Patient Safety Infrastructure Assessment

Topic: QI and Patient Safety Infrastructure Assessment
The purpose of this assignment is to provide students with the opportunity to assess and become familiar with the quality and safety infrastructure within their respective healthcare organizations. Use the dedicated discussion forum in Blackboard for this assignment. Review these instructions and the evaluation criteria outlined in the grading rubric carefully before you begin to avoid unnecessary loss of points on this assignment. This assignment constitutes 5% of your grade for this course.
1. Review the quality and patient safety infrastructure checklist on page 2.
2. Conduct an assessment of the quality and safety infrastructure of your organization using the checklist as a guide. Note that an in-depth assessment is beyond the scope of this discussion board assignment and you may not be able to gather information in every category. You may want to start by scheduling time to talk with any designated QI/Safety coordinators in your agency, or the manager of your work area.
3. In an initial discussion board posting, describe (a) the type of setting where you work and (b) the results of your assessment by responding to at least four of the following questions or statements. You do not need to identify your organization by name—just setting type (e.g., hospital, emergency room, primary care, long term care, etc.).
o Is the organization accredited or certified by one or more quality-focused credentialing bodies (e.g., Joint Commission, ANCC/Magnet, NCQA). How does this impact the organization’s approach to quality and safety?
o Has the organization adopted one or more standardized approaches to QI (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma, PDSA)? How is it implemented?
Standardized approach to quality/safety Has the organization adopted a standardized approach to QI (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma, etc.)? Which one? How is it implemented?
Established quality and safety priorities Have these been established and communicated to staff? How? What projects or initiatives are in place to support achievement of these priorities?
Quality measurement system(s) How are quality and safety measured? What specific indicator measures are being used? Are standardized measures (e.g., HEDIS, CAHPS) used? Which ones?
Rewards and/or recognition programs What rewards or recognition programs or mechanisms are in place to promote and reinforce quality- and safety-related behaviors?