Acme Medical Centre was founded in 1867 and is located in the Middle city. The hospital has gained fame to be the second largest hospital in the state. Acme Medical Centre operations were supported by sponsors such as community leaders and local leaders who played an essential role in developing the hospital into its current state. Acme Medical Centre has grown exponentially in a manner that has seen it to accommodate a 550 tertiary bed center which is extensively used by adult patients who visit the healthcare center. Acme Medical Centre has incorporated strategic management in which it enables the organization to increase its level of efficiency in its operations. Furthermore, the medical institution has included a pediatric institution which has been equipped with one hundred beds. The pediatric institution is located at adjacently to the healthcare facility is known as the Acme Hospital for Children.
Acme Medical Institution has been competent in its operations for many years, but there has been a need for the organization to increase the quality of medical care it offers to its patients. The need for enhancing the quality of healthcare is a strategy of mitigating the risk that may arise that may either affect the operations of the health institution negatively or put the lives of the patients at higher risk. The strategy that will be incorporated in mitigating such risk from occurring in the medical institution will include developing a risks management plan. The risk management plan will play a significant role in identifying the risks, evaluating the identified risks mitigating or eliminating the risks and managing the identified risk in the organization. However, the process will require all employees to be incorporated into the action plan to ensure that a quality action plan is useful in the operations of the healthcare facility. In this report, Acme Medial Centre will be required to identify the root cause for the problems that are affecting the operations of Acme Medical Centre
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Purpose
The primary role of the quality management plan is to ensure that Acme Medical Centre will be undertaken by Acme Medical Center and create strategies that the healthcare organization will incorporate to identify the risks and mitigate the risks. The primary role will be increasing the quality of the health care services which are being offered to the patients of Acme Medical Centre. Statistics that will be collected on the risk that may affect the quality of the services provided by the healthcare facility will be communicated through a reliable communication platform by the management of Acme Medical Center. The quality unit of the healthcare facility to create a border focus on the strategies that will be implemented to control the risks that pose to the healthcare organization and mitigating the risks.
Scope
The quality risk management plan that is to be implemented by the healthcare organization is the employees of Acme Medical Centre, the management, and the systems of the healthcare facility. The quality risk management plan will also cover the healthcare systems to identify the potential risks that may affect the operations of the healthcare facility (Haughom, 2015). The quality risk management plan will ensure to collect the data from the community who are the primary clients of the healthcare facility, the harmful events that have been witnessed in the healthcare facility and reporting the identified risks to the management of Acme Medical Centre. Furthermore, the risks quality management plan is undertaken to ensure that the Acme Medical Centre meets the required safety and quality standards that have been set by the Joint Commission (Kristensen et al., 2015). The improvement of the quality of services offered by Acme Medical Centre will ensure that the departments of the healthcare facility will be incorporated in the quality risk management plan.
Root Cause Analysis
The root cause is the problem that is defined as the problem that is affecting the operations of Acme Medical Centre. The root cause o the Acme Medical Institution will involve evaluating the adverse events that have occurred in the healthcare institution. The root cause of Acme Medical Centre is due to the TPN incident that recently happened in the healthcare facility. The assessment was conducted by the quality risk management team of the healthcare facility. The management of the healthcare organization has incorporated a Risk Cause Analysis in which it will identify the potential risks that are affecting the quality of the services that are being rendered by the healthcare institution. In this case, the cause of the Acme Medical Centre is identified as the medication errors that tend to occur in the medical facility. The risk analysis process will be significant in determining the potential threats that are posed to the medical institution.
The threats which have occurred in the medical institution have to aggerate extent affected the quality of service delivery that is being rendered to patients in the healthcare facility (McFadden et al., 2015). The cause analysis will play an essential role in identifying the probable cause of the adverse event that has occurred in Acme Medical Centre. The findings that will be distinguished from the cause analysis process will ensure that the management of Acme Medical Centre restructures its operations with the sole aim of improving the quality of health services being rendered to the patients of Acme Medical Centre.
The primary goal of the Root Cause Analysis will be making an acute focus on the mistakes that the entire organization is committing rather than the errors of the individuals. The case will ensure that the strategy that will be implemented in the Acme Medical Centre will cater act as a mirror for all the departments of the healthcare organization. The Root Cause Analysis will ensure that the management will incorporate transformational kind of leadership to ensure that the process of cause analysis is thriving in the healthcare organization (Irving and Berndt, 2017). The procedure of the root cause analysis is to eliminate the errors that are present in the Acme Medical Centre. For the cause analysis to be more useful to the operations of Acme Medical Centre is that it should ensure that the management should incorporate a follow-up a strategy to ensure that the reporting and findings that have been identified in the healthcare institution have been implemented in the healthcare institution. The root cause analysis will provide a long-term solution to the errors identified through the root cause analysis procedure that has been incorporated by the management.
The first problem that was identified on the TPN infusion incident is that during the Friday admission, the dietician offered the TPN recipe in its initial developments and the resident pediatric resident later completes the order. However, the issue, in this case, is that the placement was not successful as the initial request was not fulfilled. The second problem that was identified in the root cause analysis is that the pediatric resident altered the order without and increased the content of the element present in the TPN infusion without the assistance of the dietician. In this case, the resident pediatric decided to conduct the duty of the dietician of the medical center as he chooses to increase the content of the element present in the TPN infusion without the assistance or advice of the dietician. Furthermore, the nutritional adjustments which were performed by the resident pediatrician led to an enormous increase of the required solutions of both phosphate and calcium to the TPN solution. The parameters were highly unacceptable according to the set parameters of the TPN solution. The other problem that was identified in the root cause analysis is that the pharmacists did not identify the TPN solution error which was prescribed by the resident pediatrician to the patient. The TPN solution that was prescribed is determined that an offsite pharmacist conducted the TPN solution.
The other problem that was identified in the Acme Medical Centre includes errors that are associated to medications which are offered in the healthcare institution. The errors tend to occur in the administering and prescribing stage of drugs. The other issue that tends to affect the operations of Acme Medical Centre is the issue on staffing. The pediatric staffing that is currently in the healthcare facility teds to have three pediatrics who are working on the day shift of the healthcare institution. However, in the night shift, there is only one pediatric who is working on the evening shift with no pharmacist available during the night evening shift. On weekdays, the problem is that there is only one pediatric who is on duty and tens to work for only eight hours of the day. The other problem that was identified is that the pharmacist does not work on the night shift. The other issues that were evident in Acme Medical Institution were that there as a deficit in the number of the general pharmacist in comparison to weekdays and weekdays. On weekends, two general pharmacists were working in the hospital whereas on the weekends there was only one general pharmacist working in the hospital. The other problem that was evident in Acme Medical Institution is that on the weekend that dietician of the healthcare facility was not available on site and could only offer healthcare services via phone. Furthermore, the other issues that were evident in the healthcare facility were that the pharmacist was not available on day shift.
Recommendations
The first recommendation is for the management of Acme healthcare institution creating a work schedule. The work schedule which will be created will be identifying the multiple roles of the medical practitioners present in the healthcare facility. The overlapping of functions in which we see the pediatrician prescribing or increasing the contents of TPN solution which is the work of the dietitian will be eliminated.
The other recommendation is the creation of an active mode of prescribing and administering drugs in the healthcare facility. Prescription and administration of medications in Acme Medical institution tend to deal with the safety of the patients extensively (Kristensen et al., 2015). The hospital needs to identify a reliable means which will ensure that the healthcare facility prescribes and administers drugs correctly to their patients. Furthermore, a useful communication tool needs to be defined and implemented by the management of Acme Medical Institution with the sole purpose of eliminating errors that may arise due to the lack of an effective communication system in Acme Medical Centre.
The other recommendation that will be effective in eliminating errors that may arise is the lack of consistency in staffing in the entire week. The management of Acme Medical Institution needs to ensure that the number of pharmacists, dietitians, and pediatrician should be maintained at a constant amount with the aim of guaranteeing the healthcare facility has managed the health service delivery. Furthermore, the management needs to identify gaps that may be present in the organization regarding employees staffing. The administration needs to ensure that the number of medical practitioners current in the healthcare facility can meet the needs of the patients who are currently visiting the healthcare facility. The number of medical practitioners that are present in the healthcare facility should be equal across the shifts that are present in the healthcare to improve on the quality of the health services.
The other recommendation is the management acquiring active equipment that will be used to test the content of the medications that has been administered by both the dietitian and the pediatrician. The errors that tend to occur due to wrong adjustments that may arise in nutritional solutions which have been conducted by the patient. The technology will play a significant role in reducing risks that may be posed to the patient. The technology will play a substantial role in improving the quality of health services being rendered by Acme Medical Centre.
The other recommendation is Acme Medical Centre incorporating transformational kind of leadership in its operations. Transformational type of leadership will ensure that subordinate or junior medical practitioners are also involved in the decision-making process of the healthcare institution. The subordinate staff is usually at the ground level during the operations of the healthcare institution. The subordinate employee will be able to identify the gaps that are present Acme Medical Center that may pose a risk to the operation of Acme Medical Centre. The employees may come with strategies which the management in can uses to mitigate these risks in Acme Medical Centre.
The other suitable solution that the management of Acme Medical Center can integrate into its operations is the use of information technology systems. The decision-making process in most clinics is usually complicated. Medical decision is generally made by multiple people who are tasked with medical duties in the medical institution. The medical practitioners often use their human abilities to memorize, synthesis and recall vast amounts of data. Integration of information technology systems will increase the level of effectiveness as it will significantly reduce on the medication errors that tend to occur in Acme Medical Centre. Furthermore, the IT systems will create links between the multiple medical practitioners as they will quickly access medical information and organize them for the primary purpose of improving the quality of healthcare.
The management of Acme Medical Institution incorporating an electronic medication reconciliation system (Bishop et al., 2015). The step will be significant in the operations of Acme Medical Center in mitigating medication errors that tend to arise in the institution. The medication errors usually occur in transition points, reconciliation of drugs lists during the administering stage tend to cause medical errors in Acme (Bishop et al., 2015). Creation of CPOE systems will be efficient in mitigating mistakes that tend to occur during the prescribing phase. However, CPOE will not be effective if the medical practitioner in the institution does not recall the medical prescription of the patient. Electronic medical reconciliation will be effective in mitigating discrepancies that tend to occur during the prescription stage.
The management of Acme Medical Centre integrating a bar-coded medication system I administering of drugs in the medical institution. The barcode system will require the pharmacist who is administering the drugs to scan the identification equipment of the patient the dose of medicine before administering the medication to the patient (Cloete, 2015). The barcode system will be able to alert the physician whenever there is a case of a mismatch between the patient and the drug being administered to the patient in the health institution. The bar code medication system will play a significant role in ameliorating the quality of health services being rendered by the institution as the risks that tend to occur due to medication mismatch will be mitigated by the technique.
Medication of errors in the medical institution can significantly e reduced through the implementation of a decision support system (Cloete, 2015). The error of omission which tends to occur during prescription or administering of drugs can substantially be mitigated through this system. The implementation of a decision support system will be able to remind the pharmacists on the details that they might have omitted during prescription and administration of medications in Acme medical Centre. The decision support system will also enable dietitians to identify supplements that they might have forgotten to include in the TPN infusion.
Introduction of a pharmacy dispensing system in the operations of Acme medical Centre. Errors tend to occur in the pharmacy department of Acme Medical Centre due to the dispensing of high volumes of drugs (Cloete, 2015). The dispensing of high amounts of drugs usually play a critical role in causing drug administration errors in the healthcare facility. Introduction of pharmacy dispensing systems will enhance effectiveness in the duties of the pharmacist in the Acme Medical Centre. The dispensing errors that tend to occur in Acme Medical Centre will be mitigated and thus will lead to improvement in the quality of health services.
Identification of Employees Role
The dietician plays an essential role in the operations of Acme Medical Centre. The dietician tends to perform multiple tasks in Acme Medical Centre. The task which will be performed includes identifying the diet problems which are affecting the patient and evaluating the previous duet status of the patient in a hospital setting (Rathee et al., 2015). The dietician is then tasked with the responsibility of developing the nutritional plans and offering guidance on the particular food modifications (Rathee et al., 2015). The dietician is tasked with the responsibility of performing or creating strategies that will assist to mitigate risks that are associated with nutritional problems. Dietician also performs consulting practices for patients who have nutritional issues. A dietician is also tasked with the responsibility of training the general public on the significance of nutrition and techniques of living a healthy life (Rathee et al., 2015). Dieticians usually manage a cost-effective food production operation to clients in the medical institution.
The pediatrician tends to play a significant role in the operations of Acme Medical Centre. A pediatrician is usually tasked with the responsibility of treating children in the healthcare facility. The role they play tends to apply to the wellness of children significantly. The pharmacist is usually considered to be drug therapy experts in medical institutions. The pharmacist is generally tasked with the responsibility of administering drugs in a clinical setting. The pharmacist also tends to control the overall pharmacy setting (Bajorek et al., 2015). The pharmacist is also tasked with the role of prescribing medications to minor ailments in Acme Medical Center. The pharmacist can play the role of interpreting medical results to the patients.
An assessment of what the facility can do to create a culture of quality and safety
Acme medical Centre to undertake a complete evaluation of its facility with the primary purpose of increasing the quality of health services being rendered thus improving safety in the health institution (Cloete, 2015). In the perception of self, the facility needs to motivate its staff to ensure that the medical practitioners achieve self-actualization. Self-actualization will ensure that subordinate employees can offer services which are relative to high quality and maintaining the safety of the patients when treating the patients (Kristensen et al., 2015). The healthcare institution also needs to train their employees in the existing cultures of the healthcare facility with the primary purpose of improving the quality of healthcare.
The facility needs to conduct an evaluation and identify potential gaps that may be present in the Acme Medical Centre (McFadden et al., 2015). The management of the Acme Healthcare Center needs to create strategies to mitigate these potential risks that may affect the quality of the health services being rendered by the medical institution. The facility needs to ensure that its operations comply with the set regulations of the government relating to healthcare service delivery. Compliance of the set rules and regulations will ensure that the Acme health care institution will provide that quality of health services will relatively be high (McFadden et al., 2015). The management of Acme needs to incorporate a culture that will ensure that the quality of health services is relatively high whereas maintaining the costs of operations to be relatively low.
References
Bajorek, B., LeMay, K., Gunn, K., & Armour, C. (2015). The potential role of a pharmacist in a multidisciplinary general practitioner super clinic. The Australasian medical journal , 8 (2), 52.
Bishop, M. A., Cohen, B. A., Billings, L. K., & Thomas, E. V. (2015). Reducing errors through discharge medication reconciliation by pharmacy services. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy , 72 (17 Supplement 2), S120-S126.
Cloete, L. (2015). Reducing medication errors in nursing practice. Nursing Standard (2014+) , 29 (20), 50.
Haughom, J. (2017). Five Deming Principles That Help Healthcare Process Improvement.
Irving, J. A., & Berndt, J. (2017). Leader purposefulness within servant leadership: Examining the effect of servant leadership, leader follower-focus, leader goal-orientation, and leader purposefulness in a large US healthcare organization. Administrative Sciences (2076-3387) , 7 (2), 1-20.
Kristensen, S., Hammer, A., Bartels, P., Suñol, R., Groene, O., Thompson, C. A., ... & Wagner, C. (2015). Quality management and perceptions of teamwork and safety climate in European hospitals. International journal for quality in health care , 27 (6), 499-506.
McFadden, K. L., Stock, G. N., & Gowen III, C. R. (2015). Leadership, safety climate, and continuous quality improvement: impact on process quality and patient safety. Health care management review , 40 (1), 24-34.
Rathee, M., Singla, S., Bhoria, M., & Kundu, R. (2015). Role of Nutrition Assessment and Dietary Counseling in Geriatric Denture Population-An Overview. Journal of Oral Health Research , 6 (2).
