Quality management in health care has its roots in the business world and the teachings of quality gurus, such as W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, Phillip B. Crosby, and Avedis Donabedian. As health care costs rose in the late 1960s, payers wanted assurance that their investments resulted in improved health. Emphasis on quality management gave birth to the concept of high reliability, or a persistent obsession with eliminating failures and improving safety through standardization.
As 21st century health care organizations strive for high reliability, executive leadership is tasked with keeping the organization focused on quality and safety. In the previous assignments, you identified an organization’s strategic priorities and provided a comprehensive assessment of stakeholder and leadership influence. High-reliability organizations align quality and safety with strategic goals. Your work in previous assignments will help you identify one strategic priority for improvement.
From the nursing unit level to the executive office, quality equates with attention to the processes and functions that drive and support safety, efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction. The DNP-prepared nurse is in a unique position to blend knowledge of systems theory with an understanding of quality management. Added to this mixture is the DNP-prepared nurse’s exquisite appreciation for the holistic needs of individuals and groups.
This assignment provides an opportunity for you to propose a quality improvement initiative that supports a departmental strategic priority.
Instructions
Develop a presentation of your proposed high-level quality improvement initiative for executive leaders and other stakeholders in the organization and community.
Be creative in showcasing your proposal. Choose a presentation method you consider to be both engaging and likely to garner the necessary support and buy-in. For example, you might consider any of the following methods, or something different.
- Marketing brochure.
- Newsletter.
- Video.
- Audio or video slide presentation.
- Executive summary.
Whichever method you choose, consider the information needs of your intended audience, their communication preferences, and possible time constraints on processing your proposal.
Video Recording
If you choose video as your preferred presentation method, Kaltura is the recommended tool for video recording. Refer to Using Kaltura for more information about this courseroom tool. You are also free to use any other technology of your choice (video camera, smart phone) to record your video; however, please inform the faculty facilitator of your decision not to use Kaltura to avoid potential technical problems associated with file formats.
To record your video, you will need a built-in or external microphone and/or video camera (webcam or other device). Check that your recording equipment and software is working properly and that you know how to record and submit your video. Be sure to set up and test your equipment ahead of time.
Note: If you use assistive technology or any alternative communication methods to access course content, please contact DisabilityServices@Capella.edu with any access-related questions or to request accommodations.
Evaluation
The following tasks correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide, so be sure to address each point in the presentation of your proposed quality improvement initiative. Read the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed.
- Explain the rationale for your chosen strategic priority.
- Describe the overarching aim and focus of the proposed quality improvement initiative.
- Use the evidence-based literature to provide broad rationale for establishing this priority.
- Present the key points from a SWOT analysis of your chosen strategic priority.
- Consider the organization’s political landscape and strategic priorities.
- Identify key performance indicators that will be used to measure the success of the initiative.
- For example: infection rates, customer satisfaction, financial performance indicators, productivity, nurse satisfaction, or other internal metric.
- These indicators could align with those identified on the departmental balanced scorecard.
- Explain the value of stakeholder feedback and the process for collaborating with stakeholders on the proposed quality improvement initiative.
- Identify key stakeholders and explain why their support for this initiative is crucial to its success.
- Explain how you will leverage stakeholder feedback.
- Explain how one contemporary change theory could be used to facilitate changes inherent in implementing the quality improvement initiative.
- Make policy recommendations to support the proposed quality improvement initiative.
- Your recommendations could entail developing a new policy, revising a current policy, or retiring a current policy.
- Describe the policy implications of this initiative and their impact on the organization.
- Justify your recommendations.
- Communicate clearly and concisely in a form and style appropriate for the audience and the substance, purpose, and context of the message being conveyed.
- Consider the needs of your audience.
- Be succinct and mindful of communication best practices.
- Carefully review your media and materials to avoid errors that could distract the audience and make it more difficult for them to focus on the substance of your proposed initiative.
