Ensuring Quality Improvement, Essay Example

Name or topic of QI project

Ensuring Quality Improvement through the Use of iMessaging to Improve Communication between Nurses

Action initiated through the QI project

All nurses within the department will be asked to use iMessaging on their iPhone to enhance communication between nurses that are working with the same patient. This study occurred within one department to efficiently track the progress of communication between staff members and the impact on the quality of care of patients.

Evaluation of the QI project

iMessaging is an effective way to allow nurses to communicate with one another about pertinent health topics. Furthermore, the fact that these messages are recorded allow nurses to be better able to keep track of their communications and implement written requests in practice. Since most health care professionals have a smartphone, it is possible to take advantage of the tools that these individuals already have on hand to positively contribute to patient care.

Identify desired outcome of the project and are they being achieved

The desired outcome of this project is to improve the communication of nurses between shifts in a manner that improves the quality of patient care. The detail of the messages being sent was of primary concern. The extent to which these messages surpass the quality of the information that could reasonably be recorded in paper or electronic health records was also of primary concern.

Identify any other outcomes that are the result of the project, either a strength or a weakness of the change

One strength of this project will be the strength of the messages that are passed between nurses working different shifts. Specific case information or concerns could be shared. A weakness of this change is increased likelihood that patient privacy will be violated if the iPhones are not secure. In addition, the iPhones may be used for personal conversation instead of transmitting work messages.

Any unexpected or unanticipated changes either as strengths or weaknesses of the project

Less nurses used iPhones that anticipated, so nurses with smartphones that did not fall under the category of iPhone were allowed to use their phones for the purposes of the experiment. Wireless capabilities were ensured on these phones to make sure that the messages would be sent between nurses in a timely manner.

Overall attitude toward the change/project

Sending messages outside the iMessaging program caused some lag, so it would be beneficial to use only iPhones in the future. On a larger scale, the department could provide nurses with iPhones for work use to ensure that messages are sent quickly and to prevent against cell phone use for private means. Generally, the staff appeared receptive towards the project idea. Some information that is communicated between shift nurses is not necessarily relevant to insert into the patient record, so it would be valuable to develop a system that allows nurses to communicate these messages in spite of what they contain. Furthermore, this system could more effectively convey the urgency of certain protocols, whereas this information would not likely be described using the same level of depth in patient records. Overall, this is a valuable system that could be used in a variety of patient care settings. It would be interesting to determine the impact that this project would have over a long period of time.