The Blue Canyon Pain Clinic, Research Paper Example

IFIU

Quality Improvement Plan focuses on developing different programmes in improving the patient outcomes and the Blue Canyon Pain Clinic; a health-care oriented organization had implemented one such plan. This essay makes an effort in explaining the QI perspectives associated to the plan through the illustrations on its stake holders and metrics. The information regarding its scope, objectives, structure and annual meetings were presented in the work.

Key words: Quality Improvement Plan, Blue Canyon Pain Clinic, Organizational Objectives, Patient outcomes.

Executive Summary

Numerous, influential and significant differences prevail amongst the performance assessment and quality improvement processes. The use of performance assessment within the health care industry mainly focuses on analyzing the beneficial outcomes for care besides measuring the illustrations accurately. Development of Quality Improvement Programmes helps in exploring the present performance together with the collation of statistics upon the infections acquired by the patient. The Quality Improvement Plan developed by Blue Canyon Pain Clinic, focus mainly on dedicating staff, through pain management. By offering advice and care through multidisciplinary specialists, the Organization explores on obtaining solutions linked to Cancer. Besides obtaining innovative pharmacological solutions, the Centre aims at minimizing medication errors especially by prescribing right medication in a right form of dosage. With input and observations of patients as valuable protocols, the Organization focuses on managing pain and its relative symptoms through different measures. The stake holders of the company play a crucial role in accomplishing goals, objectives and mission. By employing different QI metrics as valuable objectives, the Organization offers key insights in relieving pain, side effects and other related medication therapy issues. Through the use of storage database and other IT tools, the Blue Canyon Pain Clinic aims at obtaining patient information. Imposing effective bench marking systems allow the Organization to developing effective strategies for accomplishing success with a recovery process alongside. This essay makes an effort in outlining the perspectives of Quality Improvement plan developed by Blue Canyon Pain Clinic together with the consideration of organizational objectives, structure, decision making strategies and annual meetings.

Key words: Blue Canyon Pain Clinic, Quality Improvement Plan, Patient outcomes.

Introduction or Purpose

Quality Improvement, an inevitable part of health care and management, aim at enhancing outcomes usually oriented towards the improvisation in patient care. With a mission of dedicating staff through pain management for diseased patients, The Blue Canyon Pain Management Center assists individuals in managing acute or chronic pain. The organization focuses on exploring the solutions for pain management linked to cancer especially through the support obtained from the highly qualified multidisciplinary specialists. Besides offering highly embodied robust pharmacological solutions, the Organization had initiated the establishment of associated therapeutic areas- Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS), Microelectrode Nerve Stimulation (MENS), and Procedural and Psychological diagnosis. Furthermore, the Centre concentrates on improving the outcomes through the development of Quality Improvement Programmes, measures and methods (Horner et al., 2005).

Goals or Objectives

Amongst its numerous quality improvement objectives, the Organizational goal of reducing medication errors possesses a considerable significance. This can be linked to the significance of prescribing right dosage especially within elderly. With a control upon the over medication, which leads to addiction and over damage, the Quality Improvement process of Blue Canyon Organization possess an unpredictable value, though numerous patients obtain treatment outside clinical settings. With the management of adverse side effects together with patient pain as other relevant objectives, the Centre deals with deleterious side-effects in a rapid and decisive manner. Improving QI process in different ways (patient and employee feedback, working with clinicians and offering best patient care) and maintaining an effective balance between the cost and therapeutic results is another key objective of the Organization (Horner et al., 2005).

Scope or Description or Quality Improvement Activities

Blue Canyon Clinical Centre, as an organization involved in, offering care and support, had developed numerous, valuable Quality Improvement (QI) metrics to address the public concerns. The prime and foremost concern with level of medication errors that, the Center rarely witness. Offering quality care, attention and support to each patient and assessing the basic competency together with organizational quality had helped in handling complex pain solutions. The Organization handles its second QI metric (adverse side effect management) by ensuring about the receipt of the right medication in protecting each patient. Though complex, the third QI metric of universal pain management inevitably depends on the ability of the patient in recalling and calibrating pain movements. Offering key insights, enhancing therapeutic outcomes, encouraging alternatives for the traditionally used solutions and understanding the departmental workings, are some amongst the most significant QI activities.

Data Collection Tools

Changing and integrating the patient treatment and carrying out further analysis act as a powerful tool in collecting information about the patient. Use of medication errors rather than the process of pain and pain variables aids in understanding the organizational competency and ability. Assessing the balance of results and ensuring about patient management of pain is another data collection tool employed by the organization. Typical measurement of pain levels on a pain scale, allowing patients to recall and calibrate pain movements, using patient as a prime feedback source, analyzing treatment methodologies, obtaining clinical feedback are some amongst the data collection tools. Use of possible alternatives had also aided the organization in comparing cost effectiveness, results balance and relative costs incurred for the treatment. A combination of different types of tools depicted above or the use of single tool in a highly effective and efficacious manner may assist Blue Canyon Pain Management Centre in obtaining data for exploring patient safety.

Quality Improvement Processes and Methodology

The improvement plan developed by Blue Canyon Center focuses on ensuring patient as well as, staff safety. Its commitment towards the maintenance of patient health together with superior and high quality work had necessitated the need of organizational procedures and processes. Recording proper information and using hard copy details assists in extending the institutional capability of serving a large number of individuals. Utilising the pain survey processes had aided the Blue Canyon in assessing the development of patient’s situation towards recovery process. The data chart offered in place for the subsequent providers, acts as an outline in making sure of the fact that, physicians may likely handle the patient needs. Besides, at times of turnovers, this may access in enhancing the knowledge. Careful and mindful role of physicians in ensuring patient needs and recovery requests together with the EHR recording processes causes the physicians in submitting an updated version of patient recovery proceedings (Zuckerman, 2005). Collecting patient based information and directing patients in the way of collecting the required data also help in understanding the patient situation together with the QI processes. Applying the results of directive survey from questions and interviews, identification of prescribed medications through interactions and directions, cross checking the listings of pharmacy with the issued drugs had helped the organization in designing association amongst professionals and patients. The use of this information assisted in ensuring accuracy of results and recovery progress alongside with the successful, proven procedures (Martinez, 2000).

Comparative Databases, Professional Practice Standards and Bench Marks

The establishment highly developed and well-defined communication amongst the hospital staff and individual departments aid in ensuring the EHR operation in a direct manner to the present complexities and issues. Developing central control system schedules as a server to record the primary data process may help to a significant extent. Use of this process aids in sharing the technology as well as information amongst the systems besides ensuring permanent information log. E-mails and immediate chatting options in each department of the Organization also ensures in creating better connection with the timely and efficient distribution of information. Using a prescription database in the record of pharmacy assists in, confirming the medical release. Database for storing further medical records pertaining to patient release allow in keeping information for future references. The complex communication procedures within the organization can be embraced through the establishment of internal network computer servers in hospital premises. Developing high performance quality systems with a common goal of motivation and priority can aid in ensuring safety and expectations in a highly flexible and progressive manner. Benchmarking, offering staff with the necessary guidance needed, allow in measuring the milestones that the new communication system had incurred in a span of time. By utilising patient satisfaction as the prime goal of the approach, the use of benchmarking enable in designing new operation processes. Lastly, imposing the effective benchmarking systems and ensuring continual developmental process exert a compassionate impact in recording milestones and QI processes (Zuckerman, 2005).

Authority or Structure or Organization

The company’s board of directors maintains their role in analyzing the long term focus and plan evaluation. This role of the board of directors’ acts as a key, outside consulting different organizations that, lend fresh eyes to analyzing the implementation of the plan without possession of intricate knowledge on the effort that had exerted. Executive leadership concerning to the pain management clinic, cover the responsibilities of plan implementation. Different roles and responsibilities linked to various executives in Centers C-suite can be shared effectively by these members. The committee on Quality Improvement makes sure about the medication errors in a way by decreasing them to increase the quality. Medical staff and middle management authorities possess unique role of not only visualizing the patient outcomes but as well as comparing the operations. This valuable view point includes capturing of periodic reports, assessing the drawbacks and strengths of the plan and attending quarterly meetings (Martinez, 2000).

Communication

The two-way information stream is an ideal reporting structure for the project and the department heads along with the quality improvement committee play a key role in collecting data from different spheres. The information obtained may be thus pushed to executive decision makers, who play a crucial role in aggregating towards the board of directors. Organizing annual meetings together with the quarterly goal meetings allow in preparing data reports for the key stake holders. Administrators through their presentations, instructions and journal article writings, also communicate numerous ideas. The use of these communication tools allows in benefitting pain clinics together with the gain of nation-wide success.

Education

The Blue Canyon Clinical Center emphasizes on the offering efficient education especially the receipt of right data and message directed to right stakeholders and executives. Business managers working in the respective departments possess the responsibility of educating their same-level individuals (Liebler and McConnell, 2011). Clinicians and administrators play a role in educating the concerned departmental individuals.Organizing meetings on an annual and quarterly basis aids in recalibrating and destroying the prevailing goals besides making sure about the progression of the plan. By offering instructions, writing articles and giving presentations, Administrators learn from the Quality Improvement plan. Effective distribution of information presented in quality management plans, holding conferences on the issue of medication errors may help in obtaining success (Zuckerman, 2005).

Annual Evaluation

Though quarterly target meetings allow the discussion on goal assessment, organizing annual meetings for preparing key holders on presentations and data reports enable an efficient evaluation. The re-evaluation time at this period offers an option of recalibrating the prevailing goals together with the creation of new ones. Presentations and lessons learned from various different sources may be evaluated and, necessary goals may be established for the next year beyond. Quality management plans, tools, ideas, views and perceptions that had discussed and evaluated during the annual meeting sessions play a crucial role in ensuring success for the organization.

References

Liebler, J.G and Mc Connell (2011). Management Principles for Health Professionals. Boston: Jones and Barlett Publishers.

Martinez, J. (2000). Assessing quality outcome and performance management. Global Health Workforce Strategy. Retrieved on October 29, 2011 from, www.who.int/entity/hrh/documents/en/Assessing quality.pdf.

Zukerman, A.M. (2005). Healthcare Strategic Planning. Boston: Health Administrative Press.