Quality Tool Week 10

Improving Health Care Quality: A Guide for Patients and Families
This is a guide that provides information and resources to help you get better quality health care. I think this is a great guide for patients and families to learn how to become involved in their healthcare. You can read all the way through or go directly to the sections that interest you the most. The sections available are listed below:
*What affects health care quality and how to become involved
*How health care quality is measured
*Where to find measurement tools
*How to make more informed health care decisions
*How you can find out about clinical trials
The section that I thought was interesting was the "What affects health care quality and howto become involved”. These are the ways this sectioned advised patient and families to become involved:
*Work with your doctor, nurse, and other health care providers to make decisions about your care.
*Tell your doctor about all of the medicines you take.
*Read the label on your prescription right away when you pick up from the drug store. Make sure it is what the doctor ordered for you.
*If you have several health problems or are in a hospital, many people may be involved in your care.
*Ask questions, and keep asking them until you understand the answers.
*Ask your doctor what the scientific evidence has to say about your condition and treatment options. Know that "more is not always better." Be sure to find out why you need a test or treatment and how it can help you. You could be better off without it.
*Find and use information about quality measures when making health care choices.
http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/qntlite/qntlite.htm

Week 10 The End!!

Malpractice Settlement Data Could Go Online in North Carolina

In hopes of decreasing the number of malpractice suits, North Carolina is considering a plan to post information about medical malpractice suits online. This information may not necessarily be of any use to consumers considering the fact that they may not even know the information is available. However, I feel that posting this information to the public may make physician be more aware of what they are doing and there would possibly be less law suits or as the article stated the physician would be less likely to settle the law suit.

http://www.ihealthbeat.org/Articles/2008/5/5/Malpractice-Settlement-Data-Could-Go-Online-in-North-Carolina.aspx

Commenting on Rajni!!

I agree with Rajni about the intranet. From the intranet at UMMC I can access many areas such as the Hot Spots. I think that this is a good feature for large business to have.

Quality Tool Blog 8

The Digital Divide: What can Physicians Do to Bridge the Gap?

I thought this was a neat quality tool to help physician bridge that gap between the digital divide that they face in today's society. I know how it to is to use dial-up Internet. It's not fun. The area I live in was recently eligible for high speed Internet. When it comes to doing homework I feel like I'm in heaven now because I can submit my homework from home in 30 seconds opposed to 30 minutes. The world of health care is even a much more critical area and some patient are still on the bad side of this digital divide.This video discussed the many issues concerning patients that do not have good Internet access to be able to research and gain knowledge of their diseases. This video informs physicians of the necessity of thoroughly explain to patients every issue concerning this or her disease . With out Internet access, they are unable to research on their own. The other topics discussed in the video are listed below.
*The Internet explosion
*Pew Internet use survey results
*How consumerism has changed the
*doctor-patient relationship
*Patients' inability and reluctance to
*use the Internet as a resource
*Definition of Digital Divide
*Barriers to access
*Connectivity
*Availability
*Accessibility of information
*Who is affected?
*Increasing Internet usage
*Factors in the Digital Divide
*Relevance for physicians
*What physicians can do
*Alternative approaches

http://www.bigshouldersdubs.com/clients/ama/09_DigitalDivide.htm

Blog 8

Key strategies for sustained performance improvement

Health care facilities today, often find themselves in position where they must improve in order to keep business. For example, UMMC has been talking a lot about marketing to improve the concept that people have in their minds about what type of facility UMMC is. I found this website that has 3 strategies for improvement and thought it was very interesting.

• Strategy 1: Create a Culture of Continuous Improvement and Accountability
  
• Strategy 2: Identify Key Performance Improvement Opportunities and Performance Measures
  
• Strategy 3: Use Performance Measures to Understand and Improve Processes
  

I believe that each strategy is necessary. However strategy 1 is the one that that stood out to me. "Create a Culture of Continuous Improvement and Accountability". I believe that in order to keep a hospital in business it takes continuous improvement.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3257/is_11_58/ai_n6359510/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1

Commenting on Tammi!!

I think Tammi has a good point. Nobody knows when a JCAHO auditor my pop in a facility. You just may never know who could be putting on and preteding to be just a normal visiter. It pays to be nice to everyone because it just may be an auditor that you happen to mistreat. You sure don't want to ruffle thier feathers!!!

Quality Tool Blog 7

Color-coded Wristband Standardation in Arizona
I found this quality tool to be interesting because it educated the employees, of facilities in Arizona, on patient safety by using color-coded wristbands to alert healthcare providers of different precautions concerning each patient. The three different conditions that had a wrist band for was do not resuscitate (DNR) (purple bands) , allergies (red bands), and fall risk (yellow bands). I thought this was a neat tool and should be shared with other facilities across our country.
http://www.azhha.org/patient_safety/wristbandtoolkit.pdf

Blog 7

Hazard Communication: Foundation of Workplace Chemical Safety Programs
After studying about Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) in class I found this website to be interesting. It has laws and regulations that deal with chemical safety, which is a very important issue in healthcare as well as any other setting. It also has MSDS requirements. This is a good place for someone to look that is interested in knowing what is actually required to be on a MSDS. The thing I found to be the most interesting was the compliance links that this website contains. A few that stood out to me were eTools, grants, quick cards, record keeping, and training links. These seemed to be very important to someone working in compliance and it caught my attention because compliance is one area I may find myself working in the future.
http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/hazardcommunications/index.html

Commenting on Allison!!

I thought Allison's quality tool was quite interesting. Because I agree that as HIM professionals, we should promote patient's taking charge of their own health. One of the question's she mentioned was, "Which hospital is best for my needs?". Before coming into this program I did not realize that I could get the grades of different hospitals and find out which hospital has the highest grade in the area that I need.

Week 6 Quality Tool

Gettin a Prescription

This tool kit has some of the best advice you can get when it comes to getting a prescription. Many people get their prescription filled but never even take the entire bottle of pills. For example, when I get an antibiotic for a cold or something of that nature, I never finish the antibiotic after I’m over the cold. I know that is not good to do, but I feel good so I don’t feel like I need medicine. The article makes it clear that knowing about your medication and what role it plays in your treatment is extremely important. I also think that it is necessary to track your medications. If someone is taking multiple medications it is a good idea to keep a list of his or her meds or bring all of his or her medication to every doctor visit. The last piece of advice that I thought was interesting is that patients should follow up on their treatment plan. It is a good idea to know whether or not you need a refill. It’s a good idea to make sure the medication is doing its job.

http://www.ahrq.gov/questionsaretheanswer/level3col_1.asp?nav=3colNav05&content=05_0_prescription

Week 6

Evidence-Based Management

This article points out that evidence-based management improves the quality of management decision-making. There are four key strategies pointed out to promote evidence-based management: Recognize and respond to growing demand for accountability as a strategic issue, establish organizational structures and processes for knowledge transfer, Build a questioning organization culture, and Build organizational research capabilities. Out of these, establish organizational structures and processes for knowledge transfer stood out to me. I feel that in a facility, if the HIM department is well known most people will go to them as a resource. We possess the necessary skills to provide quality information and transfer data As an HIM student, I’m striving to increase my knowledge in every area possible to help me be more marketable when I’m out in the workforce.

http://www.hhnmag.com/hhnmag_app/jsp/articledisplay.jsp?dcrpath=HHNMAG/Article/data/11NOV2007/0711HHN_Outbox&domain=HHNMAG