Performance Improvement in Healthcare - Article Example

Performance Improvement in Healthcare 17/02 Every year, according to the Americaninstitute of medicine, approximately 1.5 million Americans are in one way or the other harmed through medication errors, this figure only includes reported cases and the true figure is estimated to be higher. Depending on the gravity of the error, the injuries vary from minor, or serious enough to occasion the death of the affected patient/s; this is in addition to the detrimental effects on the medical budget. The same study approximated the cost of the errors to around 3.5 billion annually, most of which are expenses in re-hospitalization, lawsuits and extra cost and potentially unnecessary healthcare. The leading causes of these medial errors are lack of expertise or ignorance, communication or lack of it, between the medical professionals working together. Poor communication and breakdown in the same is a great threat to the competent medical practice and it needs must be improved for the sake of enhancing the effectiveness of medical practitioners, ergo, the safety of the patients. This paper will discuss the problems that from poor communication and what can be done to improve the process of medical care and the staff’s efficiency in this respect. It will be based on three journals addressing communication and safety in surgery, emergency medicine and the need for technology to enhance medical communication. Performance Improvement in Healthcare According to Robert Neil (2006) in the journal, “Costly issues of an uncommunicative OR (Operation room)”, there is no place where the issue of communication is more important or its neglect more potentially dangerous than the operation room. Miscommunication in the OR often leads in complications and such ultimately lead in the patients lengthened stay in the hospital, increases the risk of infection and may negatively affect the hospitals bottom line considerably. Neil (2006) justifies his claim by quoting Peter Plantes, a vice president of clinical performance for VHA, Texas, who states that the although the patients safety gets first priority in the safety consideration, overall, with fewer mistakes, the costs will be positively impacted in the long run. To foster communication in the OR Plantes admits is not always easy especially for the surgeons many of whom are set in their ways, However, it can be achieved in the need for creating a collaborative environment in the OR are made clear and demonstrated. This is because surgeons are professionals who take pride in their work thus want the best for their patients, if they communicate and are open to suggestions to their professional’s colleagues and juniors; the OR becomes safer for everyone. To foster effective and regular commination, OR staff should hold regular meeting to ensure that everyone is clear on his or her individual responsibilities and up to date on the latest practices. The process involves meetings with OR staffs to make sure everyone is intimately familiar with the latest practices to reduce possible confusion by ensuring everyone is briefed. In many hospitals for instance, there is no standard way to count instruments before and after surgery, as result the cases of objects being left in patients have remained high. The writer makes a sound argument and it is evident that communication is a key to making the medical personnel more effective since an informed nurse or doctor is not only a safer bet but they can educate their colleagues and with a quality, workforce safety standards stand to improve a great deal. Moreover, Arsenault, et al (2008) in the journal “The Two Way Solution” deals with the issue of communication and the consequences of ineffective and/or erroneous communication to safety in medical practice. However, unlike Neil’s where more communication is recommended between team members, Arsenault, et al (2008) proposes a solution in the form of medical technology to enhance healthcare efficacy. The rationale is in the fact that the cases of erroneous diagnosis, treatment and miss-prescription have increased along with the consequences of the respective actions on hospitals and patients in terms of health problems and cost. For this reason, many firms have taken to using systems such as the Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE], this technology allows a two-way communication that will be invaluable in preventing of medication errors. It acts as a means by which patient care information is placed directly into the hospitals information system and thus, it allows for interdisciplinary communication within the departments in the hospital. Thus, medical professionals can make certain that treatment information is verified against all possible continuing treatments and past diagnosis and prescriptions to reduce incidences of patients being treated for wrong problems or given drugs to which they are allergic. In addition, Arsenault, et al (2008) examines some of the more common cause for errors in the hospital, one of them is the verification of orders, when orders are not verified or double-checked, and they can be misinterpreted and translate into potentially dangerous treatments. Secondly, medical terminology, which includes, acronyms and symbols, has often been an issue since there are many versions of the same instructions and words, which can result in wrongful instructions or orders being issued. The use of CPOE has however been proven to be useful in dealing with both of these problems, by providing a read back system to reduce reliance on verbal orders. The system also provides a user friendly and simple standard clinical vocabulary of terminologies to ensure there will be no confusion in the issuance orders on medication surgery and other services (Arsenault, et al 2008). The CPOE provides a wide variety of services that include Order Entry Trigger alerts, Processing Instructions, Intelligent Order Choices, and Algorithms and Calculations all that aids medical outcomes. The authors make a sound argument and defend it with conclusive evidence since it is evident that many of the loopholes that reduce effectiveness of communication in medical practice. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that technology cannot replace face-to-face and other traditional communication entirely and the medics cannot expect the new systems to work without their changing their attitudes towards safety and communication. Finally, according to Eisenberg et al, (2005) the primary focus is on the importance of communication in the hospital emergency rooms; they assert that emergency medicine is a highly communicative process. The rationale is that, while common errors such as misdiagnosis have been studied extensively, communication errors in emergency medicine has retrospectively been neglected by most researchers especially since emergency rooms are today overcrowded and overstaffed, ergo, venerable to confusion. Eisenberg et al, (2005) conducted a study in two emergency rooms so they could understand the process and the role communication plays in the emergency rooms. They realized that the emergency departments were faced by several communication challenges by occasioned by the nature of the work carried out; there are also many different professionals on different levels carrying our very specific yet interdependent tasks. Such include, paramedics, nurses, tech aides ERTS and the constant presence of consultants such as radiologists, for the m to all carry out their roles effectively in the often limited time communication is vital. On arrival to the emergency room, it is observed that the triage nurse determines the order and priority of the patients, unless they were brought in by paramedics in which case they skip the waiting area. The nurse will do this by collecting information from the patient, the escorts or by observation, they then record the data on a chart, the researchers noted a serious vulnerability in the communication system at this point. It appeared that despite some of the patients came from other hospitals and nursing homes rarely brought with them past records whose presence would have given the emergency staff a considerable head start. Then, one has to consider the many patients who are in no condition articulate their problems and the initial treatment is left to the discretion of the nurse. Unfortunately, in many cases, such information is impossible to get from the patient and the problem can only be solved by ensuring the triage experienced and if necessary having a doctor examine the patient on the onset. Eisenberg raises certain pertinent issues concerning emergency medicine especially the absence of patient information in an environment where a minute’s delay could mean the difference between life and death. To ensure that the complex system runs effectively especially with the many professionals, communication and accurate, precise communication is vital in ensuring that the safety of the patients is not compromised. Staff in emergency rooms thus must be trained to make split second decisions and communicate effectively and quickly, in such an environment more than any of the others, the role of communication is overt and evidently extremely decisive. In conclusion, it is evident that communication is a crucial factor in the developing of safety standards in surgery emergency and all other hospital departments’ technology, as well as inter-staff communication has been suggested as possible solutions. Therefore, in order, to foster communication, there must be improving in not only the hospital facilities but also the staffs personal development since the individuals must independently work towards achieving effective communication for the betterment of communication and ultimately safety. References Arsenault, E. A., Cudney, A. E., &Luchsinger, J. S. (2008). The Two-way Solution. Health Management Technology, 29(6), 20-24. Eisenberg, E. M., Murphy, A. G., Sutcliffe, K., Wears, R., Schenkel, S., Perry, S., and Vanderhoef, M. (2005). Communication in Emergency Medicine: Implications for Patient Safety1. Communication Monographs, 72(4), 390-413. Neil, R. (2006). Costly issues of an uncommunicative OR. (cover story). Materials Management In Health Care, 15(3), 30. Read More