Introduction
Significant chances exist to improve the quality of healthcare globally. Regardless of the fact that many deaths in hospitals can be prevented, over 150 patients die every year because of iatrogenic conditions. Over one third of some surgical procedures in hospitals pose great risks to patients with no improvement in their health. The hospital surgical floor is a highly fragile area in the healthcare industry. Quality improvement illustrates a strategy that promises to improve health care quality. Furthermore, quality improvement focuses on the growth and recognition in healthcare.
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"Hospital Quality Improvement on the Medical Surgical Floor".
The Six Sigma process offers a profound and elaborate layout to improve the quality. The process includes the following steps. Firstly, define the objective and scope of the project. Secondly, create a performance baseline for data comparison. Thirdly, regularly monitor and evaluate performance. Fourth, identify the problems and their causes. Fifthly, implement problem eradication procedures in the system. Lastly, evaluate the system performance before and after improvement implementation. Consequently, the Six Sigma Process is effective in the process of quality improvement to cope with an increase in a hospital acquired infection on a medical surgical floor (Van Den Bos et al., 2011).
Six Sigma Process for Hospital Quality Improvement
Define the Scope and Objective of the Project
The hospital surgical floor poses a great risk and endangerment to both the patients and the hospital employees. It is factual that some surgical operations in hospitals include chronic and highly infectious diseases. An infection acquired in a hospital poses great danger to the lives of the respective parties. The objective of the project is to improve the quality of operations in order to radicalize an increase in a hospital acquired infection. This can be achieved through increasing protection and ensuring patient safety (Van Den Bos et al., 2011).
Create a Performance Baseline for Data Comparison
To achieve significant and desired results, a baseline to compare data is necessary. Therefore, the team should establish quantifiable upper and lower limits for process control. Additionally, the average waiting time should be determined as well as an average level of performance.
Continuous Monitoring and Evaluation of Performance
Quality improvement requires monitoring of performance to determine the effectiveness of the system. For instance, surveys should be carried out about the rates of incidence of the infection (Zlabek, Wickus & Mathiason, 2011). Therefore, the team regularly monitors the system to determine whether or not there is a reduction in the rates of infection.
Identify Possible Problems and their Root Causes
Like any other system, a quality improvement system especially in a hospital set up encounters several setbacks and problems. The system is prone to some problems such as increased infections and other setbacks. Therefore, the notion of problems is not ignored, but the team works in handy to identify the problems and analyze their root causes to develop counter measures (Zlabek, Wickus & Mathiason, 2011).
Implement Problem Eradication Strategies
Problems are solved by removing the root causes. Therefore, the methods to remove the root causes should be developed and implemented (Zlabek, Wickus & Mathiason, 2011). This will improve the level of system performance. If the problems and their root causes are not addressed, it is undoubtable that the system will be affected and the results are affected.
Evaluation of System Performance before and after Implementing the Measures of Improvement
Lastly, the progress and results of the system are significant. Consequently, the statistics of the system before and after the quality improvement strategy had been implemented should be analyzed (Sharon, Edwards & Rodin, 2012). This ensures and facilitates the team to measure performance of the implemented strategy. The data about the rates of infection of the hospital acquired infection before and after the quality improvement strategy are compared.
Conclusion
Quality improvement using the Six Sigma technique is appropriate to minimize infections in hospitals. Hospital safety is paramount for the lives of both the patients and employees. If the strategy is effectively evaluated, the quality of the system will be improved.
- Sharon, C.S., Edwards, J.N., & Rodin, D. (2012). Using Electronic Health Records to Improve Quality and Efficiency: The Experiences of Leading Hospitals. The Commonwealth Fund.
- Van Den Bos, Rustagi, K., Gray, T. Halford, M., Ziemkiewicz E, & Shreve, J. (2011). The $17 billion problem: The annual cost of measurable medical errors. Journal of Health Affairs. 30(4), 596-603
- Zlabek, A.J., Wickus, J.W. & M. A Mathiason, A.M. (2011). “Early Cost and Safety Benefits of an Inpatient Electronic Health Record,” Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 18(2):169–72.
