Essay on Quality and Sustainability

GSs often lead to reduced functionality and dependence, with affected patients more likely to have higher risk of rehospitalisation, longer length of hospital stays, and adverse medical outcomes. GSs are also associated with increased disability, overall healthcare costs, and even high mortality rates (Wang et al. Owing to their significant effect on the quality of life of patients, there have been calls to devise appropriate interventions that can improve health outcomes in geriatric settings (Tkacheva et al. In this paper, a proposed geriatric syndrome assessment (GSA) tool has been designed for an unnamed geriatric centre located in California with a view of improving care outcomes for all adult patients. This paper is divided into four different parts that include a quality and safety theory to support the proposed program, the design of the evidence-based quality and safety program, and a discussion of the expected outcomes of the program and ways to ensure that the program is sustainable.

Thus, it is prudent to develop formal criteria for addressing GSs in all adult patients at the said geriatric centre. Quality and Safety Theory to Support the Proposed Program There is broad literature that supports the need for quality care and patient safety in healthcare. Overall, the quality of care is captured by a set of four key elements that are discussed as follows. One of the key domains is the provision of safe care that is void of injuries to patients (Storm et al. Patient injuries can emerge from a variety of sources including surgical related infections, medical errors, and falls. Due to high risk of GSs, risk of readmission and increased hospital stay is even higher (Bell et al.

The implication of this is that it can increase healthcare costs for both individual and healthcare organizations, which can consequently comprise the overall quality of care that is rendered. This may lead to decreased clinical outcomes and patient dissatisfaction, which is detrimental to any healthcare system. A final component of quality care is that it should be delivered in a just, fair and equitable manner (Storm et al. This means that care ought to be delivered with the patient’s health condition in mind. The purpose of the GSA tool is to collect information about each patient’s experiences at the hospital, while assessing for the presence of GSs. It is envisaged that the information collected from this assessment will help identify patients with GSs and guide staff to provide appropriate care on time for those affected.

At the same time, it will provide a crucial guide to designing appropriate interventions to help curb GSs prevalence in the long-term (Bell et al. A Discussion of the Expected Outcomes The successful implementation of the proposed GSA tool promises a repertoire of healthcare benefits for individual patients, the geriatric centre itself, and to the healthcare system as a whole. It is expected that findings from the GSA will enable the organization to identify potential cases of GSs among its patient population thus rendering care on time. (2012), it is very important for the organization to change its structures and processes in such a way that the accountability and reporting of quality and safety is maximized. In other words, if quality and safety have to be prioritized at the organization, then it is having to be part and parcel of the organization’s culture.

This calls for a need to redesign the hospital’s policy on quality and safety and ensure that it is oriented to early identification and prevention of GSs in all adult patients (Hughes, 2008). Moreover, the organization’s leadership has to play a leading role in the change process. While the leadership may take part in the policy development and making necessary recommendations, it has to lead by example. (2013), incorporating patient insights in the care process can help improve how care is viewed by patients, ultimately, enabling the organization to improve the expected patient outcomes in future. Conclusion In this paper, a proposed geriatric syndrome assessment (GSA) tool has been designed for an unnamed geriatric centre located in California with a view of improving care outcomes for all adult patients.

As noted, while the geriatric centre in question has implemented a successful quality and safety program, its broader focuses on GSs is limited. This, therefore, has called for the need to develop formal criteria for addressing GSs in all adult patients at the geriatric centre. Much of the available theory of quality emphasizes on the need for safe care that is designed based on best practices, one that is delivered in fairly, justly and equitable in a timely manner. , Avantika, A. S. , Mary, L. J. , Sunil, K. Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem, 25(2017): e2904. Healy, J. Improving Health Care Safety and Quality: Reluctant Regulators. New York: Routledge. Hughes, R. & Marie, M. Communicating Quality and Safety in Health Care. New York: Cambridge University Press.