (1-2 pages)

  • Briefly describe the theory or concept presented in the article(s) you selected.
  • Explain how the theory or concept presented in the article(s) relates to the results of your Work Environment Assessment.
  • Explain how your organization could apply the theory highlighted in your selected article(s) to improve organizational health and/or create stronger work teams. Be specific and provide examples.

Part 3: Evidence-Based Strategies to Create High-Performance Interprofessional Teams (1–2 pages)

  • Recommend at least two strategies, supported in the literature, that can be implemented to address any shortcomings revealed in your Work Environment Assessment.
  • Recommend at least two strategies that can be implemented to bolster successful practices revealed in your Work Environment Assessment.

A client has been receiving IV paclitaxel for the past week for treatment of ovarian cancer. Identify an assessment finding that is a priority to report to the provider? 

1. A client has been receiving IV paclitaxel for the past week for treatment of ovarian cancer. Identify an assessment finding that is a priority to report to the provider?

2. A client with migraines is prescribed sumatriptan. Identify two (2) health concerns where this medication is contraindicated.

3. ​A 22-year-old client is hard to awake after taking diazepam by mouth. It is suspected she overdosed on the medication. What are two (2) measure the nurse anticipates will take place to address the acute toxicity with diazepam.

4. ​What should the nurse do when the client has an INR of 4 and is scheduled to receive warfarin during morning medications?

NUR3846 Describe the four (4) Metaparadigms of nursing as you view them and how they apply in your own practice area

NUR3846

Your Personal Philosophy must address and have the following Topics \ Headings:

Topic Description
Key Concepts (20 pts.) Explain the key concepts of your philosophy/theory.
Metaparadigms

(20 pts.)

Describe the four (4) Metaparadigms of nursing as you view them and how they apply in your own practice area.
Nursing Process – Philosophy

(15 pts.)

Express how your philosophy could be applied to your present nursing practice, research, administration and/or education.
Nursing Process – Strengths & Limitations

(15 pts.)

Elaborate on your philosophy’s strength and limitations.
Original Work

(10 pts.)

Paper must be your original work.
Paper Format

(10 pts.)

Paper should be no more than four (4) pages long, double space and typed in Microsoft WORD file.
APA Style

(10 pts.)

Paper should adhere to APA style (includes introduction, body, conclusion) with correct grammar spelling are expected.

NUR3846 | Foundation of Professional Nursing

The Formal Paper will be the Application of the Nursing Process to Deliver Culturally Competent Care

The Formal Paper will be the Application of the Nursing Process to Deliver Culturally Competent Care.

You  will select a cultural group you would like to use for your formal  paper. Research the literature from an appropriate professional article  that discusses the health care needs of your selected cultural group.  Submit the paper using APA format and include title page, abstract,  citations and reference pages. It should include 5-7 pages within the  body of the paper with 3-5 references (at least two article/book  references).

Prepare an 8-10 page data analysis and quality improvement initiative proposal based on a health issue of interest.

Prepare an 8-10 page data analysis and quality improvement initiative proposal based on a health issue of interest. Include internal and external benchmark data, evidence-based recommendations to improve health care quality and safety, and communication strategies to gain buy-in from all interprofessional team members responsible for implementing the initiative.

Health care providers are perpetually striving to improve care quality and patient safety. To accomplish enhanced care, outcomes need to be measured. Next, data measures must be validated. Measurement and validation of information support performance improvement. Health care providers must focus attention on evidence-based best practices to improve patient outcomes.

Health informatics, along with new and improved technologies and procedures, are at the core of all quality improvement initiatives. Data analysis begins with provider documentation, researched process improvement models, and recognized quality benchmarks. All of these items work together to improve patient outcomes. Professional nurses must be able to interpret and communicate dashboard information that displays critical care metrics and outcomes along with data collected from the care delivery process.

For this assessment, use your current role or assume a role you hope to have. You will develop a quality improvement (QI) initiative proposal based on a health issue of professional interest. To create this proposal, analyze a health care facility’s dashboard metrics and external benchmark data. Include evidence-based recommendations to improve health care quality and safety relating to your selected issue. Successful QI initiatives depend on the support of nursing staff and other members of the interprofessional team. As a result, a key aspect of your proposal will be the communication strategies you plan to use to get buy-in from these team members.

Demonstration of Proficiency

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:

  • Competency 1: Plan quality improvement initiatives in response to adverse events and near-miss analyses.
    • Determine whether any adverse event or near-miss data needs to be factored in to outcomes and recommendations.
  • Competency 2: Plan quality improvement initiatives in response to routine data surveillance.
    • Develop a QI initiative proposal based on a selected health issue and supporting data analysis.
  • Competency 3: Evaluate quality improvement initiatives using sensitive and sound outcome measures.
    • Analyze data to identify a health care issue or area of concern.
  • Competency 4: Integrate interprofessional perspectives to lead quality improvements in patient safety, cost-effectiveness, and work-life quality.
    • Communicate QI initiative proposal based on input of the interdisciplinary team to improve patient safety and quality outcomes and work-life quality.
  • Competency 5: Apply effective communication strategies to promote quality improvement of interprofessional care.
    • Determine communication strategies to promote quality improvement of interprofessional care.
    • Communicate QI initiative proposal in a professional, effective manner, writing clearly and logically, with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
    • Integrate relevant sources to support arguments, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style.

Preparation

To develop the QI initiative proposal required for this assessment, you must analyze a health care facility’s dashboard metrics. Choose Option 1 or 2 according to your ability to access dashboard metrics for a QI initiative proposal.

Option 1

If you have access to dashboard metrics related to a QI initiative proposal of interest to you, complete the following:

  • Analyze data from the health care facility to identify a health care issue or area of concern. You will need access to reports and data related to care quality and patient safety. For example, in a hospital setting, you would contact the quality management department to obtain the needed data. It is your responsibility to determine the appropriate resource to provide the necessary data in your chosen health care setting. If you need help determining how to obtain the needed information, consult your faculty member for guidance.
  • Include in your proposal basic information about the health care setting, size, and specific type of care delivery related to the identified topic. Please abide by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance standards.
Option 2

If you do not have access to a dashboard or metrics related to a QI initiative proposal:

  • Use the hospital data set provided in Vila Health: Data Analysis. You will analyze data to identify a health care issue or area of concern.
  • Include in your proposal basic information about the health care setting, size, and specific type of care delivery related to the identified topic.

Instructions

Use your current role or assume a role you would like to have. Choose a quality improvement initiative of professional interest to you. Your current organization is probably working on quality improvement initiatives that can be evaluated, so consider starting there.

To develop your proposal you will:

  • Gather internal and external benchmark data on the subject of your quality improvement initiative proposal.
  • Analyze data you have collected.
  • Make evidence-based recommendations about how to improve health care quality and safety relating to your chosen issue.

Remember, your initiative’s success depends on the interprofessional team’s commitment to the QI initiative. Think carefully about these stakeholders and how you plan to include them in the process, as they will help you develop and implement ideas and sustain outcomes. Also, remember how important external stakeholders, such as patients and other health care delivery organizations, are to the process. As you are preparing this assessment, consider carefully the communication strategies you will employ to include the perspectives of all internal and external stakeholders in your proposal.

The following numbered points correspond to grading criteria in the scoring guide. The bullets below each grading criterion further delineate tasks to fulfill the assessment requirements. Be sure that your proposal addresses all of the content below. You may also want to read the scoring guide to better understand the performance levels related to each grading criterion.

  1. Analyze data to identify a health care issue or area of concern.
    • Identify the type of data you are analyzing from your institution or from the Vila Health activity.
    • Explain why data matters. What does data show related to outcomes?
    • Analyze the dashboard metrics. What else could the organization measure to enhance knowledge?
    • Present dashboard metrics related to the selected issue that are critical to evaluating outcomes.
    • Assess the institutional ability to sustain processes or outcomes.
    • Evaluate data quality and its implications for outcomes.
  2. Determine whether any adverse event or near-miss data needs to be factored in to outcomes and recommendations.
    • Examine the nursing process for variations or performance failures that could lead to an adverse event or near miss.
    • Identify trends, measures, and information needed to critically analyze specific outcomes.
    • Specify desired outcomes related to prevention of adverse events and near misses.
    • Analyze which metrics indicate future quality improvement opportunities.
  3. Develop a QI initiative proposal based on a selected health issue and supporting data analysis.
    • Determine benchmarks aligned to existing QI initiatives set by local, state, or federal health care policies or laws.
    • Identify any internal existing QI initiatives in your practice setting or organization related to the selected issue. Explain why they are insufficient.
    • Evaluate external national or international QI initiatives on the selected health issue with existing quality indicators from other facilities, government agencies, and nongovernmental bodies on quality improvement.
    • Define target areas for improvement and the processes to be modified to improve outcomes.
    • Propose evidence-based strategies to improve quality.
    • Analyze challenges that meeting prescribed benchmarks can pose for a health care organization and the interprofessional team.
  4. Communicate QI initiative proposal based on interdisciplinary team input to improve patient safety and quality outcomes and work-life quality.
    • Define interprofessional roles and responsibilities relating to data and the QI initiative.
    • Explain how to ensure all relevant interprofessional roles are fully engaged in this effort.
    • Identify how outcomes will be measured and data used to inform interprofessional team performance related to specific tasks.
    • Reflect on the impact of the proposed initiative on work-life quality of the interprofessional team.
    • Describe how the initiative enhances work-life quality due to improved strategies supporting efficiency.
  5. Determine communication strategies to promote quality improvement of interprofessional care.
    • Identify interprofessional communication strategies that will help to promote and ensure the success of the QI initiative.
    • Identify communication models, such as SBAR and CUS, to include in your proposal.
      • SBAR stands for Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation.
      • CUS stands for “I am Concerned about my resident’s condition; I am Uncomfortable with my resident’s condition; I believe the Safety of the resident is at risk.”
    • Consult this resource for additional information about these fundamental evidence-based tools to improve interprofessional team communication for patient handoffs:
  6. Communicate QI initiative proposal in a professional, effective manner, writing clearly and logically, with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
  7. Integrate relevant sources to support arguments, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style.

Example Assessment: Refer to QI Initiative Proposal Exemplar [PDF] for an idea of what an assessment given a proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like.

Additional Requirements

  • Submission length: 8–10 typed, double-spaced pages of content plus title and reference pages.
  • Font: Times New Roman, 12 points.
  • Number of references: Cite a minimum of 5 current scholarly and/or authoritative sources to support your QI initiative proposal. Current means no older than 5 years unless a seminal work.
  • APA formatting: Citations and references need to adhere to APA style and formatting guidelines. Consult these resources for an APA refresher:

Grading Rubric:

1.   Analyze data to identify a health care issue or area of concern.

Passing Grade:  Analyzes data to identify a health care issue or area of concern; evaluates data quality.

2.   Develop a QI initiative proposal based on a selected health issue and supporting data analysis.

Passing Grade:   Develops a QI initiative proposal based on a selected health issue and supporting data analysis. Proposal identifies knowledge gaps, unknowns, missing information, unanswered questions, or areas of uncertainty where further information could improve the proposal.

3.   Communicate QI initiative proposal, based on interdisciplinary team input, to improve patient safety and quality outcomes and work-life quality.

Passing Grade:   Communicates QI initiative proposal, based on interdisciplinary team input, to improve patient safety and quality outcomes and work-life quality. Identifies assumptions on which the inputs are based.

4.   Integrate relevant sources to support arguments, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style.

Passing Grade:   Thoroughly integrates relevant sources to support arguments using error-free APA style and formatting in citations and references.

5.   Determine evidence-based communication strategies to promote quality improvement of interprofessional care.

Passing Grade:   Determines multiple evidence-based communication strategies to promote quality improvement of interprofessional care.

6.   Communicate QI initiative proposal in a professional, effective manner, writing clearly and logically, with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Passing Grade:   Communicates QI initiative proposal in a professional, effective manner, writing content clearly and logically, with error-free use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Proposal includes multiple specifics, examples, and references to current scholarly and/or authoritative sources.

7.   Determine whether any adverse event or near-miss data must be factored in to outcomes and recommendations.

Passing Grade:   Determines whether any adverse event or near-miss data must be factored in to outcomes and recommendations. Specifies the criteria by which the determination is made.