REDUCING THE INCIDENCE OF CENTRAL LINE BLOOD STREAM INFECTIONS

Quality Improvement in Health Care – Methodologies and Techniques.

Identify an improvement project/piece of work which has been/or potentially could be undertaken within your work area and critically explore how this would be driven forward by the use of a quality improvement method. You should also consider potential/actual outcomes and any challenges which may be faced.

Critically appraise improvement methodologies, their development, implementation and implications within healthcare settings
Review and evaluate differing approaches to continuous quality improvement and their relevance and applicability within healthcare settings
Systematically appraise evaluation strategies, examining impact and effectiveness within the healthcare setting.

Section 1 (Introduction)
In this section you should provide a brief overview of the content of your assignment.  In doing so, this provides a clear understanding of the scope of the assignment and signposts the reader to the main points you will be developing in the main section.  This should be succinct.

Section 2
A brief critical discussion of no more than 2 quality improvement methodologies that are commonly used in healthcare. Lean Methodology (sort, set, shine, standardize, sustain) and Rapid Cycle Change Methodology (Plan,Do, Study, Act)

Section 3
Critically discuss your chosen quality improvement project:
e.g. This may be based around introducing new guidelines, new documentation etc. Something that will improve the patient experience or improve patient/client safety. This section should also include:
Review of the literature around the chosen topic of improvement
Key points which should be considered when attempting to undertake any quality improvement work i.e. leadership skills, communication skills, resistance to change etc
How the effects of the new way of working will be measured/evaluated

Section 4 (conclusion and recommendations)
This should draw together the main points from your work
Recommendations for future practice should also be addressed in this section.