Table of Contents
Organization
The organization has expressed its commitment to provide quality care to all patients and to promote patient-centered care at all times. Moreover, the leaders have developed different strategies for promoting quality healthcare and ensuring that all the staff members are committed to the organizational goals. The organization recognizes its role in ensuring that patients register high levels of satisfaction and positive outcomes. Its core values include effectiveness, quality, fast response, cultural sensitivity, and honesty. These values guide the operations of each staff member. Undoubtedly, there is only one barrier to the organization’s goal of promoting quality healthcare. Particularly, the staff members still use paper records, an aspect that contributes to an increasing number of medical errors. Medical errors compromise the quality of healthcare delivered and pose great threats to the health of the patients. For this reason, there is a need for the organization to implement change as a way of promoting patient safety.
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Improvement Opportunity
In the recent past, the organization has registered an increasing number of medical errors. These medical errors take place in the prescription department while others occur in the wards as nurses deliver healthcare. The increasing number of medical errors poses a threat to patient safety and increases the length of hospital stay for many patients (Walker, Bieber, & Richards, 2005). Moreover, the increasing number of medical errors has registered an increasing a soaring rate of mortality in the emergency room. Further implications of the medical errors include the increasing financial burden, as the organization seeks to develop remedies for the errors with the core objective of saving the life of the patient. According to an assessment conducted by a specialist, the organization still makes use of paper records. Notably, paper records have been in use for a long time and do not represent an effective way of maintaining health records. For this reason, the hospital can implement an electronic system of promoting better documentation of patient information and medical history (Haupt, 2011). There is a direct connection between patient safety and the introduction of an electronic system of documentation. With proper records, staff members are less likely to make more errors. Notably, the number of errors is likely to reduce if the hospital has a reliable system of documenting patient information.
Purpose
Evidently, the organization needs to take measures that can reduce the number of medical errors and promote patient safety. Particularly, the organization needs to set up a system that allows the healthcare providers to have adequate information at hand when making different decisions regarding the care of patients (Walker, Bieber, & Richards, 2005). There is evidence that the organization needs to empower healthcare providers so that they can make better decisions and avoid medical errors. The healthcare providers need to recognize the need for a solution that can enable them to make informed decisions and collaborate effectively in the development of a treatment plan for different patients. An electronic system of documentation will empower the healthcare providers to achieve a higher level of patient safety. Particularly, the electronic system will ensure that all the healthcare providers have access to a database that highlights all the important patient information and contains proper records of all the medications and undesirable effects registered after the use of each medication (Haupt, 2011). The electronic system will be accessible to all the healthcare providers, and it will be regularly updated to include any changes to the patient information. Such an electronic system will create a reliable database that has all the information needed by the healthcare providers to make various decisions regarding the treatment of the patient.
Proposed Initiative
The organization needs to ensure that there is a transition from paper records to electronic health records. Such a transition will make use of the electronic health system that all the healthcare providers can use to create a database that has detailed patient information. The organization needs to provide training to all the healthcare providers on the use of electronic health system for documentation. The organization will need to invest in computer hardware and software and a reliable electronic health system package that conforms to the organizational needs (Davis & Stoots, 2013). For this to happen, the organization will need to set aside funds to purchase the hardware and software required as well as the package. The training programs will introduce the healthcare providers to the use of electronic health records and their potential benefits in their daily use. The organization will need to conduct a rigorous assessment of its specific needs before purchasing the required hardware and software. There is a need for hiring experts who can implement the electronic system and ensure that all the staff members are familiar with the new system. Undoubtedly, the new initiative requires adequate funding for it to be successful (Walker, Bieber, & Richards, 2005). However, it had the ability to deliver improved patient care because healthcare providers will have a reliable database with all the information needed when making important decisions regarding patient care. Healthcare providers will need to be collaborative when making such decisions so that they can improve patient safety.
Leadership
The organization will need proper leadership for it to implement the proposal described. Particularly, the leaders will need to prepare all the healthcare providers in the change process. Particularly, the leaders will take measures of explaining to the healthcare providers how medical errors have become a major challenge, and how an electronic system can empower them to make better decisions and reduce medical errors. The leaders will also develop a strategy for the change process and create the favorable environment for implementing the change (Davis & Stoots, 2013). In this particular case, the leaders will need to prepare all the healthcare providers for a digital transformation. As a result, the leader will organize for training programs that will empower all the healthcare providers to embrace the change positively. Without leadership, it is impossible to implement such a change in the organization. The organizational leaders are also responsible for funding the budget required for this proposal. In its efforts to improve patient safety, the organization will need a better understanding of how electronic systems can impact the delivery of healthcare (Walker, Bieber, & Richards, 2005). The leaders should spearhead campaigns to create such awareness and introduce the healthcare providers to the proposed electronic system.
- Davis, C., & Stoots, M. (2013). A guide to EHR adoption: Implementation through organizational transformation. Chicago, IL: Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
- Haupt, A. (2011). The Era of Electronic Medical Records. U.S. News Digital Weekly, 3(32), 15.
- Walker, J. M., Bieber, E. J., & Richards, F. (2005). Implementing an Electronic Health Record System. London: Springer-Verlag London Ltd.