Assessment 2: Assessing the Problem: Quality, Safety, and Cost Consideration

In a 5-7 page written assessment, assess the effect of the patient,  family, or population problem you’ve previously defined on the quality  of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual. Plan to  spend approximately 2 direct practicum hours exploring these aspects of  the problem with the patient, family, or group you’ve chosen to work  with and, if desired, consulting with subject matter and industry  experts. Document the time spent (your practicum hours) with these  individuals or group in the Core Elms Volunteer Experience Form. Report  on your experiences during your first two practicum hours.

Introduction

Organizational data, such as readmission rates, hospital-acquired  infections, falls, medication errors, staff satisfaction, serious safety  events, and patient experience can be used to prioritize time,  resources, and finances. Health care organizations and government  agencies use benchmark data to compare the quality of organizational  services and report the status of patient safety. Professional nurses  are key to comprehensive data collection, reporting, and monitoring of  metrics to improve quality and patient safety.

Preparation

In this assessment, you’ll assess the effect of the health problem  you’ve defined on the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the  system and individual. Plan to spend at least 2 direct practicum hours  working with the same patient, family, or group. During this time, you  may also choose to consult with subject matter and industry experts.

To prepare for the assessment:

• Review the assessment instructions and scoring guide to ensure  that you understand the work you will be asked to complete and how it  will be assessed.
• Conduct research of the scholarly and professional literature to  inform your assessment and meet scholarly expectations for supporting  evidence.
• Review the Practicum Focus Sheet: Assessment 2 [PDF], which provides guidance for conducting this portion of your practicum.

Instructions

Complete this assessment in two parts.

Part 1

Assess the effect of the patient, family, or population problem you  defined in the previous assessment on the quality of care, patient  safety, and costs to the system and individual. Plan to spend at least 2  practicum hours exploring these aspects of the problem with the  patient, family, or group. During this time, you may also consult with  subject matter and industry experts of your choice. Document the time  spent (your practicum hours) with these individuals or group in the Core  Elms Volunteer Experience Form. Use the Practicum Focus Sheet: Assessment 2 [PDF] provided for this assessment to guide your work and interpersonal interactions.

Part 2

Report on your experiences during your first 2 practicum hours,  including how you presented your ideas about the health problem to the  patient, family, or group.

• Whom did you meet with?     
  • What did you learn from them?
• Comment on the evidence-based practice (EBP) documents or websites you reviewed.     
  • What did you learn from that review?
• Share the process and experience of exploring the influence of  leadership, collaboration, communication, change management, and policy  on the problem.     
  • What barriers, if any, did you encounter when presenting the problem to the patient, family, or group?       
    • Did the patient, family, or group agree with you about the presence of the problem and its significance and relevance?
    • What leadership, communication, collaboration, or change  management skills did you employ during your interactions to overcome  these barriers or change the patient’s, family’s, or group’s thinking  about the problem (for example, creating a sense of urgency based on  data or policy requirements)?
  • What changes, if any, did you make to your definition of the problem, based on your discussions?
  • What might you have done differently
  • Practicum Focus Sheet, Assessment 2
  • Practicum Focus Sheet Assessment 2 Note: Expect to spend at least 2 hours with the patient, family, or group you’ll be working with
    during this portion of your practicum, exploring issues of patient safety, quality, and costs
    associated with the health problem you’ve defined. This includes time spent in consultation with
    subject matter or industry experts. You’ll report on the results of this work as part of your next
    assessment. For this portion of your practicum, discuss, in depth, how the problem will affect patient safety,
    quality of care, and costs. Consider the following questions to help guide your exploration of
    quality, safety, and costs and to make the most of your time:
    • Has the patient, family or group experienced any serious safety events because of the
    problem?
    • How many times have they gone to the emergency department (ED)?
    • How many times have they been hospitalized?
    • What is the frequency of ED visits or hospitalizations?
    • How many medications are needed to manage the problem?
    • Does insurance pay for these medications?
    • Have the medications caused any side effects?
    • How often are doctors’ visits or other therapies needed?
    • Does insurance pay for these visits or treatments?

Requirements

The assessment requirements, outlined below, correspond to the  scoring guide criteria, so be sure to address each main point. Read the  performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work  will be assessed. In addition, note the additional requirements for  document format and length and for supporting evidence.

• Explain how the patient, family, or population problem impacts the  quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and  individual.     
  • Cite evidence that supports the stated impact.
  • Note whether the supporting evidence is consistent with what you see in your nursing practice.
• Explain how state board nursing practice standards and/or  organizational or governmental policies can affect the problem’s impact  on the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and  individual.     
  • Describe research that has tested the effectiveness of these  standards and/or policies in addressing care quality, patient safety,  and costs to the system and individual.
  • Explain how these standards and/or policies will guide your  actions in addressing care quality, patient safety, and costs to the  system and individual.
  • Describe the effects of local, state, and federal policies or  legislation on your nursing scope of practice, within the context of  care quality, patient safety, and cost to the system and individual.
• Propose strategies to improve the quality of care, enhance patient safety, and reduce costs to the system and individual.     
  • Discuss research on the effectiveness of these strategies in  addressing care quality, patient safety, and costs to the system and  individual.
  • Identify relevant and available sources of benchmark data on  care quality, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.
  • Document the time spent (your practicum hours) with these individuals or group in the Core Elms Volunteer Experience Form.