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Question
| In this assignment, you will select a program, quality improvement initiative, or other project from your place of employment. Assume you are presenting this program to the board for approval of funding. Write an executive summary (850-1,000 words) to present to the board, from which they will make their decision to fund your program or project. The summary should include: 1.The purpose of the program or project. 2.The target population or audience. 3.The benefits of the program or project 4.The cost or budget justification. 5.The basis upon which the program or project will be evaluated. Share your written proposal with your manager, supervisor or other colleague in a formal leadership position within a health care organization. Request their feedback using the following questions as prompts: 1.Do you believe the proposal would be approved if formally proposed? 2.What are some strengths and weaknesses of the proposal? |
Answer
A Request for Approval of Funding for a Quality Improvement Training Program Titled: “Quality Improvement in Intravenous Fluid Therapy”
Name:
Institution:
Quality Improvement Initiative in Nursing
Nurses play an important part in ensuring that patients acquire quality medical care. This is not only influenced by education and communication with the patients but also the extent to which the nurses can apply their knowledge. Many nurses lack sufficient knowledge on the importance of some routine practices, for instance, the use of fluid therapy. Training them in these areas is essential in ensuring that quality services are delivered. The paper is a request for approval of funding for a quality improvement initiative in the form of an intravenous fluid therapy training program for all nurses at the hospital.
Fluid therapy refers to regulation of water balance in patients. It is done through use of intravenous (IV) fluid therapy in many hospitals. Healthcare delivery at the hospital has been improved with the adoption of this method as it ensures that there is fluid balance thus preventing platelet aggregation. Nurses play a direct role when it comes to fluid therapy as they are responsible for administering the fluid and regulating the patient’s progress. Some nurses may not know the importance of the fluid treatments. Therefore, they should be informed on the role of the procedure to ensure that the welfare of the patient is taken care of. This can be done by having nurse training programmes on the use and importance of this treatment. This kind of training is especially vital for new nurses and medical staff. Moreover, the nurses should be educated on the importance of monitoring the progress of the patient as this will ensure that the patient is not dehydrated when the intravenous fluid gets depleted.
Moreover, errors frequently occur at the hospital. They put the patient involved in harm particularly when the information on their medical condition is accessed. These errors also apply in the administration of fluid treatment. For example, the patient may be allergic to a particular medicine which is frequently used in IVs. However, such cases can be prevented by ensuring that the nurses use the patient information prior to using the IVs on the patients. Training nurses in the area will enable them to understand the importance of using patient information to ensure that treatment occurs in a manner which will not jeopardize health. In addition to this, cases of lawsuits associated with wrong treatment will be reduced as a result of use of patient information during the tasks (Cavouras, 2002).
Training the nurses on this issue will lead to general improvement of service delivery at the hospital. All patients regardless of their age or gender will benefit from the implementation of this initiative. Moreover, the nurses, medical staff, and the hospital management will benefit indirectly. This will occur due to the improved medical service delivery which will increase the number of patients being referred to the hospital due to the high quality of medical care provided.
Furthermore, the hospital will benefit from the program due to increased efficiency. There will be efficient use of resources provided as the medical staff will provide the right medicine for the patients; thus, the need to change the medicine provided from time to time will not arise. In addition to this, the hospitals will have better staff-patient relations. This will occur especially if the patients are involved directly in the treatment process by being informed on why the correct use of intravenous fluid is important and why they ought to prefer to patient information at all times (Steinbrook, 2002).
Fortunately, implementing the training programme will be a cost-effective undertaking. The programme should initially be done for all nurses at the medical facility. The costs for the first round of training will be slightly higher than subsequent training programmes. This will be the case if subsequent programmes are arranged for new employees, something that is strongly encouraged it will reduce redundancy due to the similarity of the training activities undertaken. Moreover, the programme can be become even more cost-effective if the trained nurses are given the role of mentoring new nurses at the hospital. This will make greatly contribute to a reduction in training costs (Kane et al., 2007).
The cost of implementing the initial programme will be $5000, covering all costs 50 nurses. This figure also takes into account the cost of using lab materials, including IV bags and medicine. The subsequent training sessions will cost $80 per nurse, and they will involve mentorship by senior nurses. The hospital should meet this cost because of the enormous benefits it bring in terms of improved patient outcomes.
Errors in use of IVs also occur as a result of hospital routine violations. Therefore, training the nurses would be vital to ensure that the practice is done in the right manner. Assessments on the effectiveness of the initiative can be checked by reviewing the work of the nurses. The trainers should do this randomly prior and after training sessions. Doing this prior to the training sessions will help trainers to identify the areas that have been neglected, while conducting random tests after the training will enable them to pinpoint areas which have been improved. Moreover, the rate of death rates prior and after the training should be compared. In many cases, hospitals note a reduced death rate frequently above 7% which would occur as a result of medical errors. To evaluate the effectiveness of the programme, hospital staff will need to compare instances of reported errors relating to the administration of intravenous fluids. The program is projected to lead to at least 70 percent reduction in cases of errors relating to the administration of intravenous fluids.
As shown in this proposal, training nurses on routine practices will greatly improve the delivery of medical care. Routine practices should be done in the best way possible as many patients undergo this processes. Thus, improving in this area particularly intravenous fluid therapy will affect many patients. Furthermore, due to the cost- effective nature of the training programme, applicability in many hospitals, including this one, is a reality. Healthcare is a vital sector of the economy thus, improvements in all medical processes should be adopted regularly; doing so will lead to improvement in health outcomes for the population.
References
Cavouras, C. (2002). Nurse staffing levels in American hospitals: A 2001 report. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 28(1), 40-43.
Kane, R., Shamliyan, T., Mueller, C., Duval, S. & Wilt, T. (2007). The association of registered nurse staffing levels and patient outcomes: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Medical Care, 45(12), 1195-1204.
Steinbrook, R. (2002). Nursing in the crossfire. New England Journal of Medicine, 346(22), 1757-1766.
