NURS 8302 Week 5: MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS

Walden University NURS 8302 Week 5: MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS– Step-By-Step Guide

This guide will demonstrate how to complete the Walden University NURS 8302 Week 5: MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS assignment based on general principles of academic writing. Here, we will show you the A, B, Cs of completing an academic paper, irrespective of the instructions. After guiding you through what to do, the guide will leave one or two sample essays at the end to highlight the various sections discussed below.

How to Research and Prepare for NURS 8302 Week 5: MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS

Whether one passes or fails an academic assignment such as the Walden University NURS 8302 Week 5: MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS depends on the preparation done beforehand. The first thing to do once you receive an assignment is to quickly skim through the requirements. Once that is done, start going through the instructions one by one to clearly understand what the instructor wants. The most important thing here is to understand the required format—whether it is APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.

After understanding the requirements of the paper, the next phase is to gather relevant materials. The first place to start the research process is the weekly resources. Go through the resources provided in the instructions to determine which ones fit the assignment. After reviewing the provided resources, use the university library to search for additional resources. After gathering sufficient and necessary resources, you are now ready to start drafting your paper.

How to Write the Introduction for NURS 8302 Week 5: MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS

The introduction for the Walden University NURS 8302 Week 5: MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS is where you tell the instructor what your paper will encompass. In three to four statements, highlight the important points that will form the basis of your paper. Here, you can include statistics to show the importance of the topic you will be discussing. At the end of the introduction, write a clear purpose statement outlining what exactly will be contained in the paper. This statement will start with “The purpose of this paper…” and then proceed to outline the various sections of the instructions.

How to Write the Body for NURS 8302 Week 5: MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS

After the introduction, move into the main part of the NURS 8302 Week 5: MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS assignment, which is the body. Given that the paper you will be writing is not experimental, the way you organize the headings and subheadings of your paper is critically important. In some cases, you might have to use more subheadings to properly organize the assignment. The organization will depend on the rubric provided. Carefully examine the rubric, as it will contain all the detailed requirements of the assignment. Sometimes, the rubric will have information that the normal instructions lack.

Another important factor to consider at this point is how to do citations. In-text citations are fundamental as they support the arguments and points you make in the paper. At this point, the resources gathered at the beginning will come in handy. Integrating the ideas of the authors with your own will ensure that you produce a comprehensive paper. Also, follow the given citation format. In most cases, APA 7 is the preferred format for nursing assignments.

How to Write the Conclusion for NURS 8302 Week 5: MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS

After completing the main sections, write the conclusion of your paper. The conclusion is a summary of the main points you made in your paper. However, you need to rewrite the points and not simply copy and paste them. By restating the points from each subheading, you will provide a nuanced overview of the assignment to the reader.

How to Format the References List for NURS 8302 Week 5: MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS

The very last part of your paper involves listing the sources used in your paper. These sources should be listed in alphabetical order and double-spaced. Additionally, use a hanging indent for each source that appears in this list. Lastly, only the sources cited within the body of the paper should appear here.

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Sample Answer for NURS 8302 Week 5: MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS

Brief Description of Healthcare Organization: The chosen clinical setting is a 557-bed level 1 trauma center with emergency services, 23 operating rooms, 32 intensive unit beds, 18 cardiovascular critical unit beds, 12 neurology intensive unit beds, several step-down and standard unit beds, and a women and children’s pavilion.

Summary of Scorecard or Dashboard Measures: Scorecards and dashboards are tools for tracking and displaying critical data and indicators related to patient care experiences. They visually represent vital parameters, allowing healthcare organizations to monitor and evaluate performance in this area (Khanhhai et al., 2022). These scorecards or dashboards often include information on patient satisfaction, communication effectiveness, staff responsiveness, and other elements contributing to the overall patient experience. Healthcare organizations may discover areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions to improve patient care quality by having this information readily available. To measure a scorecard or dashboard related to patient outcomes, healthcare organizations collect data from various sources. These include patient surveys, feedback forms, complaints and compliments, and other feedback mechanisms. The data collected is analyzed and transformed into meaningful metrics and indicators that reflect different aspects of the patient’s experience (van Elten et al., 2022). My organization establishes goals for these metrics and regularly reviews them. We are meeting or exceeding our goals in most of these areas. It shows that we are providing a positive experience and delivering high-quality care. We continuously strive to improve and provide the best possible experience for our patients.

Implications for Meeting or Not Meeting the Scorecard Metrics: Being able to meet or not to meet these metrics has significant impacts on our healthcare organization. Meeting these metrics means we deliver high-quality care and provide a positive patient experience, which can lead to positive outcomes such as higher patient satisfaction scores, build a strong reputation for our organization, which can lead to increased trust and loyalty among patients, and lastly, meeting the score care metrics can boost staff morale and engagement as they see the impact of their work on patient outcomes. On the contrary, not meeting these metrics can have negative consequences, such as decreased patient confidence, leading to patients seeking care elsewhere. It could also harm our organization’s reputation. Negative patient experiences can spread through word-of-mouth and online reviews, impacting our ability to attract new patients and retain existing ones. Lastly, it may indicate underlying issues in the quality of care provided (Amer et al., 2022).

In a nutshell, measuring patient experience scorecards or dashboards involves collecting data from sources like surveys and feedback forms. This data is analyzed to generate metrics reflecting the patient’s experience. Regular tracking helps to identify areas for improvement and enhance patient care.

Reference

Amer, F., Hammoud, S., Onchonga, D., Alkaiyat, A., Nour, A., Endrei, D., & Boncz, I. (2022,

June 10). Assessing patient experience and attitude: BSC-Patient Development,

translation, and Psychometric Evaluation-a cross-sectional study. International journal of environmental research and public health.

Khanbhai, M., Symons, J., Flott, K., Harrison-White, S., Spofforth, J., Klaber, R., Manton, D.,

Darzi, A., & Mayer, E. (2022, February 3). Enriching the value of patient experience

feedback: Web-based Dashboard Development using co-design and Heuristic

Evaluation. JMIR human factors

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8855286/Links to an external site.

van Elten, H. J., Sülz, S., van Raaij, E. M., & Wehrens, R. (2022, February 22). Big Data Health

Care Innovations: Performance Dashboarding as a process of collective sensemaking.

Journal of medical Internet research.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8905474

Sample Answer 2 for NURS 8302 Week 5: MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS

Introduction

As they offer a platform for monitoring, tracking, and identifying areas of improvement on multiple indicators, scorecards and dashboards can be a vital tool for healthcare organizations (Bohm et al., 2021). The numerous initiatives aimed at improving patient experiences are essential to raising the bar for the quality of care provided to patients. Healthcare companies can use scorecards and dashboards to convert their performance objectives into strategic goals. From there, they can assess, monitor, and adjust various actions to make sure the strategic goals are accomplished (Pavoll et al., 2020).

Brief description of the nursing practice setting

The nursing practice setting that i  have selected is in-patient psychiatry. I get to care for people with a variety of mental health concerns because I work as an in-patient psychiatric nurse. To address the many mental health conditions that people arrive with, dashboards are used for performance monitoring system and scoreboards are used for performance management system. I get the chance to collaborate with other medical experts in the planning, creation, and execution of patient treatment plans as part of my job in in-patient psychiatry.

Summary of the Measures on the Scoreboard or Dashboard in which Patient Experience of Care is measured.

Dashboards and scorecards are crucial instruments for evaluating patients’ experiences in a medical setting. Healthcare businesses can assess patient satisfaction and pinpoint areas for improvement using scorecards and dashboards (Pavoll et al., 2020). Critical data can be examined with the use of scorecards and dashboards, which can then be used to inform quality improvement initiatives aimed at improving the patient experience (Victor & Farooq, 2021).Wait times, treatment effectiveness, and patient satisfaction with provided treatments are a few of the metrics on the scorecard and dashboards where patient experience is tracked in my office. By measuring these indicators, the healthcare environment may assess, track, and monitor how patients are using different services, and then implement improvements.

According to Pavoll et al. (2020), wait times represent the length of time a patient stays in the medical institution between when they arrive at registration and when they are attended to. The patient’s readiness for a particular procedure or treatment is taken into account while calculating the wait time, and this is done until the patient receives the desired service. An integrated electronic health record (EHR) monitoring system is present in the hospital where I work. It keeps track of patients’ lengths of stay in the office, wait times for rooms, wait times for medical attention, and check-out times. Additionally, a survey with questions about wait times is given to the patients to complete. Patients can rate their degree of satisfaction with the wait time on a Likert scale from 1 (not satisfied) to 5 (extremely satisfied) using that provision.

Additionally, patients can report what elements of the service delivery caused delays in receiving treatment; these details are used to improve and modify the system. The information gathered guarantees that the medical facility’s aims and objectives for bettering patient experiences are reached or exceeded.

The target result for this measure is “attend to all patients within 30 minutes after they arrive in the hospital,” according to the scorecard. The tactical objectives to achieve this result are of prior to an appointment, obtain patient information; adopt a patient portal; streamline the clinical workflow; and locate and remove any bottlenecks.

The hospital has a policy of cutting patient wait times to within 30 minutes in the following year in order to facilitate the tracking of this statistic. The healthcare facility can monitor the success of the initiatives implemented to shorten patient wait times thanks to this vital information. The healthcare facility can more easily determine whether it is on track to reduce patient wait times and, if not, what areas or bottlenecks need to be addressed to achieve the desired result thanks to the patients’ continuous feedback (Pavoll et al., 2020).

The effectiveness of the care provided at the medical facility is the second metric. A metric called treatment efficacy is used to determine how well a certain set of interventions, processes, or services affect the patient in the way that is intended. Patients are asked to respond to important questions about the standard of medical care, its cost, its accessibility, and the interpersonal skills of the medical staff caring for them, the openness and efficacy of the communication between the patient and the care provider, and the availability of healthcare professionals (Pavoll et al., 2020).

“To lead in the development, application, and promotion of quality and safe practices to enhance the efficacy of treatment” is the primary goal for this measure. “To offer industry-best medical treatments through the delivery of safe and quality care that leads to measurable improvements in patients’ well-being” is the strategy aim for this metric. The hospital aims to “provide optimal and patient-centered care that is safe, and effective” in order to monitor progress toward the goal. The healthcare institution may more easily determine whether it is on track to provide efficient treatment and, if not, what areas or bottlenecks need to be addressed to reach the desired goal thanks to the patients’ continuous feedback.

Patient satisfaction is the third metric the hospital uses to assess how well patients are experiencing their stay. Patients offer input on a range of topics, including how simple it is to make an appointment, if they would suggest the facility to a colleague based on their experiences, whether they had any trouble making an appointment, and how the staff’s professionalism is rated, among other things. A Likert scale is used to gauge the patients’ overall level of satisfaction. Patients can indicate how satisfied or unsatisfied they are by marking 1 (not satisfied) to 5 (extremely satisfied) as appropriate.

In the upcoming year, the medical center hopes to bring the percentage of patients who are dissatisfied with the treatments they received down to around 20%. The ongoing patient input offers a way to monitor how well different intervention strategies are working to raise patient satisfaction.

Explain whether goals at your organization are established

The organization has SMART targets for each of the measures mentioned above. In terms of patient satisfaction, the hospital hopes to bring the percentage of patients who are dissatisfied with the care they received down to less than 20% within the next year. The objective is to bring down patient wait times to less than thirty minutes throughout the course of the following year. The objective of treatment efficacy is to provide the finest medical care possible to patients by providing safe, high-quality care that improves their well-being in quantifiable ways.

Right now, every objective is being achieved. In the course of a year, the percentage of dissatisfied patients has decreased from 35% to 17%. The average wait time is presently 35 minutes, and many interventions have been implemented to further reduce it to the desired levels.

Furthermore, efforts are well under way to improve the efficacy of care by delivering safe, high-quality care that results in quantifiable improvements in patients’ well-being. These efforts include training and development programs for healthcare professionals, a focus on patient care, the elimination of redundancies, better coordination between departments, and improved provider collaboration. (Orozco, 2019)

Potential Impacts of Meeting These Metric

Patients will be more satisfied and have a better experience if the wait time is cut to 30 minutes after they arrive. Additionally, this will increase confidence in its capacity to provide patients with high-quality, secure, and timely care. Increasing treatment effectiveness will boost patient confidence in the services because they will know that every time they visit the hospital, the interventions they receive will have the intended positive impact.

Furthermore, since patients will know they are in the hands of respectable professionals, this will improve the facility’s reputation. Improving patient satisfaction will lead to improved healthcare outcomes, increased productivity, improved staff morale, improved patient loyalty and retention, and improved reputation (Orozco, 2019).

Conclusion

Dashboards and scorecards are helpful instruments for monitoring and measuring the different elements that go into providing better patient experiences. Monitoring these metrics is essential because it helps healthcare institutions identify areas that require improvement. Three metrics are monitored: treatment effectiveness, wait duration, and patient satisfaction. The hospital has implemented strategies to improve the effectiveness of care and hopes to cut wait times to under 30 minutes. Several strategies are being implemented to increase treatment efficacy, such as improving healthcare personnel’s training and development, prioritizing patient care, reducing duplication of effort, coordinating efforts across departments, and fostering greater provider collaboration. The healthcare facility wants to lower the percentage of patients who are dissatisfied with the services they received to less than 20% within the next year in order to increase patient satisfaction. The majority of these objectives are expected to be completed within the estimated time frames. The hospital is still dedicated to offering patient-centered, secure, efficient, timely, and equitable healthcare services.

References

Bohm, V., Lacaille, D., Spencer, N., & Barber, C. E. (2021). A scoping review of balanced

scorecards for use in healthcare settings: development and implementation.

BMJ, Open Quality 10(3), e001293.

Orozco, S. C. (2019).A Quality Improvement Evaluation of Patient Experience Through the

Enhanced Recovery Program.(Doctoral dissertation, Walden University).

Pavoll, A., Camenga, C. F., & Weingart, S. N. (2020). Developing a Hospital Quality Metrics

System and Dashboard.Quality Measures: The Revolution in Patient Safety and

Outcomes, 115-125.

Pavoll, A., Camenga, C. F., & Weingart, S. N. (2020). System and Dashboard.

Quality Measures: The Revolution in Patient Safety and Outcomes, 115.

Victor, S., & Farooq, A. (2021). Dashboard visualization for healthcare performance

management: Balanced scorecard metrics.Asia Pacific Journal of Health Management,16(2), 28-38.

Sample Answer 3 for NURS 8302 Week 5: MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS

In the realm of healthcare, the adoption of scorecards and dashboards as tools for performance monitoring and management has become increasingly prevalent. Advocates argue that these tools provide a comprehensive view of various indicators, enabling healthcare organizations to identify areas for improvement and elevate the quality of care provided to patients (Bohm et al., 2021). However, an alternative perspective urges caution in relying too heavily on these metrics, emphasizing the need for a nuanced understanding of their limitations and potential unintended consequences.

While scorecards and dashboards offer a structured approach to converting performance objectives into strategic goals, some critics argue that an overemphasis on these tools may lead to a reductionist view of healthcare quality (Bohm et al., 2021). The complexity of patient experiences and the multifaceted nature of healthcare delivery may not be fully captured by numerical metrics alone (Pavoll, Camenga & Weingart, 2020). In the context of in-patient psychiatry, where patient care extends beyond measurable outcomes to include psychological well-being and therapeutic relationships, a sole reliance on dashboards and scorecards may oversimplify the assessment of success.

The described metrics, such as wait times, treatment effectiveness, and patient satisfaction, undoubtedly provide valuable insights. However, the alternative perspective suggests that these indicators should be complemented by qualitative assessments and patient narratives to capture the full spectrum of patient experiences (Pavoll, Camenga & Weingart, 2020). The potential risk of prioritizing numeric metrics is the inadvertent neglect of aspects that are challenging to quantify but crucial for comprehensive mental health care, such as empathy, trust, and the therapeutic alliance.

Additionally, the establishment of SMART targets for each metric, while providing a clear direction, might inadvertently lead to a focus on meeting specific numerical goals rather than fostering a culture of continuous improvement (Pavoll, Camenga & Weingart, 2020). This could create pressure to achieve targets at the expense of individualized patient care or the well-being of healthcare providers. The alternative perspective emphasizes the importance of maintaining a balance between measurable goals and the intrinsic values of patient-centered care.

In conclusion, while scorecards and dashboards offer valuable insights into healthcare performance, an alternative perspective urges a cautious and balanced approach. It advocates for the integration of qualitative assessments, patient narratives, and a focus on the intrinsic values of healthcare to ensure that the pursuit of numerical metrics does not overshadow the broader goals of patient-centered, compassionate, and individualized care in in-patient psychiatry and beyond.

References 

Bohm, V., Lacaille, D., Spencer, N., & Barber, C. E. (2021). A scoping review of balanced scorecards for use in healthcare settings: development and implementation.  BMJ, Open Quality 10(3), e001293.

Pavoll, A., Camenga, C. F., & Weingart, S. N. (2020). System and Dashboard.  Quality Measures: The Revolution in Patient Safety and Outcomes, 115.

Sample Answer 4 for NURS 8302 Week 5: MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS

The healthcare organization I selected is the new Baptist Hospital in Brent Lane, Pensacola, FL.  We have recently moved hospitals (September 2023), so the building is new.  We use scorecards and dashboards in which patient experience and care are measured, tracked, and used to set improvement goals.  HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) then tells us whether we are at par with the other hospitals in the area.  HCAHPS is the first national, standardized, publicly reported survey of patients’ perspectives on hospital care (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2020).     

Star ratings reflect HCAHPS surveys completed from July 2014 through June 2015, released on May 4, 2016.  According to the President and CEO of Baptist Health Care, patient satisfaction is reviewed monthly to ensure we stay on top of our performance expectations.  The ratings are based on 11 publicly reported measures in the HCAHPS survey (Baptist Health Care, 2023).  The DNV recently surveyed our hospital, and we were told we passed with flying colors.  On my floor, we measure performance according to our numbers of patient falls, hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPI), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), and central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI).

It is important to score low in these nurse-sensitive indicators as they can also impact hospital-wide scores.  The impact of not meeting these metrics for my healthcare organization can be disastrous.  “What we had previously assumed to be consistently high-quality care was now revealed to be frequently unreliable and inadequate in meeting patient needs” (Nash et al., 2019, p. 233) until the publication of To Err Is Human and Crossing the Quality Chasm.  As the healthcare system is now moving away from fee for volume of services to fee for patient-centered care or services, the surveys are defined by what actually happens from the source of that information: the patients. 

References:

Baptist Health Care (2023). Baptist Health Care Hospitals Score High, Gulf Breeze Hospital earns perfect five-star rating in latest CMS Hospital Compare Website Update. Baptist Health Care | eBaptistHealthCare.org. https://www.ebaptisthealthcare.org/news/baptist-health-care-hospitals-score-high-gulf-breeze-hospital-earns-perfect-five-star-rating-in-latest-cms-hospital-compare-website-update

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (2020). HCAHPS: Patients’ perspectives of care surveyLinks to an external site.Links to an external site.. https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/HospitalQualityInits/HospitalHCAHPS

Nash, D. B., Joshi, M. S., Ransom, E. R., & Ransom, S. B. (Eds.). (2019). The healthcare quality book: Vision, strategy, and tools (4th ed.). Health Administration Press.