Purpose

This week’s graded discussion topic relates to the following Course Outcome (CO).

• CO 5: Apply improvement methods, based on data from the outcomes of care processes, to design and test changes to continuously improve the quality and safety of healthcare. (PO 8)

The Assignment

Review the story at the link below before posting to the discussion:

Rau, J. (2015). Half of nation’s hospitals fail again to escape Medicare’s readmission penalties. Kaiser Health News. Retrieved from http://khn.org/news/half-of-nations-hospitals-fail-again-to-escape-medicares-readmission-penalties/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

After you have finished, consider how you would respond to the following situation:

Your local hospital has received notice from CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid) regarding their readmission rates.

1. As a BSN prepared nurse, you have been asked to serve as a consultant to suggest a new Quality (Performance) Improvement process for ONE of the areas of deficiency. Write some brief steps (suggestions) for improvement as you contemplate accepting the consulting opportunity.
2. Share practice improvements utilized from your own clinical nursing experiences that have led to enhanced patient outcomes.

Patient outcomes are a direct result of quality care. What would be your primer for one area of improvement that data has presented as an opportunity? What national benchmark are you comparing your benchmark to?

 

Example

I have been asked, as a BSN prepared nurse to evaluate and promote a quality performance improvement plan process for patient readmissions involving those patients with congestive heart failure, CHF (Rau, 2015). The first step is to review the pharmacy medication reconciliation to ensure the medications prescribed reflect the core measures for the type of CHF the patient has. Patients with systolic dysfunction with an ejection fraction less than 40%, require an angiotensin receptor blocker. Other targeted measures require some patients to take a beta blocker (American Heart Association, 2013). The diagnosis of hypertension needs to be addressed. If present, an ACEI or ARB, beta blocker, and hydralize should be on the medication list. In addition to cardiac medications,  an evaluation of diuretics such as Lasix needs to be evaluated with consideration of the dose and if a dose increase is warranted. The second step requires a recent echocardiogram within the last six months to be on the record, if there is not, then one needs to be done during the concurrent hospitalization. During the hospitalization, DVT prophylaxis needs to be given, as many patients with CHF are non-ambulatory (American Heart Association, 2013).

The reason for hospital readmission needs to be evaluated, such as an acute on chronic episode of systolic, diastolic or combined systolic and diastolic heart failure needs to be known. Has the patient been compliant with mediation, sodium intake, and daily weight?  Follow-up physician appointments with a reminder and resources available for the patient to get to and from appointments are other considerations. The last item to review is those patients requiring a CPAP at night or oxygen. Does the patient have a working machine and enough oxygen on hand? These are all items that can be tracked in order to prevent readmission in less than 30 days. Upon discharge, information on the heart failure clinic needs to be reviewed with both the patient and family member. The heart failure clinic has additional resources available such as a customized management plan for home, a calendar to record daily weight and symptoms, bathroom scale, sodium tracker, and if needed a pill organizer.

Clinical experience that can be drawn from my current nursing role as a clinical documentation specialist, CDS includes the identification of a specific diagnosis. An abundant number of patients are admitted with CHF, but further clarification is required if the physician simply documents the reason for admission is CHF. The acuity comes first. The difference between acute and chronic or acute on chronic is mediation, lab values, and patient presentation. Symptoms such as a BNP over 100, increased shortness of breath, increased edema, lung sounds with crackles, orthopnea and an increase in diuretic dosage especially if the change is from oral to intravenous requires clarification if the patients are having an acute exacerbation. Next includes the identification of the type of heart failure such as systolic or diastolic CHF. Systolic heart failure includes patients with a reduced EF, while diastolic CHF are those with a preserved EF and diastolic dysfunction. There are also patients that have both diastolic dysfunction and a reduced EF. Identification of the type of heart failure is paramount, as treatment and medication choices can differ.

 References

American Heart Association. (2013). Get with the guidelines heart failure. Retrieved from http://www.heart.org/idc/groups/heart-public/@private/@wcm/@hcm/@gwtg/documents/downloadable/ucm_310967.pdf (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Finkelman, A. (2016). Leadership and management for nurses: Core Competencies for quality care (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Licking Memorial Health. (2018). LMH heart failure clinic services. Retrieved from https://www.lmhealth.org/Services-Facilities/Hospital-Services/Heart-Care (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Rau, J. (2015). Half of nation’s hospitals fail again to escape Medicare’s readmission penalties. Kaiser Health News. Retrieved from https://khn.org/news/half-of-nations-hospitals-fail-again-to-escape-medicares-readmission-penalties/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

 

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Patient Management and Delegation

Complete the Patient Management and Delegation virtual simulation activity which can be found by clicking the Enter Simulation link at the top of the course. From the menu that appears select Virtual Clinical Scenarios and then click Patient Management Delegation. Then debrief on the experience by creating a VoiceThread, video or a written essay.  

• Reflect on your feelings while fulling the role of the charge nurse in the simulated activities on delegation and caseload management.  Consider how you utilized the experience and efficiency information provided.
• Summarize the responsibilities, including planning, coordinating and evaluation of nursing resources, managed by the charge nurse in the simulated activity.
• Reflect on any correct and incorrect decisions and responses that you would change if you were to repeat this activity.
• Describe what you learned in this experience that will be incorporated into your clinical practice. 

References are not required for this reflection. APA format is required for page set up for essay or PowerPoint. 

Examples of work to show mastery:

• 3-4 page paper – APA format

 

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Changes in culture and technology have resulted in patient populations that are often well informed and educated, even before consulting or considering a healthcare need delivered by a health professional. Fueled by this, health professionals are increasingly involving patients in treatment decisions. However, this often comes with challenges, as illnesses and treatments can become complex.

What has your experience been with patient involvement in treatment or healthcare decisions? 

In this Discussion, you will share your experiences and consider the impact of patient involvement (or lack of involvement). You will also consider the use of a patient decision aid to inform best practices for patient care and healthcare decision making.

To Prepare:

• Review the Resources and reflect on a time when you experienced a patient being brought into (or not being brought into) a decision regarding their treatment plan. 
• Review the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute’s Decision Aids Inventory at https://decisionaid.ohri.ca/. 
  • Choose “For Specific Conditions,” then Browse an alphabetical listing of decision aids by health topic.

NOTE: To ensure compliance with HIPAA rules, please DO NOT use the patient’s real name or any information that might identify the patient or organization/practice.

QUESTION

Post a brief description of the situation you experienced and explain how incorporating or not incorporating patient preferences and values impacted the outcome of their treatment plan. Be specific and provide examples. Then, explain how including patient preferences and values might impact the trajectory of the situation and how these were reflected in the treatment plan. Finally, explain the value of the patient decision aid you selected and how it might contribute to effective decision making, both in general and in the experience you described. Describe how you might use this decision aid inventory in your professional practice or personal life.

 

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 Part One of the Assignment.

Purpose

To create a Patient Teaching Plan aimed at educating a specific patient population about a specific health topic. This plan will be used to develop a Visual Teaching Tool in a future assignment.

Course Outcomes

This assignment enables the student to meet the following course outcomes.

• CO 2: Recognize the influence that developmental stages have on physical, psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual functioning. (PO #1)
• CO 4: Identify teaching/learning needs from the health history of an individual. (PO #2)

 

This assignment is worth 125 points.

Background Information

NR305 focuses on nursing assessment, and the identification of opportunities to prevent disease and improve health of patients. An important professional role for nurses is to provide teaching to patients based on knowledge deficits identified during assessment.

Prior to beginning this assignment, follow the link to read the article below. The information related to adult learning and barriers to understanding will be helpful when planning how to best educate your selected population.

Beagley, L. (2011). Educating patients: Understanding barriers, learning styles, and teaching techniques. Journal of Paranesthesia Nursing, 26(5), 331-337. permalink (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Directions

Please read all directions carefully before you begin.

1. Click to download the Patient Teaching Plan Form (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..
   Type your answers directly into this Word document and submit. The use of correct terminology, grammar, and spelling is important! Any references and citations used should be written in APA format. Please utilize in-text citations when appropriate, and list all references in the space provided at the end of the worksheet.
2. You are required to complete the form using the productivity tools required by Chamberlain University, which is Microsoft Office Word 2013 (or later version), or Windows and Office 2011 (or later version) for MAC. You must save the file in the “.docx” format. Do NOT save as Word Pad. A later version of the productivity tool includes Office 365, which is available to Chamberlain students for FREE by downloading from the student portal at http://my.chamberlain.edu (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Click on the envelope at the top of the page.
3. Health Topic: Decide WHAT you would like to teach. Describe in detail why this is an important topic for patient education. Use evidence from the textbook, lesson or an outside scholarly source to support your rationale.Select from the following health topics to complete your Patient Teaching Project:
   • Stress and Time Management
   • Self-Care (can choose a specific self-care activity)
   • Prevention of Hazards at Work
   • Bicycle Safety
   • Ergonomics (related to work, posture)
   • Skin Cancer Prevention
   • Healthy Eating
   • Exercise/Physical Activity
   • Suicide
   • Human Trafficking
   • Eating Disorders
   • Substance Abuse (Opioid, Alcohol, Nicotine)
   • Depression
   • Palliative Care/Hospice Care
4. Population and Setting: Once you have selected a topic, you must decide WHOyou will be teaching and WHERE the education will take place. (i.e., teaching a classroom of middle school students; teaching community members at a local health fair)
5. Learning Barriers: Refer to the assigned article: Educating patients: Understanding barriers, learning styles, and teaching techniques for information related to learning barriers and other teaching considerations. Barriers might be cultural, physical, educational, or environmental. You may also want to consider the developmental stages of your selected population.Example:
   
   • The population in this community is known to have a low-literacy level, therefore clear pictures and graphics will be utilized to assist with understanding.
6. Learning Objectives: Write three specific learning objectives your Visual Teaching Tool will address. Begin each objective with “At the end of this education, the learner will …” Use an action verb to finish the sentence (i.e., list, demonstrate, describe, define, identify).Example:
   
   • At the end of this education, the learner will be able to demonstrate the proper way to wear a bike helmet.
   • At the end of this education, the learner will be able to describe how to perform a breast self-exam.
   • At the end of this education, the learner will be able to list three benefits of regular physical activity.
7. Evaluation: Write a paragraph describing how you could evaluate whether your visual teaching tool was successful and met the learning objectives. Consider the population’s abilities and the setting.

PART 2 OF THE ASSIGNMENT

 

Purpose

To utilize the Patient Teaching Plan (developed in a prior assignment) to create a Visual Teaching Tool to educate the selected patient population about the selected health topic.

Course Outcomes

This assignment enables the student to meet the following course outcomes.

• CO 2: Recognize the influence that developmental stages have on physical, psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual functioning. (PO #1)
• CO 4: Identify teaching/learning needs from the health history of an individual. (PO #2)

 

This assignment is worth 75 points.

Select an Option to Complete this Assignment

There are 3 options for creating your Visual Teaching Tool. Be sure to choose a format that makes sense for your selected topic, population, and setting. For example, if will be teaching adults at a health fair, then an educational brochure would be an appropriate choice. You must use the Patient Teaching Plan you have developed in this course to create your Visual Teaching Tool.

Option #1 – Power Point

Directions: 

1. Create a 6-8 slide Power Point presentation for your selected population setting.
2. The goal of this Power Point Presentation is to address the three learning outcomes you developed in the Patient Teaching Plan. Once the learner has viewed your Power Point, all three of the learning objectives should have been met.For Example:
   If a learning objective in the teaching plan is: “At the end of this education, the learner will be able to demonstrate the proper way to wear a bike helmet,” then there should be content in your Power Point related to how to properly wear a bike helmet.
3. Tips for a great Power Point presentation:
   
   • Be creative! Choose a design (from the design tab of the PowerPoint presentation) to enhance visual appeal.
   • Incorporate graphics, clip art, or photographs to increase interest.
   • Use words and phrases suitable for your selected population.
   • Avoid writing paragraphs. Use simple sentences and bullet points.
   • Cite all sources used to create the educational content with (author, year).
   • Proofread for spelling and grammar errors prior to final submission.

• NOTE: The Patient Teaching Plan Form and the Article are the attachment below. You can use additional Article.

 

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