Introduction
Managers in different health facilities need to use Quality Indicators (QIs) to track performance and measure patient outcomes. These are evidence-based strategies that can guide different professionals to maximize care delivery, work as a team, and identify specific areas that need continuous improvement. This paper discusses the concept of Patient Safety Indicator (PSI) and its potential in improving the safety, quality, and outcomes of patients and their respective family members. It will also outline the major competencies recorded after completing several assignments in class.
Description of PSI and Patient Outcomes
PSIs are attributes that offer meaningful information to clinicians and medical professionals about safety events that need to be prevented to improve the quality care available to more beneficiaries. Different partners collaborate to focus on complications, conditions, and adverse events arising from surgeries, drug prescription, and medical procedures (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019). These indicators could also guide clinicians to focus on childbirth conditions and possible challenges that could trigger sentinel events. Such initiatives will make it possible for healthcare institutions to achieve their objectives and improve the medical experiences of more patients.
With the adoption of these PSIs, the involved healthcare professionals will assess the rate at which adverse events occur, monitor possible triggers, and identify malpractices that should be addressed. The team members might decide to introduce new clinical guidelines, borrow evidence-based practices from other successful medical institutions, and develop superior models that will mitigate such challenges (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019). These measures will create better environments for providing personalized, culturally competent, and safe care to the identified patients. Their family members will be encouraged to be part of the process, receive timely guidelines and information that can make them part of the process, and consider new strategies to improve healthcare practices.
Data and Leadership Goal
Sentinel events tend to be common in medical facilities across the United States. For example, the country records around 100,000 fatalities due to drug reactions annually (Jordan et al., 2016). Around 3-7 percent of admissions are also attributed to health-related safety issues (Jordan et al., 2016). Around 10-20 percent of patients have to be readmitted due to hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), pressure ulcers, and falls (Xue & Intrator, 2016). These statistics explain why more medical institutions need to rely on this QI to monitor possible causes of such problems and change the processes of care delivery. Similarly, effective leadership could become a powerful strategy for implementing new changes successfully in different departments, empowering caregivers, and creating the best environment for addressing safety concerns (Xue & Intrator, 2016). The involved leaders should apply their competencies effectively, introduce the concept of teamwork, and present protocols to overcome sentinel events.
Solution
The best solution that revolves around the idea of PSI is that of introducing a new change. Different professionals will need to examine the existing safety issues and events that result in adverse effects (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, n.d.). This knowledge will guide the clinicians to introduce a new model whereby all participants will collaborate, engage patients and their family members, and introduce clinical guidelines to improve health outcomes. The introduced aspects and behaviors will become part of the medical institution and support the reduction of sentinel events (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, n.d.). The idea of continuous quality improvement will make the targeted facility a leading provider of safe medical services (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019). All stakeholders need to be involved to identify possible barriers to change, present superior ideas, and support the delivery of positive results in a timely manner.
Reflection
The assignments for Weeks 4 and 6 equipped me with additional skills that have the potential to support my learning process. For instance, I acquired new ideas for writing effectively, following instructions, and gathering adequate or relevant information from different sources. I have mastered the art of accessing different materials and journal articles from the available Library resources. I can now utilize various key words depending on the nature of the topic to get adequate or professional materials published within the last five years (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019). The activities have improved my adeptness in APA Referencing Style. Most of the completed exercises have made it easier for me to analyze instructions and acquire information from various resources to answer the outlined questions accurately. These achievements indicate that I will have increased chances of completing additional assignments successfully in the future and realizing my objectives as a student of nursing.
Conclusion
The above discussion supports the use of QIs to identify exiting obstacles to safe and high-quality patient care. Medical professionals in different health institutions can consider the identified statistics to introduce new models and practice that will minimize sentinel events, such as HAIs and falls. The introduction of superior change models can transform the situation and ensure that more individuals receive personalized and evidence-based medical services. The end result is that the beneficiaries will lead better and contented lives.
References
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2019). Patient safety indicators™ (PSI) v2019 ICD-10-CM/PCS parameter estimates. Mathematica.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (n.d.). Patient safety indicators overview. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
Jordan, S., Vaismoradi, M., & Griffiths, P. (2016). Adverse drug reactions, nursing and policy: A narrative review. Annals of Nursing Practice, 3(3), 1050-1056. Web.
Xue, Y., & Intrator, O. (2016). Cultivating the role of nurse practitioners in providing primary care to vulnerable populations in an era of health-care reform. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, 17(1), 24-31. Web.