Strives to Improve Patient Safety Assignment Paper

Dashboard Analysis and Nursing Plan

Dashboards in healthcare promote clarity and visual-centric techniques that bring out data contextualization and visibility. Besides, quality dashboards give healthcare professionals better and faster insights, improving healthcare quality. Also, dashboards plan and fraternize large amounts of data which are then transferred in an easy-to-read format (Rabiei & Almasi, 2022). Healthcare facilities use dashboards to report the issues happening, including pressure ulcers, pain control, and falls. The data collected through the dashboards motivates healthcare professionals to improve their overall performance. Strives to Improve Patient Safety Assignment Paper

With improvements in healthcare technology, there is a massive need for precise and timely data to make desirable changes in healthcare delivery. Therefore, for healthcare professionals to understand the diverse sets of data and manage the complex organizational structures, a quality dashboard is required. Quality dashboards emphasize efficiency and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).  Since dashboards cover diverse areas of concern including pressure ulcers, pain control, and falls, healthcare professionals easily identify sensitive and high-risk areas that require attention and monitoring (Mayo Clinic, 2022). As a result, healthcare professionals take the right measures to address the arising issues before they cause adverse impacts.

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Dashboard Analysis

In the provided dashboard, performance is above average in most areas. The hospital stays are positive, and the registered nurses handled the patients respectfully, professionally, and courteously. However, in the fall risk protocol, there was a noticeable change in one quarter. The professional handling of the patients by the registered nurses positively impacted the patient outcome and quality of care delivery. Besides, the hospital’s length of stay impacted patient outcomes positively (Rabiei & Almasi, 2022). However, the fall risk protocol in the fourth quarter requires intensive investigation to ensure a holistic approach to patients’ needs. Strives to Improve Patient Safety Assignment Paper

The diverse areas of concern including pressure ulcers, pain control, and falls require improvement and assessment. The three areas of concern had negative numbers in the last quarter. Pressure ulcers are injuries on the underlying tissue and skin caused by long exposure to pressure on the skin. Pressure ulcers are normally found on the tailbone, heels, hips, and ankles. Besides, pressure ulcers reduce the ability of a patient to sit on a bed and change sitting positions. Therefore, pressure ulcers should be prevented in all patients since they lower the quality of life. In the event a pressure ulcer is recognized, it must be treated immediately to avoid further complications for patients. On the other hand, pain causes discomfort in patients and always requires immediate response from the nurses (Mayo Clinic, 2022). When nurses take too long to respond to pain, patient outcomes reduce significantly leading to low quality of care. Falls in hospitals are unplanned fall-downs of patients to the floor. Additionally, falls result in internal bleeding and fractures reducing the quality of care, increased cost of health, and longer hospital stays. For that reason, falls are the riskiest to the quality of care and safety of the patients. Strives to Improve Patient Safety Assignment Paper

Falls

Falls in the delivery of quality care in healthcare are frustrating and devastating, especially in geriatrics. Normally falls result in internal bleeding and fractures, and sometimes cause death. More than 35 percent of cases of falls result in death while about 10 percent cause external injuries. Besides, falls are caused by internal and extrinsic factors (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, n.d.). The internal factors causing falls include low levels of mobility, lack of balance, old age, and effects of medication. On the other hand, the extrinsic factors causing falls in hospitals include the unfamiliarity of patients with the hospital setup, low-quality shoes, poor lighting, and poorly maintained floors. Healthcare facilities should invest in fall prevention when developing nursing care plans.

When addressing falls in healthcare facilities, healthcare practitioners need to implement the best practices for fall prevention. Healthcare products require a multidisciplinary responsibility for intervention to reduce falls (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, n.d.).  Therefore, hospital management should embark on educating patients and healthcare professionals. Also, patients need to be provided with mobility aids that are easy to use and exercise when they need to move around. A nursing care plan for falls will help to reduce the dangers associated with patient falls leading to the delivery of quality care. Strives to Improve Patient Safety Assignment Paper

Nursing Care Plan for Falls

Prevention of falls requires a holistic approach to the healthcare facilities, healthcare professionals, and patients. For example, when a patient is considered at high risk for falls during admission, the nurses are required to set risk assessments. A fall risk assessment will help to assess all the circumstances that might lead to an increase in fall risk and the patient’s cognitive status. The best fall risk assessment that will reduce the level of fall risk is called the Morse Fall Scale. The Morse fall scale helps in the identification of the potential risk factors in patients. Besides, the Morse fall scale categorizes patients based on their scores (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, n.d.).  Patients scoring more than 45 points are considered high risk, 25 to 45 points translate to a moderate risk of falling, while under 25 points indicate a low risk of falling. Besides, the Morse fall scale suggests the possible ways for fall prevention. The different ways of preventing falls in hospitals include fall alarms, non-skid socks, and lower positioning of the beds. Also, it is paramount to involve the family members in the strategies involved in fall prevention. Besides, the nurses should ensure the patients understand the measures taken to reduce levels of fall risk. Strives to Improve Patient Safety Assignment Paper

Additionally, nurses should put whiteboards that indicate the nursing care plan for falls on notice boards and in all patient rooms (Wagner, 2021). The whiteboards indicate the ambulatory aides, patients’ fall scores, and the assistance required. Besides, whiteboards should also have sensory aides and an alarm. Nurses should ensure the information provided in the whiteboards is enough to guide any person close to a patient any time they need help. As a result, the use of whiteboards will significantly reduce the time taken to respond to a patient when they need help hence reducing hospital falls.

Besides, the start of shift huddle is a safety parameter that will play a big role in the reduction of hospital falls. A start-of-shift huddle will act as an alert response for the entire hospital in every shift. According to Wagner (2021), the start of shift huddles will prompt the nurses to perform hourly bedside visits to assess the patient’s position, prevention of falls, and level of pain. Also, through the start of shift huddle nurses will discuss prevention measures anytime a fall happens.

Dashboards in healthcare promote clarity, plan large amounts of data, and improve the quality of care. For healthcare professionals to understand the diverse sets of data and manage the complex organizational structures, a quality dashboard is required. When doing dashboard analysis, the diverse areas of concern include pressure ulcers, pain control, and falls. Falls in the delivery of quality care in healthcare are frustrating and devastating, especially for old people. Therefore, addressing falls in healthcare facilities, healthcare practitioners need to implement the best practices for fall prevention. Nursing care plans for falls require a holistic approach through the use of the Morse Fall Scale, whiteboards, and the start of shift huddles to reduce falls and improve patient safety and outcomes. Strives to Improve Patient Safety Assignment Paper

References

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (n.d.). Preventing falls in hospitals.             https://www.ahrq.gov/patient-safety/settings/hospital/fall-     prevention/toolkit/index.html

Mayo Clinic. (2022, April 19). Bedsores (pressure ulcers) – Symptoms and             causes.             https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bed-sores/symptoms-causes/syc-   20355893

Rabiei, R., & Almasi, S. (2022, November 8). Requirements and challenges of hospital     dashboards: A systematic literature review. BioMed Central.             https://bmcmedinformdecismak.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12911-022-020378

Wagner, M. (2021, November 7). Risk for falls nursing diagnosis & care plan.

NurseTogether.

https://www.nursetogether.com/risk-for-falls-nursing-diagnosis-care-plan/

For this Assignment, use the Dashboard located in this week’s Resources, to interpret the data and frame a nursing plan based on best practices.

Review the Week 5 Assignment Rubric. The Week 5 Assignment Rubric can be found at the bottom of the Week 5 Assignment page.

Review the Week 4 Resources that pertain to the NDNQI and use of dashboards

Choose a Nurse-Sensitive Quality Indicator that needs improvement based on the data presented in the Dashboard. Reflect on how you would develop a nursing plan with suggestions on how to improve performance in the chosen area.

Develop a nursing plan that outlines suggestions on how to improve performance in the chosen area.

Provide at least three best practices from evidenced-based literature to support your nursing plan. Strives to Improve Patient Safety Assignment Paper

Assignment

Draft a 3- to 4 page paper analyzing areas where there is good performance and areas of opportunity from the sample Dashboard.

Analyze the data provided in the Dashboard and select an area of performance that needs improvement. Include information on why this area was chosen.

Develop a nursing plan that includes suggestions on how to improve performance on the selected indicator. Be sure to provide at least three best practices from the evidenced-based literature to support your suggested nursing plan.

Be sure to include an introduction and conclusion in your paper.

Use the Walden University course paper template found in the Writing Resources page.
Note that no abstract or running head is required. Strives to Improve Patient Safety Assignment Paper