I had been asked to develop a quality improvement (QI) process for my medical facility employer. I informed the chief information officer in the areas I was to analyze and the process I had to use to determine if my project was successful or not. I used various methods to quantitively and qualitatively measure my quality improvement (QI) process in the selected areas in my healthcare facility. The selected QI team members and I first developed a measurement plan. We determined what will be measured, how often will it be measured, who will be responsible for the various measurement and how will the measurement be shared with the team.
The qualitative and quantitative methods used included interviews, observation, patient satisfaction surveys, and analysis of documents (Morse, 2016). The QI team members were divided into various QI areas in my healthcare facility to have face to face interviews. The interviews based on flexible topics that provided a loose structure of open-ended questions to explore experiences of different patients, nurses, and doctors. The interviews also provided an opportunity to obtain more details about issues and services in the healthcare facility (Morse, 2016). This method provided people`s views, and preferences, therefore, gave benefits on uncovering problems and concerns that may not have been considered or anticipated. This method was helpful in assessing the views of services and healthcare providers in the healthcare facility and also revealed why some care was perceived as poor quality. The information gathered and obtained gave enough data to measure Quality Improvement (QI) and provided data on the improvements to be done in the healthcare services in the selected healthcare facility.
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The observation method was also used in the process. The QI team members were separated and placed in the different selected areas to do the various observation of the healthcare facility. They observed the organizational settings, the health facility’s team behavior and the interactions in the healthcare facility. This method was used to uncover what happens in the healthcare facility and to reveal everyday behavior to collect further data obtained from the interviews done. Through observation, enough data was gathered to analyze and determine the needed improvements to be done or what had to be improved in the medical healthcare facility.
Questionnaires were also used to measure the quality improvements for the various selected areas in the healthcare facilities. This method was used by using questionnaires containing multiple questions of the facility’s health care so as to gather information from patients or the healthcare facility’s staff so as to take their views and concerns which were useful to know whether the health care facility needed what kind of improvements (Thokala et al., 2016). This method was used to analyze the nature of the healthcare facility and allowed easy analysis of the results obtained from the questionnaires. This method made it easier to interpret the reports and visualizations which made it easier to true the data collected into results.
Focus groups discussion was also done to measure the quality improvement. A small group of participants both patients and the healthcare providers were gathered to discuss the healthcare facility issues and concerns and how it affects the health facility or not (Thokala et al., 2016). This method was used to gain more understanding of the participants and the perspectives of the topic in discussion. This method helps gather information on the healthcare facility progress and whether the change had to be done or not to improve the care of the healthcare facility.
Surveys were also used in the measure of the quality improvement. Surveys were used to learn patient`s opinion on different areas such as the quality of treatment, facilities, support staff and appointment bookings (Holloway & Galvin, 2016). The health survey was used to collect the population's health status of the facility, health behaviors, the risk factors and evaluating the quality of health care level provided. With this information, the survey collected was used to help improve the care in the healthcare facility.
Self-report tool method was also used in the process. This method was used to receive a participant’s feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. The data obtained was from the answers and response by respondents themselves without any help or interference. This method was important since information received was the feeling and concerns of the respondents themselves, the patients or doctors, hence providing adequate data of what had to be done to improve the healthcare in the healthcare facility.
Structure measures were also done. This method was used to analyze the infrastructure of health care settings such as the healthcare facility’s offices, and how the healthcare settings were able to deliver health care. This measure was used to evaluate staffing of facilities and the capabilities of these staffs, the policy environment in which care is given and the availability of resources within the healthcare facility. This method was used to measure if the characteristics of health care setting in the health facility can significantly affect the quality of care and also determine if the facility had care settings that met specific standards have an advantage when it comes to providing high-quality care. This, therefore, provided enough data on how to improve the health services in the health quality facility in the selected areas.
Process measures were taken. This method was used to determine the extent to which the healthcare facility providers were able to consistently give patience specific services that are consistent with recommended guidelines for care (Green & Thorogood, 2018). These measures generally showed the procedures or treatments that are known to improve health status or prevent future complications or health conditions. It was used to assess whether a provider meets the requirement and whether the patients receive recommended care or not. This measure was useful because it gave clear, actionable feedback and a straightforward way to improve the healthcare facility performance.
Outcome measures were also done in the different selected areas. This measure was used to determine the patient`s health as a result of the care they had received. It was also used to look at the effects, intended or unintended, that the healthcare facility`s had on patients health, health status and function (Green & Thorogood, 2018). This measure was used to assess whether or not the goals of care had been accomplished. It was also used to determine the traditional measures of survival, the incidence of diseases and the health-related quality of life issues. Through this method, enough information was gathered which provided useful information on the outcomes and challenges of the healthcare facilities in the selected areas and the relative improvement of the quality of the health services.
The QI team members selected also did a patient experience measures in the health facility. This measure was used to give feedback on patients’ experiences of their care including the interpersonal aspects of care (Green & Thorogood, 2018). This measure was also used to asses other aspects such as accessibility and clarity of information that doctors provide to whether the doctors offer information to patients about the test results and how fast patience was able to get appointments for urgently needed care. This method was used to identify the doctor-patient relationship in the healthcare facility. This method provided enough data to determine what was to be improved in the healthcare services or whether the medical staff relationship with the patients was to be improved.
In conclusion, the quantitative and qualitative methods seek to understand the phenomenon in the healthcare facility and, therefore, lead to a better understanding of how to improve quality. Quantitative and qualitative methods offer a variety of ways of identifying what matters to patients and careers, explaining why improvement does or does not occur and also identifying obstacles to changing performance. Collecting and evaluating data using quantitative and qualitative methods ensures that every patient gets the right care at the right time and the right place.
References
Green, J., & Thorogood, N. (2018). Qualitative methods for health research . Sage.
Holloway, I., & Galvin, K. (2016). Qualitative research in nursing and healthcare . John Wiley & Sons.
Morse, J. M. (2016). Qualitative health research: Creating a new discipline . Routledge.
Thokala, P., Devlin, N., Marsh, K., Baltussen, R., Boysen, M., Kalo, Z., ... & Ijzerman, M. (2016). Multiple criteria decision analysis for health care decision making—an introduction: report 1 of the ISPOR MCDA Emerging Good Practices Task Force. Value in health , 19(1), 1-13.
