Increasing healthcare costs, a higher number of insured Americans, and the awareness of medical errors have created a need to offer quality healthcare in the U.S. Many efforts related to patient safety, the efficiency of medical services, care coordination, and cost-cutting for patients are being considered to offer quality healthcare facilities. The following tips may help the U.S. improve its healthcare facilities.
Analyze Your Information And Outcomes
Peter Drucker, the management expert, says that you should be able to measure it to manage it. This means you should analyze the statistics, electronic health records, and other data sources to identify areas that need improvement. Next, you should be able to know the options for improvement and then establish outcomes.
Set Goals
Based on findings from the analysis, set achievable and measurable goals that should be quantitative. Here are some guidelines outlined by The Institute Of Medicine that aim to improve healthcare. The healthcare department should tick mark the following boxes to offer efficient healthcare services.
Safe
The patient should not get injured through the healthcare that is provided
Effective
Care should be per science, which means doses should be administered carefully to avoid under or overuse
Timely
Waiting time for patients and doctors should be reduced
Patient-centered
Honor the patients and their choices.
Efficient
Reduce wastage
Equality
No ethical or racial barriers in offering healthcare.
Create A Smart Team
A smart team should comprise members of different backgrounds, experiences, and skills. Forming a balanced team is a primary step toward the improvement process. The team should have a senior leader to advise and advocate for the team. A clinical expert who has the expertise to make informed decisions. And a project manager to supervise daily tasks and keep the team on track.
Include Human Input
Human factors such as knowledge about human abilities and other characteristics relevant to the design. Such factors should be incorporated into the framework for its improvement. Direct human involvement will reduce medical risk and IT-related health errors, save costs and improve health outcomes.
Create An Achievable Plan
It’s useless to draft goals that are impossible to achieve. You should create an achievable plan, which should include measures for attaining the goals and definitions for improvement. Along with the measures an organized system should be created to track the progress.
Familiarize Yourself With The PDSA Cycle
IHI recommends using the Model as a framework to improve efforts. IHI believes that the model created by Associates in Process Improvement is a simple yet powerful tool to accelerate performance. The main idea of the model is the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle that tests quality and improvements. By planning first and then acting on what is learned, one can get effective results.
Communicate Progress And Goals
Once your plan is underway, be sure to communicate with your team and with your organization at large. Share milestones, both large and small, as well as setbacks. Congratulate those who have contributed and made an impact on your progress. Your plan is more likely to succeed when staff is engaged.