Tools for Measuring Quality

Tools for Measuring Quality

How do we determine quality? Quality in other areas of our lives can be subjective, so how do we ensure—specifically as it relates to our nursing practice—that quality is clearly defined and measurable?

Tools for measuring quality are used to assess the value measured, collected, or compared. These tools allow for subjectivity to be replaced with objectivity through data, formula, ranking, and analysis.

For this Assignment, you will explore at least three rate-based measures of quality. You will deconstruct each measure to explore your understanding of the measure, its importance, and its impact on patient safety, cost of healthcare, and overall quality of healthcare. Check tips on how to do your Nursing Homework. 

TO PREPARE

• Review the Learning Resources, for this week, and reflect on tools for measuring quality in nursing practice.
• Select three rate-based measurements of quality that you would like to focus on for this Assignment.
  • Note:These measurements must relate to some aspect of clinical or service quality that directly relates to patient care or the patient’s experience of care. For the purposes of this Assignment, an analysis of staffing levels is not
  • You can find useful information on quality indicators that are of interest to you on these websites and resources. You may choose only one of the three measures to be some form of patient satisfaction measure.

Tools for Measuring Quality

• Consider how the three rate-based measures (you will select) are defined, how the rates were determined or calculated, how the measures were collected, and how these measures are communicated to both internal and external stakeholders.
• Reflect on how the three rate-based measures (you will select) may relate to organizational goals for improved performance.
• Reflect on the three rate-based measures (you will select), and consider the importance of these measures on patient safety, cost of healthcare, and overall quality of healthcare.

THE ASSIGNMENT: (8-10 PAGES)

• Describe the three rate-based measures of quality you selected, and explain why.
• Deconstruct each rate-based measure to include the following:
  • Describe the definition of the measure.
  • Explain the numerical description of how the measure is constructed (the numerator/denominator measure counts, the formula used to construct the rate, etc.).
  • Explain how the data for this measure are collected.
  • Describe how the measurement is compared externally to other like settings, and differentiate between the actual rate and a percentile ranking. Be specific.
  • Explain whether the measure is risk adjusted or not. If so, explain briefly how this is accomplished.
  • Describe how goals might be set for each measure in an aggressive organization, which is seeking to excel in the marketplace. Be specific and provide examples.

Tools for Measuring Quality

• Describe the importance of each rate-based measure to a chosen clinical organization and setting.
  • Using the websites and resources, you can choose a hospital, a nursing home, a home health agency, a dialysis center, a health plan, an outpatient clinic, or private office; a total population of patient types is also acceptable, but please be specific as to the setting. That is, if you are interested in patients with chronic illness across the continuum of care, you might home in a particular health plan, a multispecialty practice setting or a healthcare organization with both inpatient and outpatient/clinic settings.
  • Note:Faculty appointments and academic settings are not permitted for this exercise. For all other settings, consult the Instructor for guidance. You do not need actual data from a given organization to complete this Assignment.
• Explain how each rate-based measure (you selected) relates to patient safety, to the cost of poor quality, and to the overall cost of healthcare delivery. Be specific and provide examples.

Reminder: The College of Nursing requires that all papers submitted include a title page, introduction, summary, and references. The Sample Paper provided at the Walden Writing Center provides an example of those required elements (available at https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/templates/general#s-lg-box-20293632Links to an external site.). All papers submitted must use this formatting.