Application: Quality and Patient Safety by Setting
  
  
  For this Application Assignment, you will consider quality and patient safety efforts for a particular type of organization.
  
    To prepare for this Application Assignment:

• Select a health care setting such as an acute care hospital, long-term care facility, or private clinic.
• Consider the importance of quality and patient safety in this organization.
• Consider the challenges to providing quality and patient safety in this organization.

To complete this Application Assignment, write a 2- to 3-page paper that:

• Explains why quality and patient safety are important, particularly for this health care setting.
• Identifies the key challenges regarding quality and/or patient safety for this setting.
• Describes at least two strategies for improving and assuring quality and patient safety in this setting and explains why you chose these strategies.

Be sure to support your work with specific citations from this week’s Learning Resources and additional scholarly sources as appropriate. Refer to the Essential Guide to APA Style for Walden Students to ensure that your in-text citations and reference list are correct.

Required Resources

Media

• Video: Dentzer, S. (2006). National campaign aims to curb hospital mistakes, saves lives. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec06/lives_08-18.html

   

  This video presentation includes an interview with Dr. Donald Berwick discussing the 100,000 Lives Campaign. There is also an option to download the audio only.

Readings

• Course Text: Jonas & Kovner’s Health Care Delivery in the United States

• • Chapter 11, “High Quality Health Care”

  This chapter defines quality of health care and how differing definitions of quality care are influenced by the perspective of different stakeholders. Chapter 11 also addresses basic strategies for managing quality within the inherent complexity of health care organizations.

• Article: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2008). The current state of health care quality. Retrieved from http://www.rwjf.org/pr/product.jsp?id=30711

This article provides an overview of three key concerns in quality health care: underuse, overuse, and misuse of resources. The full article is available for download by scrolling down the page to the Publication and Resources section and clicking Download to view “The Current State of Health Care Quality Overview.”

This commentary provides definitions, obligations, and implications of quality health care. The article also provides an overview of pay-for-performance and general quality improvement measures.

This study explores strategies for reducing hospital errors such as (1) partnership with stakeholders, (2) reporting errors free of blame, (3) open discussion of errors, (4) cultural shift, (5) education and training, (6) statistical analysis of data, and (7) system redesign. Focus your attention on the “Executive Summary” section within the first three pages and the “Discussion” section of the study.