Reform, the Quality Agenda and Resource Use, Essay Example

Nursing practice is indicative of many challenges that impact professionals throughout the field. Furthermore, their organizations must be fully supportive of these endeavors and the issues that are likely to occur with respect to long-term success and achievement within the field. This is best accomplished by meeting specific metrics that will accommodate healthcare needs in a comprehensive manner. It is important for an organization to meet its metrics to ensure that its level of productivity is high and its employees are capable of working effectively towards a set of common goals and objectives to meet patient care needs and nursing practice.

Goal-setting within an organization is a complex phenomenon that requires significant focus and attention to detail in order to achieve the intended results. It is expected that an organization will adhere to specific quality-based indicators to ensure that its needs are effectively met and so it is capable of operating under specific conditions that will positively impact its employees (Kelly, 2011). Therefore, mission statements and systems development are critical components of the organization and must support the nurses who serve patients within the system as a whole (Kelly, 2011). Within the organization, the use of such tools as dashboards to measure nursing-based performance (Frith, Anderson, & Sewell, 2010) and scorecards to promote strategic objectives are critical to its success and in supporting a framework that captures the attention and focus of those who play significant roles in achieving high quality care and treatment on a continuous basis (Schalm, 2008). These factors demonstrate the importance of understanding nursing-based objectives and how to overcome obstacles in this arena in an effort to produce effective results in all areas of the practice environment that serve patients and their recovery in a positive manner (Schalm, 2008). This process requires continuous improvement and motivation in order to achieve the intended outcomes.

Chronic disease management possesses its own level of complexity in different organizations, particularly those who support different practice objectives. Therefore, it is necessary for organizations to develop their own metrics to promote chronic disease management that will impact patient care quality and the nursing role in a positive manner. For chronic diseases such as diabetes, COPD, and CHF, it is important to identify specific areas where performance metrics will be effective in meeting patient needs and in promoting automated approaches to promote patient safety at a high level. These metrics support a comprehensive approach to patient safety in both a proactive and reactive manner, given that patients must be monitored but not every situation where patient safety is compromised is predicted.

Quality control in the management of chronic disease requires continuous improvement and an understanding of the elements that impact direct patient care through the efforts made by nurses to accommodate patient needs (National Committee for Quality Assurance, 2010). In this capacity, promoting reform must be elevated by nurses as they aim to work with patients and recognize areas where they are able to effectively contribute to improve chronic disease management and minimize symptom risk (National Committee for Quality Assurance, 2010). In essence, quality improvement is a critical priority that requires a continuous approach that elevates an organization to its highest possible level through nursing-based practice objectives (McKinney, 2010). In this context, high quality care may not require the most expensive techniques or tools to support patient care outcomes in order to succeed; rather, nurses must be able to administer care and treat patients with the resources that they have and support patients by meeting the intended goals and objectives of the organization in a chronic disease management capacity.

References

Frith, K.H., Anderson, F., & Sewell, J.P. (2010). Assessing and selecting data for a nursing services dashboard. Journal of Nursing Administration, 40(1), 10-16.

doi:10.1097/NNA.0b013e3181c47d45
Retrieved from the Walden Library using the CINAHL Plus with Full Text database.

Kelly, D.L. (2011). Applying Quality Management in Healthcare, Third Edition. Health Administration Press.

McKinney, M. (2010). Quality, not quantity. Costliest care not the best, says NCQA report. Modern Healthcare, 40(42), 8–9.
Retrieved from the Walden Library using the MEDLINE with full text database.

National Committee for Quality Assurance. (2010). The state of health care quality: Reform, the  quality agenda and resource use. Washington, D. C.: National Committee for Quality Assurance. Retrieved from http://www.ncqa.org/Portals/0/State of HealthCare/2010/SOHC 2010 – Full2.pdf

Schalm, C. (2008). Implementing a balanced scorecard as a strategic management tool in a long-term care organization. Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, 13(Supp.1), 8–14.
Retrieved from the Walden Library using the CINAHL Plus with Full Text database.