11 May Explain how the patient, family, or population problem impacts the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.

In a 5-7 page written assessment, assess the effect of the patient, family, or population problem you’ve previously defined on the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual. Plan to spend approximately 2 direct practicum hours exploring these aspects of the problem with the patient, family, or group you’ve chosen to work with and, if desired, consulting with subject matter and industry experts. Document the time spent (your practicum hours) with these individuals or group in the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form. Report on your experiences during your first two practicum hours.

Introduction

Organizational data, such as readmission rates, hospital-acquired infections, falls, medication errors, staff satisfaction, serious safety events, and patient experience can be used to prioritize time, resources, and finances. Health care organizations and government agencies use benchmark data to compare the quality of organizational services and report the status of patient safety. Professional nurses are key to comprehensive data collection, reporting, and monitoring of metrics to improve quality and patient safety.

Preparation

In this assessment, you’ll assess the effect of the health problem you’ve defined on the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual. Plan to spend at least 2 direct practicum hours working with the same patient, family, or group. During this time, you may also choose to consult with subject matter and industry experts.

To prepare for the assessment:

• Review the assessment instructions and scoring guide to ensure that you understand the work you will be asked to complete and how it will be assessed.
• Conduct research of the scholarly and professional literature to inform your assessment and meet scholarly expectations for supporting evidence.
• Review the Practicum Focus Sheet: Assessment 2 [PDF], which provides guidance for conducting this portion of your practicum.

Note: As you revise your writing, check out the resources listed on the Writing Center’s Writing Support page.

Instructions

Complete this assessment in two parts.

Part 1

Assess the effect of the patient, family, or population problem you defined in the previous assessment on the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual. Plan to spend at least 2 practicum hours exploring these aspects of the problem with the patient, family, or group. During this time, you may also consult with subject matter and industry experts of your choice. Document the time spent (your practicum hours) with these individuals or group in the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form. Use the Practicum Focus Sheet: Assessment 2 [PDF] provided for this assessment to guide your work and interpersonal interactions.

Part 2

Report on your experiences during your first 2 practicum hours, including how you presented your ideas about the health problem to the patient, family, or group.

• Whom did you meet with?

• What did you learn from them?
• Comment on the evidence-based practice (EBP) documents or websites you reviewed.

• What did you learn from that review?
• Share the process and experience of exploring the influence of leadership, collaboration, communication, change management, and policy on the problem.

• What barriers, if any, did you encounter when presenting the problem to the patient, family, or group?

• Did the patient, family, or group agree with you about the presence of the problem and its significance and relevance?
• What leadership, communication, collaboration, or change management skills did you employ during your interactions to overcome these barriers or change the patient’s, family’s, or group’s thinking about the problem (for example, creating a sense of urgency based on data or policy requirements)?
• What changes, if any, did you make to your definition of the problem, based on your discussions?
• What might you have done differently?

This is related to what I tune in for practicum hours: “I have identified a resident in the long-term care facility I work in as a patient with a current diagnosis of the topic I have chosen as the focus of my paper (hypertension with related complications). I learned about the daughters understanding of his condition and what she hopes to see in the future with his care. I chose this patient and topic as I have seen great improvement in his condition. Some barrier to presenting this problem to the patient and his daughter is the lack of ability to comply with MD orders such as fluid and sodium restrictions

I have worked with Mr. DH with his in-house doctor and daughter for several months. He was admitted to the facility to gain strength and manage his hypertension and fluid overload issues. Over this period, we have been monitoring his blood pressure, fluid intake, and strength. Through hard work with the resident, family, and MD, he is very close to meeting his goal.

I met with his daughter Sharon after the end of my shift a few times to discuss her goals for her dad. She stated to continue to work on kidney function and blood pressure management. She is very involved with his care. One thing I noted is that Mr. DH often has a dry mouth related to limited fluids. Sharon has brought many different sugar-free hard candies for him and continues to be involved with all care decisions.”

Requirements

The assessment requirements, outlined below, correspond to the scoring guide criteria, so be sure to address each main point. Read the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed. In addition, note the additional requirements for document format and length and for supporting evidence.

• Explain how the patient, family, or population problem impacts the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.

• Cite evidence that supports the stated impact.
• Note whether the supporting evidence is consistent with what you see in your nursing practice.
• Explain how state board nursing practice standards and/or organizational or governmental policies can affect the problem’s impact on the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.

• Describe research that has tested the effectiveness of these standards and/or policies in addressing care quality, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.
• Explain how these standards and/or policies will guide your actions in addressing care quality, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.
• Describe the effects of local, state, and federal policies or legislation on your nursing scope of practice, within the context of care quality, patient safety, and cost to the system and individual.
• Propose strategies to improve the quality of care, enhance patient safety, and reduce costs to the system and individual.

• Discuss research on the effectiveness of these strategies in addressing care quality, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.
• Identify relevant and available sources of benchmark data on care quality, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.
• Document the time spent (your practicum hours) with these individuals or group in the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form.
• Use paraphrasing and summarization to represent ideas from external sources.
• Apply APA style and formatting to scholarly writing.

Additional Requirements

• Format: Format your paper using APA style. APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX] is provided to help you in writing and formatting your paper. Be sure to include:

• A title page and reference page. An abstract is not required.
• Appropriate section headings.
• Length: Your paper should be approximately 5–7 pages in length, not including the reference page.
• Supporting evidence: Cite at least 5 sources of scholarly or professional evidence that support your central ideas. Resources should be no more than five years old. Provide in-text citations and references in APA format.
• Proofreading: Proofread your paper, before you submit it, to minimize errors that could distract readers and make it more difficult for them to focus on its substance.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 3: Transform processes to improve quality, enhance patient safety, and reduce the cost of care.

• Explain how a patient, family, or population problem impacts the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.
• Propose strategies to improve the quality of care, enhance patient safety, and reduce costs to the system and individual and document the practicum hours spent with these individuals or group in the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form.
• Competency 5: Analyze the impact of health policy on quality and cost of care.

• Explain how state board nursing practice standards and/or organizational or governmental policies can affect a patient, family, or population problem’s impact on the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual.
• Competency 8: Integrate professional standards and values into practice.

• Use paraphrasing and summarization to represent ideas from external sources.
• Apply APA style and formatting to scholarly writing.