Assessment 4 Instructions: Analyze and Apply Dashboard Data
Create a presentation (maximum of 20 slides with detailed speaker notes) for senior leadership in which four organizational leaders analyze the impact of a health care organization’s new safety and quality dashboard. Include an analysis of what the new metrics mean and how they will inform departmental activities for the next quarter.
“Being in a position of leadership is the most important job of any health professional anywhere along the continuum of care” (Ledlow & Coppola, 2013, p. 3). Leaders and ultimately the boards of directors of health care organizations are accountable for the safety of those they serve.” National quality organizations and regulatory bodies … are growing in their emphasis on leadership accountabilities for safe, reliable care as well as excellence in the experience of care” (Youngberg, 2013, p. 39).
With this emphasis on leadership accountability for the delivery of safe, high-quality health care services, health care leaders need to be able to drill down on what exactly safety and quality mean in the health care environment. Likewise, they also need to be able to design measures that help to ensure their organizations are able to deliver those kinds of outcomes. Read Measurement Perspectives [PDF] to examine key elements related to this issue.
In this final course assessment, you will have a unique opportunity to examine a health care organization’s safety and quality dashboard from the perspective of four organizational leaders. You will explore each leader’s specific interests regarding patient safety and quality. In particular, you will have the opportunity to perform a more in-depth analysis of the dashboard, the type of analysis a quality director might perform to further the organization’s safety and quality objectives.
References
Ledlow, G. R., & Coppola, M. N. (2013). Leadership for health professionals (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Youngberg, B. J. (2013). Patient safety handbook (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Demonstration of Proficiency
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:
- Competency 1: Analyze the quality and performance improvement activities within the health care organization.
- Recommend evidence-based actions to improve a selected measure on a health care organization’s safety and quality dashboard.
- Competency 2: Explain the risk management function in the health care organization.
- Analyze areas of a safety and quality dashboard of concern to a risk manager.
- Competency 3: Analyze the importance of patient safety in health care.
- Describe how a health care organization chooses the metrics to include in its safety and quality dashboard.
- Analyze areas of a safety and quality dashboard of concern to a patient safety officer.
- Competency 4: Apply leadership strategies to quality improvement in a health care organization.
- Assess senior leadership’s role in setting a health care organization’s strategic safety and quality objectives.
- Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and respectful of the diversity, dignity, and integrity of others and is consistent with health care professionals.
- Create a clear, organized, persuasive, and generally error-free presentation on a leadership team’s assessment of an organization’s safety and quality dashboard that is reflective of professional communication in the health care field.
- Provide citations and title and reference pages that conform to APA style and format.
Preparation
To help prepare for successfully completing this assessment:
- Download the Sample Presentation Guide [PPTX]. Use this as a starting point or guide as you develop your presentation.
Instructions
Your organization has just updated its safety and quality dashboard. Please review the Vila Health Mercy Hospital Safety and Quality Dashboard [PDF]. Note: You do not need to create a dashboard for this assessment. You are simply being asked to work with the one provided.
The CEO has asked each of the organizational leaders below to prepare a joint PowerPoint presentation. In it, they are to prepare a set of slides outlining their analysis of how the new numbers will inform their particular activities for the next quarter. The organizational leaders include:
- The quality director.
- The patient safety officer.
- The risk manager.
- Senior leadership.
Because of the quality director’s critical role in implementing the organization’s safety and quality strategic objectives, this individual will open the presentation and provide additional background about how the new dashboard was developed. This individual will also close the presentation. Use the following outline to organize your presentation. Be sure to include the introduction and conclusion and address all the questions listed under these headings. Also be sure to address each role and the corresponding questions.
Introduction (3–4 slides)
- What is a safety and quality dashboard?
- What role do safety and quality dashboards play in helping health care organizations drive their strategic safety and quality objectives?
- How do health care organization determine what they want to measure? Be sure to consider:
- Pressures from regulators, payors, and the industry.
- Self-identified improvement areas. For example, one organization’s safety and quality dashboard may highlight patient falls because its rate of falls is higher than the national average. This may also have resulted in increased costs to the organization.
- What CQI tools did the organization use to obtain, measure, and report data?
- What was the quality improvement team’s role in addressing the reported measures?
Quality Director (2–3 slides)
- Which metric on the dashboard would draw the quality director’s attention the most?
- What does this dashboard metric mean and why is it important?
- What three recommendations to leadership would help to address this metric?
- What (if any) quality models could be used to increase the quality of patient care and outcomes for this metric? Consider PDCA, Six Sigma, Lean, Hoshin Kanri planning, et cetera.
Patient Safety Officer (2–3 slides)
- Which metric on the dashboard would draw the patient safety officer’s attention the most?
- What does this dashboard metric mean and why is it important?
- What role does the patient safety officer play in improving this metric?
Risk Manager (2–3 slides)
- Which metric on the dashboard would draw the risk manager’s attention the most?
- What does this dashboard metric mean and why is it important?
- What role does the risk manager play in improving this metric?
Senior Leader (1 slide)
- What is the role of senior leadership (for example, CEO, COO, president, senior VP) in driving safety and quality improvement initiatives?
- What next steps might senior leadership take given the dashboard findings and the quality director’s three improvement recommendations?
Conclusion (2–3 slides)
- Which regulatory agency(ies) may be concerned about the findings in this dashboard?
- Why would regulators be concerned about these findings?
- Why are safety and quality dashboards important for monitoring key metrics in health care organizations?
Your slides need to be concise and offer main ideas in bulleted format. Use the speaker notes to expand upon your findings as if they were the transcript of your presentation for the leadership team.
In the health care environment, it is unlikely for a presentation and speaker notes to be in APA style. Do make sure they are concise, organized, clear, and free of errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Do make sure they address all the required headings and all of the questions under each heading.
Your senior leaders will want to know the sources of your information. Be sure to cite your sources in APA style in your speaker notes.
Additional Requirements
- Presentation length: Your presentation should be a maximum of 20 slides, including title and reference slides. Format your title and reference slides according to APA format.
- Speaker notes: Be sure to include these with your slides. They provide an opportunity for you to expand on the information you are highlighting in your slides.
- Number of references: Cite a minimum of two references.
- Scoring Guide: Please read the scoring guide for this assessment so you understand how your faculty member is going to evaluate your work.
Resources: Quality Improvement Tools
Quality Improvement Tools
These resources on quality improvement tools help set the stage for the work you will need to do in your final assessment, which requires you to analyze a health care organization’s safety and quality dashboards:
- Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (2018). Plan-do-study-act (PDSA) worksheet. Retrieved from http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/Tools/PlanDoStu…
- Mannon, M. (2014). Lean healthcare and quality management: The experience of ThedaCare. The Quality Management Journal, 21(1), 7–10.
The following suggested resources also appear in other course assessments. You will find that many of the tools and techniques used to detect errors in the health care industry are applicable to risk, patient safety, quality, and performance improvement, as these departments have mutual yet divergent interests. Each department will use the tools to identify information pertinent to their interests. For example, the risk manager may use the tool to abstract details pertaining to the potential for litigation. The safety officer, however, may be focused on details related to the root cause of the error.
- Gillam, S., & Siriwardena, A. N. (2013). Frameworks for improvement: Clinical audit, the plan-do-study-act cycle and significant event audit. Quality in Primary Care, 21(2), 123–130.
- Millar, R. (2013). Framing quality improvement tools and techniques in healthcare. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 27(2), 209–224.
Consult this resource for additional guidance on how to conduct research on quality improvement tools and other topics that will help you successfully complete your assessment.
- Health Care Administration Undergraduate Library Research Guide.
Resources: Dashboards
Dashboards
These resources on dashboards will help set the stage for the work you will need to do in your final assessment which requires you to analyze a health care organization’s safety and quality dashboard:
- Carroll, C., Flucke, N., Barton, A. J. & Thompson T. L. (2013). The use of dashboards to monitor quality of care [PDF]. Clinical Nurse Specialist, 27(2), 61–62.
- Hall, J. T., & Kelly, C. M. (2014). A partnership to enhance outcomes through quality dashboards and action planning. American Nurse Today, 9(1), 58–61.
- Measurement Perspectives [PDF].
- Weiner, J., Balijepally, V., Tanniru, M., & Bujnowski, A. M. (2015). Integrating strategic and operational decision making using data-driven dashboards: The case of St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital. Journal of Healthcare Management, 60(5), 319–331.
Resources: Metrics
Metrics
These resources on metrics will help set the stage for the work you will need to do in your final assessment, which requires you to analyze a health care organization’s safety and quality dashboards:
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2017). Desirable attributes of a quality measure. Retrieved from http://www.qualitymeasures.ahrq.gov/tutorial/attri…
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2017). Selecting quality measures. Retrieved from http://www.qualitymeasures.ahrq.gov/tutorial/selec…
- National Committee for Quality Assurance. (n.d.). HEDIS & performance measurement. Retrieved from http://www.ncqa.org/hedis-quality-measurement
- Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2014). Leading health indicators. Retrieved from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/Leading-Health-…
- Explore the 2020 LHI Topics on the far left side of the web page.
Expert Solution Preview
Introduction:
A safety and quality dashboard is an important tool for health care organizations to monitor and improve patient safety and quality outcomes. This assessment requires the creation of a presentation for senior leadership in which four organizational leaders analyze the impact of a health care organization’s new safety and quality dashboard.
Competency 1: Analyze the quality and performance improvement activities within the health care organization.
Recommend evidence-based actions to improve a selected measure on a health care organization’s safety and quality dashboard.
For the quality director:
Which metric on the dashboard would draw the quality director’s attention the most?
The readmission rate metric would draw the quality director’s attention the most.
What does this dashboard metric mean and why is it important?
This dashboard metric reflects the percentage of patients who are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge. A high readmission rate could indicate medication issues, surgical complications, or inadequate discharge planning, all of which could negatively impact patient safety and quality outcomes.
What three recommendations to leadership would help to address this metric?
Three recommendations for addressing the readmission rate metric could include implementing a clear and comprehensive discharge planning process, improving communication between providers and patients, and increasing post-discharge follow-up.
What (if any) quality models could be used to increase the quality of patient care and outcomes for this metric? Consider PDCA, Six Sigma, Lean, Hoshin Kanri planning, et cetera.
The use of the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) model could help to improve the readmission rate metric. This model involves identifying an issue, implementing a change, studying the impact of that change, and then acting upon the results to continuously improve processes.
Competency 2: Explain the risk management function in the health care organization.
Analyze areas of a safety and quality dashboard of concern to a risk manager.
For the risk manager:
Which metric on the dashboard would draw the risk manager’s attention the most?
The falls metric would draw the risk manager’s attention the most.
What does this dashboard metric mean and why is it important?
This dashboard metric reflects the number of patients who experience falls while in the hospital. Falls can result in injury, longer hospital stays, and increased costs to the organization.
What role does the risk manager play in improving this metric?
The risk manager can work with the nursing staff and other providers to identify risks for falls and implement interventions to prevent them. Additionally, the risk manager can ensure that all falls are reported, investigated, and analyzed to identify opportunities for improvement.
Competency 3: Analyze the importance of patient safety in health care.
Describe how a health care organization chooses the metrics to include in its safety and quality dashboard.
Health care organizations may choose the metrics to include in their safety and quality dashboard based on pressures from regulators, payors, and the industry, as well as self-identified improvement areas. For example, an organization may choose to include metrics related to patient falls if it has identified falls as an area for improvement.
Analyze areas of a safety and quality dashboard of concern to a patient safety officer.
For the patient safety officer:
Which metric on the dashboard would draw the patient safety officer’s attention the most?
The hospital-acquired infections metric would draw the patient safety officer’s attention the most.
What does this dashboard metric mean and why is it important?
This dashboard metric reflects the number of patients who acquire an infection while in the hospital. Hospital-acquired infections can be dangerous and difficult to treat, making prevention a top priority for patient safety and quality outcomes.
What role does the patient safety officer play in improving this metric?
The patient safety officer can work with the infection prevention team to identify risks for hospital-acquired infections and implement evidence-based interventions to prevent them. Additionally, the patient safety officer can ensure that all infections are reported, investigated, and analyzed to identify opportunities for improvement.
Competency 4: Apply leadership strategies to quality improvement in a health care organization.
Assess senior leadership’s role in setting a health care organization’s strategic safety and quality objectives.
Senior leadership plays a critical role in setting a health care organization’s strategic safety and quality objectives. They must provide the resources and support necessary for quality improvement initiatives to be successful. Additionally, senior leadership can provide the vision and direction necessary for the organization to achieve its safety and quality goals.
What next steps might senior leadership take given the dashboard findings and the quality director’s three improvement recommendations?
Senior leadership might work with the quality director and other organizational leaders to develop an action plan for addressing the identified issues. This plan could include implementing new processes or interventions, providing additional training or resources, and monitoring progress over time.
Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and respectful of the diversity, dignity, and integrity of others and is consistent with health care professionals.
Create a clear, organized, persuasive, and generally error-free presentation on a leadership team’s assessment of an organization’s safety and quality dashboard that is reflective of professional communication in the health care field.
The presentation should be clear and organized, with bulleted main ideas on each slide and further detail provided in the speaker notes. The presentation should be persuasive, making a strong case for the importance of monitoring and improving safety and quality outcomes. Finally, the presentation should be free of errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling, and should conform to APA style and format.
References
Ledlow, G. R., & Coppola, M. N. (2013). Leadership for health professionals (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Youngberg, B. J. (2013). Patient safety handbook (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
