Safety Initiative that Addresses a Shortfall in Quality (UTI)quality Essay Assignment paper
Safety Initiative that Addresses a Shortfall in Quality (UTI)quality Essay Assignment paper
Submit a revised outline of your proposed final project to include updated content, appendices and references.
Please see attachment for first shortfall draft.
Safety Initiative that Addresses a Shortfall in Quality (UTI)quality Essay Assignment paper
Recommend a quality or safety initiative that addresses a shortfall in quality and/or safety in your current precepted experience environment In this case UTI. Include the principles of quality improvement, health care policy, ethical and legal considerations, cost-effectiveness, and means to monitor the initiative over time.
APA format references within the last years.
World count 200-250
Safety Initiative that Addresses a Shortfall in Quality (UTI)quality or safety initiative
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Safety Initiative that Addresses a Shortfall in Quality (UTI)
Urinary tract infections (UTI) are among the most common infections that patients acquire while hospitalized. Statistical evidence indicates that over 40% of hospital-acquired infections are often UTI. The infections are a significant problem in a clinical setting because it increases the duration that patients stay in the hospital, reducing the cost of receiving treatment (Meddings et al., 2019). Therefore, there is a need to instigate strategic steps to reduce the prevalence of this condition. Hand hygiene is one of the models that can effectively reduce the rampancy of hospital-acquired UTIs. The practice alludes to cleaning hands using soap and water, sanitizers, or alcohol-saturated rubs to eliminate any contaminants present therein. This essay analyzes the effectiveness of hand hygiene as a safety initiative that addressed UTI, which is a shortfall in the quality of healthcare delivery. It analyzes its compliance with principles of quality improvement, healthcare policy, and ethical and legal considerations. It also scrutinizes the cost-effectiveness of the practice and how it can be monitored over time.
The principles of quality improvement indicate that health promotion initiatives should be easy to adopt in a clinical setting and manifest improvement in the quality of service delivered. Observing hand hygiene is a vital practice that follows these critical principles. Washing or disinfecting hands before handling catheterized patients helps prevent microbial contamination that may cause UTI (Mody et al., 2017). The practice also aligns with healthcare policies of most medical facilities that require healthcare providers to disinfect their hand before undertaking any significant medical procedures, including inserting, emptying, or changing catheters, to avoid contaminating the region causing UTIs.
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Hand hygiene is in tandem with ethical and legal considerations because it ensures catheterized patients’ safety by reducing their susceptibility to the pathogens that cause UTI. It is also ethically correct because it adheres to non-maleficence, which indicates that healthcare professionals should not engage in actions that may harm their clients. It is also cost-effective because it is relatively easy to initiate and implement (Meddings et al., 2017). The healthcare providers do not need to undergo extra training to initiate. Over time, it can also be easily evaluated by analyzing aspects such as the prevalence of UTI in healthcare settings, especially in intensive care patients who must use the medical procedure for prolonged periods, quality or safety initiative.
In conclusion, UTIs are examples of conditions that emerge in clinical settings due to a shortfall in quality. They can be controlled using hand hygiene, which aligns with the principle of quality improvements and healthcare policies. It is also cost-effective, adheres to legal and ethical considerations, and can be easily monitored.
References
Meddings, J., Manojlovich, M., Fowler, K. E., Ameling, J. M., Greene, L., Collier, S., … & Saint, S. (2019). A tiered approach for preventing catheter-associated urinary tract infection. Annals of internal medicine, 171(7_Supplement), S30-S37.
Mody, L., Greene, M. T., Meddings, J., Krein, S. L., McNamara, S. E., Trautner, B. W., … & Saint, S. (2017). A national implementation project to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infection in nursing home residents. JAMA internal medicine, 177(8), 1154-1162.
Hand Hygiene as a Safety Initiative to Prevent Prevalence of UTIs
Sometimes, patients contract secondary infections during the period that they are hospitalized. One of the secondary illnesses that patients may contract in a hospital setting is urinary tract infection (UTI). UTIs are infections caused by bacterial infestations that cause pain and discomfort during micturition (Mody et al., 2017). Studies indicate that UTI is the most rampant hospital-acquired infection, especially in patients under critical care who need supportive care. It is a significant concern because it lengthens the duration that patients stay in hospitals hence inflates their treatment costs (Meddings et al., 2019). Maintaining high standards of hand hygiene is one of the evidence-based practices that can help prevent UTIs in catheterized patients. This essay examines how hand hygiene can be adopted as an evidence-based safety initiative intended to avoid the prevalence of UTIs in catheterized patients. The write-up analyzes different elements surrounding the implementation of the quality improvement measure, carries out a SWOT analysis of the implemented strategy, and provides timelines for accomplishing the initiative, quality or safety initiative.
Implementation of Hand Hygiene in a Clinical Setting
Hand hygiene is an evidence-based practice that is guaranteed to eliminate microbes responsible for the development of infections such as UTI. The process involved in implementing the approach includes identifying the individuals in charge of integrating all the activities required to successfully implement the strategy (Watson et al., 2019). The second step is installing the equipment and tools needed to implement the plan. It includes placing alcohol-based sanitizers and rubs in appropriate locations where they are required. Subsequently, it includes installing sinks, soaps, and towels at the recommended ratios of one sink for every ten beds set aside for patients. Further, the process consists of educating the medical personnel on the significance of maintaining hand hygiene, when they should carry out the task, and the correct procedure of cleaning the hands (Graveto et al., 2018). Further, it includes placing posters strategically in the clinical setting that remind the medical providers to maintain hand hygiene.
Principles of Quality Improvement
Implementing a program that promotes hand hygiene in the healthcare setting as a measure geared towards enhancing the quality of care that patients receive aligns with quality improvement principles. It focuses on the well-being of ailing individuals. The purpose of implementing the strategy is to reduce the prevalence of UTIs, which are precipitated by handling catheterized patients with unclean hands and transferring bacteria into their body systems (Musu et al., 2017). Subsequently, it requires cooperative engagement between all the healthcare providers tasked with handling the patients, such as physicians and nurses. According to the principles of quality improvement, the individuals should work together collaboratively to ensure that recommended measures are implemented effectively, quality or safety initiative.
Healthcare Policy
Healthcare policies indicate that healthcare providers should maintain hand hygiene regularly to lower the risk of spreading infections to patients and other workers in the organization. The procedure should be carried out before and immediately after any contact made with the ailing individuals (Graveto et al., 2018). According to the guidelines inherent in the policy, medical practitioners should use soap and water when their hands have fluids or solid matter from patients. On the other hand, sanitizers and alcohol rubs can be used effectively in the absence of visible dirt. Hand hygiene is also necessary before performing any clinical procedure or touching the areas that surround the patient.
Legal and Ethical Considerations
Healthcare principles are bound by ethical principles to ensure that all their actions are geared towards promoting the welfare of the patients. Failing to clean hands properly during the moments when the professionals are required to do so is a dangerous practice because it predisposes patients to conditions such as UTI (Mody et al., 2017). The omission has ethical implications because ethical guidelines associated with the profession require healthcare providers to practice non-maleficence, which elucidates the practice of avoiding any actions that may harm patients and beneficence, indicating that they should perform deeds that promote the well-being of the patients (Musu e al., 2017). Therefore, they should maintain hand hygiene because failure to do so may cause patients to take legal actions against neglecting an essential procedure while handling them.
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Cost-Effectiveness of the Initiative
Implementing a program for maintaining hand hygiene is an effective measure because it is easy to install and execute. It involves relatively low startup costs, including procuring and installing the needed equipment such as sinks and cleaning supplies and recruiting staff members who will be tasked with coordinating the program (Wason et al., 2019). On the other the practice will effectively improve the quality of care that patients receive, thereby lowering the cost incurred while seeking treatment significantly. It prevents the acquisition of hospital-acquired infections such as UTIs. As a result, patients recuperate faster; hence their medical expenses are reduced considerably, quality or safety initiative.
Monitoring of the Initiative
Two strategies can be used to monitor adherence to hand hygiene protocols in a clinical setting. The first strategy is the direct methods. The process entails observing the healthcare providers while performing their tasks to determine whether they are maintaining hand hygiene during the clinically required moments and at any opportunity that arises. The second formula is the indirect formula (Graveto et al., 2018). The process includes monitoring the amount of hand cleaning products that have been consumed to gauge the frequency with which the healthcare providers are cleaning their hands. The process can be done manually or using technological tools.
SWOT Analysis of Using Hand Hygiene as a Measure of Preventing UTIs
The strengths of hand hygiene as a measure used in preventing the prevalence of UTIs in healthcare organizations include the fact that the process effectively eliminates any pathogens that the healthcare providers might have come into contact with while handling patients or their surroundings. Hand hygiene helps eliminate the microbes; hence, they do not enter the body systems of patients to cause infections (Meddings et al., 2019). The procedure is also easy to implement and is cost-effective. On the other hand, the strategy’s weakness as a safety measure for preventing UTIs is that there is a possibility of the healthcare providers failing to comply with the guidelines for cleaning hands. Subsequently, the medical professionals may use the wrong procedure while washing hands, hence reducing the effectiveness of the safety model (Mody et al., 2017). For example, the professionals may use inadequate amounts of cleaning agents, thus failing to eliminate the pathogens effectively.
The threats that can affect the implementation of hand hygiene include understaffing in medical facilities. Healthcare providers who have heavy workloads become fatigued and increasing the chances of their missing out on significant procedures such as hand hygiene (Muse et al., 2017). Subsequently, when inadequately trained, employees are less likely to comply with hand hygiene measures than those who are effectively trained. On the other hand, the opportunities that healthcare providers should take advantage of include the training opportunities offered periodically by professional organizations to amplify the competency of their members in performing clinical roles (Graveto et al., 2019). Subsequently, healthcare organizations can take advantage of government-issued grants to install hand hygiene equipment in the facilities and enroll healthcare professionals, especially nurses.
Timelines for implementing the project
The time plan that can effectively instigate the structures needed to implement the processes required in installing the hand hygiene program is six weeks. The step is procuring the needed items such as sinks, soaps, hand sanitizers, and alcohol rubs a process that will take one week. The second step is installing the fixtures needed during the process, including sinks and soap dispensers, an activity that will take two weeks. Afterward, posters that will act as reminders to health care providers to maintain hand hygiene will be designed and put up in different areas of the healthcare organization. Later, the nurses will be trained for two weeks on the correct hand hygiene procedures and the varying instances when they should clean their hands. The project can be implemented without any hitches.
How the Weaknesses and Threats will be addressed
There is a need to overcome the weaknesses associated with using hand hygiene to prevent UTIs. The strategy that can be used in overcoming the shortcomings of the process is providing adequate training for the healthcare providers to equip them with the skills they need to maintain high hand hygiene standards (Meddings et al., 2019). The training sessions can be in the form of workshops, seminars, or online lessons. Subsequently, healthcare organizations can employ observers whose role would be to ensure that high hand hygiene standards are maintained in an organization.
Conclusion
UTIs are infections that are commonly acquired by hospitalized patients under catheterization. The conditions are major healthcare concerns because they increase the periods that individuals are hospitalized. Subsequently, they increase the cost of seeking treatment and reduce the contentment of patients with the quality of care they receive. Hand hygiene is an evidence-based measure that can be used to prevent cases of UTIs effectively. The safety initiative aligns with the principles of quality improvement, healthcare policies and can be monitored effectively. A SWOT analysis of using hand hygiene as a quality improvement tool in reducing the prevalence of UTI unveils the strengths and weaknesses of the initiative and its threats and opportunities. Mitigating the weaknesses and threats will ensure that health organizations benefit maximally from the numerous merits of hand hygiene in healthcare organizations.
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