Quality Improvement Proposal
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Quality Improvement Proposal: Streamlining Communication
Communication involves exchanging information using various mediums like writing, body language, or speaking. Communication is indispensable in the field of medicine and the healthcare sector. Communication errors in healthcare are common and can lead to serious consequences such as delays in treatment, medication errors, misdiagnosis, and even death.it is estimated that about 27% of medical misconduct occurs due to communication letdowns hence the need for improved communication to lessen medical faults and patient grievances (Tiwary et al., 2019). Effective communication between healthcare workers and patients ensures high-quality care and positive patient outcomes. Ensuring enhanced patient satisfaction, compliance, and overall health status is important. In this paper, we will identify a quality improvement opportunity related to communication errors in healthcare and suggest a quality improvement plan founded on evidence-based practice.
Problem Overview
Healthcare communication errors are a major issue in various contexts, including hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare facilities. Language hurdles, cultural variations, inadequate training, and a lack of defined communication standards are all issues that might contribute to communication failures. Healthcare providers, for example, may come from many linguistic and cultural backgrounds, making it challenging to communicate successfully with patients. Furthermore, some healthcare personnel may need more training on properly connecting with patients, particularly those with inadequate health literacy or who speak a different language. Similarly, the lack of standardized communication protocols might add to communication failures because healthcare settings may have different communication expectations or approaches.
Poor communication can lead to medical errors, decreased patient satisfaction, and increased healthcare expenses. Medical errors caused by communication breakdowns can include misdiagnosis, prescription errors, therapy delays, and unnecessary treatments. These mistakes can have major repercussions for patients, such as extended sickness, disability, or even death. Furthermore, poor communication can contribute to lower patient satisfaction because patients may believe their healthcare professionals need to listen to their concerns or present more information about their health conditions. Finally, communication failures can increase healthcare expenses because additional tests or treatments may be required to remedy errors caused by poor communication.
Overall, communication failures in healthcare are a serious problem that can have catastrophic effects on patients and healthcare providers. Effective solutions for improving communication between healthcare practitioners and patients must be developed and implemented to ensure high-quality care and excellent patient outcomes.
Quality Improvement Initiative and the Expected Outcomes
Poor communication can have major effects on patients and healthcare providers, so a quality improvement project in the field of communication problems in healthcare is required. Communication failures can result from medical errors, poor patient satisfaction, and increased healthcare costs. By changing the way, healthcare providers communicate with patients, implementing a quality improvement effort to address communication problems in healthcare can assist in lessening these negative repercussions. The proposed quality improvement initiative to address communication errors in healthcare is based on the "The Road to Evidence-Based Practice" process, which entails recognizing the issue, examining relevant evidence, critically assessing the evidence, applying the evidence to practice, and evaluating the results.
The planned initiative entails the establishment of standardized communication protocols as well as healthcare provider training programs. Standardized communication procedures would provide uniformity in how healthcare providers communicate with patients across various healthcare settings, lowering the possibility of misinterpretation and errors. Furthermore, healthcare workers will be trained in effective communication tactics, such as using simple language and overcoming language and cultural obstacles.
The quality improvement project is expected to improve communication between healthcare practitioners and patients, resulting in better patient outcomes and higher patient satisfaction. Implementing standardized communication guidelines and training programs would better equip healthcare providers to interact with patients, ensuring patients obtain the information they need to make educated health decisions. That will result in better patient outcomes since patients are likelier to stick to their treatment programs, resulting in fewer medical errors and problems. Improved communication can also raise patient satisfaction because patients will believe that their healthcare providers are listening to their concerns and providing the information they require.
Previous Research
Over the years, society has undergone various changing patterns evident through the advancement in medical care and stress-free access to medical info, which makes the medic-patient association a challenge. Previously, doctors were seen as a receptacle of medical know-how and used for patient management (Finset et al., 2020). Today, things are different as there is an understanding of the doctor and patient connection and its essentiality in various parts of the care process. A healthy doctor-patient association is essential when providing high-quality care (Ward, 2018). Communication trust is an integral component, among other elements, when creating a healthy relationship. Communication and trust are regarded as the primary tools for better patient satisfaction and care in healthcare. That shows the obligation to establish some amount of trust and an environment that enhances the development of honest communication. The quality of the interaction with the patient positively correlates with the patient's trust and satisfaction.
Despite the widespread understanding of the essentiality of effective communication in healthcare, various communication failures hinder effective patient care. Communication failures or errors can lead to serious medical issues. The communication issues are multidimensional and get influenced by technology, biology, information design, processes, and personnel (Shahid & Thomas, 2018). The facility heavily invests in technology to disseminate, store, record, and access information, but communication issues must be addressed. Healthcare professionals should be conscious of the encounters that encounter handoffs, like language barricades, social surroundings, physical locations, and communication barriers.
Standardized communication protocols can be a very useful tool in addressing the issue of communication failures in healthcare. Standardized communication protocols give uniform and clear directions for healthcare providers and patients to communicate (Reed et al., 2018). These protocols can assist in ensuring that critical information is transmitted accurately and effectively, hence lowering the possibility of miscommunication and errors. Healthcare providers can communicate with patients more structured and organized manner by using standardized communication procedures, ensuring that all necessary information is provided. That can help to lessen the likelihood of errors caused by misunderstandings, such as medication errors or misdiagnoses. Furthermore, standardized communication standards help ensure that patients receive consistent and accurate information regardless of their healthcare provider.
Implementing the Quality Improvement Initiative
The following steps are required to put our quality improvement effort into action:
Create standardized communication protocols and healthcare provider training programs: Our quality improvement initiative's initial step is to create standardized communication channels and training programs for healthcare providers. Working with specialists in healthcare communication to develop guidelines that are evidence-based and successful at decreasing communication errors could be part of this (Parker, Forsythe & Kohlmorgen, 2019). The protocols should be simple to learn and implement and contain instructions for communicating with patients from various backgrounds.
Train healthcare practitioners about the value of effective communication and the adoption of standardized communication protocols: The following stage is to educate healthcare providers on the importance of good communication and the adoption of standardized communication protocols. This training should be required for all healthcare providers. It should include information on how to properly use the guidelines and tactics for communicating with patients from varied backgrounds (Anderson et al., 2019). Workshops, online courses, and other forms can all be used to deliver training.
Evaluate healthcare practitioners' adherence to the guidelines after implementing standardized communication protocols and training programs. That can be accomplished through routine audits or monitoring of healthcare providers' interactions with patients. Noncompliance should be handled immediately through corrective action, such as retraining or punitive sanctions.
Data collection and analysis will be used to assess the initiative's effectiveness: Finally, it is critical to evaluate the performance of the quality improvement project through data gathering and analysis. That can include tracking communication mistake rates before and after the deployment of standardized communication protocols and training programs. Data can be gathered through chart reviews, patient surveys, and other means. The data should be reviewed to see if there has been a significant reduction in communication errors due to the campaign.
Evaluation of the Initiative
As previously stated, we will employ a pre-post study design to compare communication mistake rates before and after the deployment of standardized communication protocols and training programs to determine the success of our quality improvement initiative. We will evaluate the difference in communication mistake rates using a hypothesis test and a statistical test (such as a chi-square test) to determine the significance of the results. That will aid in determining whether the deployment of standardized communication protocols and training programs successfully minimized communication errors in healthcare. The deployment of standardized communication protocols and training programs is the independent variable in our study, whereas the communication error rate is the dependent variable. We will evaluate the difference in communication mistake rates using a hypothesis test and a statistical test (such as a chi-square test) to determine the significance of the results.
Conclusion
High-quality healthcare requires effective communication. Communication errors can have major effects on both patients and healthcare practitioners. By introducing standardized communication protocols and training programs for healthcare providers, our suggested quality improvement project intends to eliminate communication errors in healthcare. Several studies have found that this technique improves communication and reduces medical errors. By implementing this program, we aim to improve patient outcomes, boost patient satisfaction, and improve the quality of treatment healthcare providers deliver.
References
Anderson, R. J., Bloch, S., Armstrong, M., Stone, P. C., & Low, J. T. (2019). Communication between healthcare professionals and relatives of patients approaching the end-of-life: A systematic review of qualitative evidence. Palliative medicine, 33(8), 926–941.
Finset, A., Bosworth, H., Butow, P., Gulbrandsen, P., Hulsman, R. L., Pieterse, A. H., ... & van Weert, J. (2020). Effective health communication–a key factor in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Patient education and counseling, 103(5), 873.
Parker, A. L., Forsythe, L. L., & Kohlmorgen, I. K. (2019). TeamSTEPPS®: An evidence‐based approach to reduce clinical errors threatening safety in outpatient settings: An integrative review. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management, 38(4), 19-31.
Reed, G. M., Keeley, J. W., Rebello, T. J., First, M. B., Gureje, O., Ayuso‐Mateos, J. L., ... & Medina‐Mora, M. E. (2018). Clinical utility of ICD‐11 diagnostic guidelines for high‐burden mental disorders: results from mental health settings in 13 countries. World Psychiatry, 17(3), 306-315.
Shahid, S., & Thomas, S. (2018). The situation, background, assessment, recommendation (SBAR) communication tool for handoff in health care–a narrative review. Safety in Health, 4(1), 1–9.
Tiwary, A., Rimal, A., Paudyal, B., Sigdel, K. R., & Basnyat, B. (2019). Poor communication by health care professionals may lead to life-threatening complications: examples from two case reports. Wellcome open research, 4.
Ward, P. (2018). Trust and communication in a doctor-patient relationship: a literature review. Arch Med, 3(3), 36.