Quality Improvement Paper

Overview:

You will select an opportunity for improvement from within your healthcare organization. To do so, you must have data that supports performance that is not in line with organizational/national benchmark data (ex. Falls, Patient Satisfaction, Infection rates, ED through-put, lengths of stay, etc). You will discuss your idea with someone from the organization to determine priority projects. You will write a Quality Improvement Paper that will be approximately 20 pages, in APA format (double spaced, 12 point font), excluding title, abstract and reference pages. This project will be guided by the FOCUS-PDSA quality improvement framework. To assist you with this process, each week, we will discuss a component of the model and have corresponding assignments that will help you shape your project. 

MANDATORY PROJECT COMPONENTS

The following are requisites for this project:

1. Title Page 

2. Abstract

3. Introduction (approx. 1-2 pages), to include:

a.  Thesis or problem statement

b. Background

c. Data that is specific to your unit/organization that serves as the basis for a QI initiative. (May include graphs and charts as appendices, if allowed by the organization) 

4. Literature Review (approx. 2-3 pages) (This should be set up as if you were submitting a paper for publication. Do an overview of your findings)

5. Definition of Terms (if applicable and necessary for the reader’s understanding of your work)

6. Body – approx.12-15 pages (not including the title page, abstract and references.)

a. Evidence-based intervention that is being implemented

b. Plan for implementation, including the who, what, when, where and why

c. Ethical considerations

d. Required resources

e. Leadership theory to help guide implementation and sustain it

f. Change theory that will facilitate implementation

g. Evaluation procedures

h. Alternative processes, plan for sustainability

i. How will this improve outcomes? Are there any next steps? 

7. Conclusion (approx. 0.5-1 page)

a. Summary (of what you did and found)

b. Discussion (explanation of findings)

8. References – a minimum of ten recent, peer-reviewed sources. Remember, each reference must be cited as an “in-text citation” (within the body of the paper/project).