Nursing

In this assignment, you will propose a quality improvement initiative from your place of employment that could easily be implemented if approved. Assume you are presenting this program to the board for approval of funding. Write an executive summary (750-1,000 words) to present to the board, from which the board will make its decision to fund your program or project. Include the following:

The purpose of the quality improvement initiative.
The target population or audience.
The benefits of the quality improvement initiative.
The interprofessional collaboration that would be required to implement the quality improvement initiative.
The cost or budget justification.
The basis upon which the quality improvement initiative will be evaluated.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

ANSWER

Improving Nursing Workload to Improve Patient Safety

The Purpose of the Quality Improvement Initiative

Patient safety is related to nursing workload in that an improvement in nursing workloads leads to an increase in patient safety. A BMJ Open study established that patient safety incidences increased up to 30% when nursing workloads went over the optimal level. This increased the odds of patients dying by 40%. Nursing workloads should be optimal at most to allow the nurses to concentrate on serving all patients effectively. This quality improvement initiative seeks to increase patient safety hence increase the effectiveness of the nursing services in the organization. The quality improvement initiative also seeks to give nurses a balance between their skills and the amount of work ascribed to them.

The Target Population or Audience

The quality improvement initiative targets nurses in the organization. Nurses are a target population since a balance in the workload of the nurses must be achieved to ensure high standards of patient safety. The quality improvement initiative also targets the management of the organization because they will have to make certain changes to ensure that the aims of the program are achieved. Ultimately the beneficiaries of the improvement initiative will be the patients because if the nurses have a balanced workload, their safety will be increased.

The Benefits of the Quality Improvement Initiative

Consistency in Nursing Processes and Procedures

Balancing nursing workload ensures that there are consistent processes and procedures that all nurses must follow as they deliver their mandate. These processes can include administering medication, scanning patient IDs, checking patients before changing shifts among other activities. Comprehensive training on new procedures will give nurses an understanding of their roles.

Improved Time Management

Improving nursing workload will assist the nurses to maintain regular schedules. Patients will receive care at the right time thus, improving the quality of their care. Patients will therefore have more positive results in the care system.

Prioritization

Improving nurse workload ensures that nurses are not pulled in different directions without prioritization schedules. Proper guidance and training enable nurses to prioritize some calls of duty and say “no” to those that are not vital. This enables patients who need the most urgent care to acquire much-needed emergency care that will improve their care results.

Enough Staffing

To ensure there is a balance in nursing workloads, there must be sufficient nursing in the organization. Nurses will benefit when their enough supply of team members who can help them to serve patients effectively. Quality care for patients will increase significantly when workload balance by sufficient staffing is implemented.

The Interprofessional Collaboration That Would Be Required to Implement the Quality Improvement Initiative

Coordination between the hospital management, nursing managers, nursing leaders, and nurses will be required to ensure the success of the quality improvement initiative. The hospital management will be responsible for improving staffing levels by allocating the budget for increasing the number of nurses needed to effectively balance the nursing workload. The nursing managers and nursing leaders will be responsible for coordinating particular scheduling changes that must be made to ensure nurses adopt the new system. The program will mostly affect individual nurses hence they will have to increase their level of collaboration both vertically and horizontally to ensure its success. Since nurses work in collaboration with other healthcare workers like doctors, lab technicians, and pharmacists, they will need to get information on the new workload improvement schedules to ensure patients benefit ultimately.

The Cost or Budget Justification

The quality improvement initiative will cost a total of $560,000. The cost of hiring 5 new nurses to boost the low staffing rate will $400,000. The organization will require $30,000 to set up training processes for the workload balance training. This will take one week and will be essential in establishing a clear mode of operation that the nurses must adopt. To streamline procedures in the nursing department, the organization will need to spend $100,000. This will enable nurses to operate by a standard set of procedures that will improve patient safety.

The Basis Upon Which the Quality Improvement Initiative Will Be Evaluated

Number of Working Hours Per Day for Each Nurse

The number of working hours of each nurse will be calculated to ensure they are not above optimum. If the number of working hours per nurse goes above optimum, the project will be deemed a failure. However, should the number of working hours per nurse stay within the optimum range, the project shall be considered successful.

The Mortality Rate of Nurses

The quality improvement initiative will be measured based on mortality rate levels in the hospital. Patient mortality increased with an increase in nurse workloads above the optimum. A reduction of patient mortality will be a positive indicator in the quality improvement initiative

Rate of Occurrence of Medical Errors

A BMJ Open study established that patient safety incidences increased up to 30% when nursing workloads went over the optimal level. The success of the quality improvement initiative will be measured on the occurrence rate of safety incidences. An increase in safety incidences will indicate reduced failure of the improvement initiative while a reduction in safety incidences will indicate a positive outcome in the initiative.