Data Analysis and Quality Improvement Initiative Proposal for St. Anthony Medical Center

Introduction

Quality improvement in health care is a continuous process.  The performance of the healthcare service systems in terms of the quality of care delivered is directly linked to the health outcomes of patients (Hancock et al., 2020). For this, healthcare service providers continuously seek new approaches to improve the quality of care to meet the ever-changing health needs of targeted populations. The quality of care is influenced by a number of elements within a delivery system or a facility. It can be influenced by health care and facility policies, procedures, the motivation of the staff, available staff skills, the environment of provision of care, and the costs of providing care, among others. Despite the conditions of these factors of care quality, the ultimate goal of providing care is to improve the quality of life and satisfaction of the recipients of the care. Therefore, quality improvement (QI) of quality of care includes carrying out systematic analyses of the quality of care against all true indicators of successful care delivery and applying continuous efforts to achieve notable and measurable improvement in health care services against set indicators for a target population. Quality improvement in healthcare has positive impacts on patient health outcomes and quality of life and influences healthcare organizations’ financial and social performance (Knudsen et al., 2019).

Evidence-based quality improvement in targeted care facilities comparatively utilizes internal and external quality benchmark data to develop reports available to all stakeholders to stimulate efforts towards improving health care quality. Both conceptual and technical challenges exist in all facilities offering long-term care, especially in-home hospice programs. In order to improve the quality of care in such settings, quality assurance analysts need to utilize available data and information to identify key targets for QI. For the success of all QI initiatives, specific areas of improvement using clinical data and provider reports need to be identified and combined with the efforts of inter-professional teams and stakeholders, including physicians, nurses, regulators, patients, and facility staff. As a quality assurance analyst, I will analyze hospice and home health adverse event data for St. Anthony Medical Center (SAMC), part of the Vila Health organization, and interview a few stakeholders in the SAMC’s in-home hospice program in order to identify areas qualifying for QI and the related issues.

St. Anthony Medical Center Mission and Quality Assurance

The quality of care and safety of patients, staff, and other visitors in a long-term facility should always be the focus of facility management. St. Anthony Medical Center is a part of the Vila Health organization that provides in-home hospice programs. According to the hospice’s director of services, Roger Goldenberg, their mission is to provide end-of-life care that focuses on providing comfortable care and alleviating suffering for people in their final stage in life. Therefore, the hospice’s goal is to treat the symptoms rather than wait for an illness to develop and treat the disease. The facility utilizes a holistic approach to care. The care provided in the hospice is thus designed to meet the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs of the patients. The difference between the St. Anthony Medical Center and other units of the Vila Health organization is that it provides all-around care involving the consideration of the patients and their families as the recipients of care.

The facility has a comprehensive approach to safety and quality of care for the residents. As reported by the quality assurance director, David Brooks, as a facility that offers care to individuals with a higher risk of falls it has processes and procedures in place that provide movement support to such patients and an adverse event reporting system. It has all the necessary processes and utilities to maintain high levels of facility sanitation, management of medical wastes, storage of medicines and other medical equipment, and comprehensive processes for pain and need of inpatient unit (IPU) admissions. The facility has trained nurses and caregivers who ensure that the facility residents and families achieve the desired levels of comfort to face the end of life as comfortably as possible. Despite these processes and procedures, in response to the current landscape of healthcare service delivery in the long-term care and end-of-life care domains, healthcare facilities require continuous assessments and efforts. Accordingly, these assessments ensure high-quality care services are delivered and improve the financial performance of the facilities. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the existing systems of car