Relationship between Healthcare Regulation Compliance and Quality Management
Conventionally, the hospital environment is full of risks predominantly because of the busy nature. Healthcare centers that deploy a reactive approach to dealing with health issues face a lot of challenge. Most hospital management units institute preventative strategies to minimize risks and mitigate challenges. The process of developing such strategies involves ensuring that different departments, people, and other stakeholders comply with the stipulated regulations (Jones & CHC, 2017). Quality management, therefore, involves checking from time to time that people are complying with the measures or strategies. In case there are gaps in regard to compliance, it is the responsibility of the management to take the necessary course of action. Evidently, the two aspects, regulation compliance and quality management are interwoven. Quality management cannot be achieved if people involved in the healthcare environment do not adhere to the regulations. It means that they are likely to commit errors hence undermine the quality of their services.
Quality Management Tools
The two prominent quality management tools under this section are the Pareto charts and Fishbone diagrams. Starting with the Pareto chart, it is a tool that represents the frequency or cost (time or money). It is basically a bar graph that have the longest bars on the left and the shortest on the right. The longest bars indicate variables that are more significant, and in most cases that require a lot of attention. The Fishbone diagram is an important tool of investigating the root-cause of a problem (Barton, 2009). It is also called a cause and effect diagram and its function is to categorize the potential causes of a problem so that individuals in the quality control department trace the origin of a problem.
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Summary of the Application of the Application of the Two Tools
In regard to the Pareto chart, it is important for decision-making. The reason is that the factors affecting the healthcare environment are arranged in priority using the Pareto chart. Variables with the longest bars represent the most urgent or significant factors to be addressed. The process of making decisions, therefore, becomes easy. In regard to the Fishbone diagram, it is important for investigating the process of doing tasks. It is useful for identification of errors along the process hence, effective implementation of policies. The process starts with stating of the problem and consequently a reverse approach to investigate the root cause of the problem.
Measuring and Managing Performance during the Transition to the New EHR
It is crucial to measure and manage performance because it will be the only way of ascertaining whether the healthcare providers are complying with the regulations. One of the methods to use will be taking of surveys from both the healthcare providers and the patients. The providers’ responses will be analyzed against the outcomes. Perhaps the best method is that involving surveys from the patients because they are the receivers of the services. The process will use an electronic approach where patients participate in online surveys. The survey process will also involve students because it is important for the hospital management to know the perception of the students towards the services. Negative feedback or feedback indicating dissatisfaction of the services means that there are problems with the system. It is from such feedback that the management will be informed to create strategies to improve the process of healthcare delivery.
Benchmarking Tools
The two benchmarking techniques in this section are productivity standards and report cards. The productivity standards are a list of expectations that different people working in the hospital are supposed to deliver. They can be synonymous to compliance regulations where healthcare workers are supposed to observe during service delivery. On the contrary, report cards are tools that give results of the performance of the healthcare providers (Du, 2017). They are akin to score cards. The report cards can either be public or private. Public report cards mean that the performance of the healthcare institution can be accessed by everyone. Such report cards influence the decision-making of members of the public because people are likely to go to healthcare centers where services are perceived to be of more quality. Private report cards are meant for use within the premises of the health center. The objective is to compare how the outcomes measure to the goals of the health center.
Internal and External Benchmarking
Internal benchmarking involves establishing how the outcomes in the hospital measure with the compliance regulations stipulated by the hospital management. It can also be described as a process of evaluating how the hospital achieves its targets. On the contrary, external benchmarking involves evaluating how the performance of the hospital compares to regulations set by the relevant legal and administrative authorities (Du, 2017). It is also a process of comparing the performance of a hospital with its competitors. The main significance of both types of benchmarking is to investigate how the health center can improve on service delivery. If the hospital realizes that it is not performing to its expectation as well as to the expectation of other external forces, it adjusts its processes and decision-making strategies. The management can investigate how other healthcare providers perform better and can thus employ similar strategies or improve on them.
Workflow Concepts
Before delving into the specifics of workflow concepts, it is important to note that the flow of work in the healthcare environment comprises of interactions from the management to the healthcare workers, among the healthcare workers, and between healthcare workers with patients. The process, therefore, is multifaceted and requires the use of appropriate tools to ensure that communication flows effectively. The hospital language is mainly that of instruction and consultation. Evidently, any flaw in whichever link of communication flow can have adverse effects to the sector. Additionally, since the EHR system is intended for a multi-campus hospital, there is the need for efficient flow and coordination of activities among the various departments.
The two most prominent concepts under discussion in this section are the use cases and top down diagrams. Beginning with the former, use case is a methodology that is applied in system analysis to identify, clarify, and arrange system requirements. To simplify, use cases are used to test possible ways of achieving goals (Pothoven, 2010). The belief is that there are always multiple methods of achieving the intended goal. Use cases provide an overview of different combinations or interactions among different variables, and how they compare with each other. On the other hand, top down diagrams show how a system can be broken down into simple manageable levels. It is, therefore, a tool that guides the healthcare management into establishing functional departments.
How the Workflow Concepts Can Be Used
Beginning with the use case, through the analysis of the different approaches to attaining specific goals, the most effective and efficient approach can be chosen because the hospital environment is all about efficiency and minimizing of risks. In regard to the top down diagram, the management can analyze the number of functional departments that are required and the rationale behind them (Pothoven, 2010). It is not always the case that all hospitals need to have the same number of departments. The environment may dictate the need for some departments while rendering others obsolete. As a result, the top down diagram is significant in eliminating unnecessary wastage.
Project Management Techniques
The two most prominent project management techniques that will be used during the EHR transition are benchmarking and Gantt charts. The benchmarking tools will be similar to those already mentioned in this article, that is, use of productivity standards and report. However, report cards will be mainly used to evaluate the progress of the set standards. Perhaps the most significant technique throughout the process will be the use of Gantt charts. The main advantage of Gantt charts is that they can be used to plan, evaluate, and track the progress of tasks (Shirley, 2016). It is a tool that uses horizontal bars against tasks that are either in progress or have not started. The tasks that have not begun are represented by plain bars while those tasks that are completed are portrayed by shaded bars. Tasks that are in progress are displayed by bars which are both shaded and plain.
Gantt charts will be constructed using the goals of the hospital as the variables. The goals are basically the plans that the hospital will want to achieve. From time to time, the progress of the tasks will be evaluated to check whether they are on the right course. The progress will be marked as a percentage against the whole (time, compliance regulations). Through use of computer software, the bars will be shaded according to the percentages. It is from this display that report cards will be created to inform everyone in the hospital of the outcomes in relation to the expected compliance regulations.
References
Barton, A. (2009). Patient safety and quality: An evidence ‐ based handbook for nurses. Aorn Journal , 90 (4), 601-602.
Du, T. (2017). Performance measurement of healthcare service and association discussion between quality and efficiency: Evidence from 31 provinces of mainland china. Sustainability , 10 (1), 74.
Jones, D. S., & CHC, L. (2017). Combining disciplines: Making the connection between compliance, risk, and quality management. Journal of Health Care Compliance , 9 (3), 5.
Pothoven, T. (2010). Workflow usage in the healthcare environment (Master's thesis, University of Twente).
Shirley, D. (2016). Project management for healthcare . CRC Press.
