Healthcare Essay: Continuous Quality Improvement in Healthcare

This essay critically analyzes the need for a shift towards outcome-based healthcare models, emphasizing patient-centered care and the limitations of traditional volume-based approaches. It discusses the crucial link between healthcare provider performance and patient outcomes, advocating for the integration of patient experiences in performance evaluations. The essay examines the importance of teamwork in healthcare, highlighting the benefits of multidisciplinary collaboration and specialized care. It explores how effective communication and shared responsibility within teams enhance efficiency, reduce errors, and improve patient outcomes. Furthermore, the essay delves into the management of continuous quality improvement, emphasizing its role in enhancing healthcare delivery. It also explores strategies to develop, maintain, and evaluate systems that promote the rights, responsibilities, and diversity of service users, aiming to improve healthcare quality and patient satisfaction. The analysis covers the impact of these changes on overall healthcare performance and economic burdens, advocating for a patient-centric approach to address inequalities and enhance the quality of care.

Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Critically analyse the need for their care setting to achieve the best possible outcomes for the
service user.................................................................................................................................2
Critically discuss the performance of teams..............................................................................4
Critically discuss the management of continuous quality improvement...................................6
Reflect upon strategies that develop, maintain and evaluate systems and structures to promote
the rights, responsibilities and diversity of service users in their setting...................................7
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9
2

Introduction
The current health care system is deficient in many ways and the burden of the health care
expenses on the government is high. The development of the health care system and its
performance measurement is traditionally done based on the patient volume passed through
the system for surgery, check up and other care needs. This system is the main cause of the
various patient dissatisfaction with the system, as the patient experience is not validated in
the review of the performance. This demands a more patient-centric approach that considered
the patient experience of the health care system and the service provision as one of the
priorities in the future health care (Ferguson et al., 2013; pp.283-287). However, the current
system is undeniable traditionally based which makes the implementation of the veritably
new approach to care or care model extremely hard to establish. This, therefore, is based on
the different possibilities for health care that are present (Black, 2013, 346). This essay
discussed the critically the importance of the change of the healthcare into a better care model
application that would not only addresses the inequalities of the health care, patient
experience and the health care quality but also measure the potential improvement of the
change in the care model on the overall healthcare performance and economic burden.
This essay starts with a discussion where the need for change has been discussed critically by
outlining the various shortcomings of the current volume-based model and the mitigations of
the issue possible by the outcome based care model. This has been progressing to team
structure in the healthcare sector and their need to change in the new model to provide
optimal care. The continuous quality improvement has been discussed as one advantage over
the precious health care models and the best way form implantation is evaluated. The
discussion of the possible implementations strategies and their impact has been conducted in
case of the diverse user based to round off the point in the essay. Thus, the purpose of the
essay can be defined as a critical discussion of the possible change to a quality-based model
and its implication on the healthcare system and the development of a continuous
improvement of the care quality.
Critically analyse the need for their care setting to achieve the best
possible outcomes for the service user
However, the healthcare provider performance and the patient outcome are linked inexorably.
This makes the inclusion of the patient experience an important measure of the healthcare
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performance, which makes them irrelevant to the actual impact of the health on the patient
population. The care measures for the diseases are therefore based on each individual medical
condition that might require specialised attention from different healthcare facilities, which
makes the current model lacking in providing patient specific care (Jordan et al., 2014,
pp.212-218.). The development of the various needs of the individuals and the cases where
the several diseases affect the same patient the strength of the patient centred model is infinite
as the model based on patient outcome. This not only addresses there various health issues
into consideration but the impact of one issue among many others need not be detected in the
study, which is an impossibility under practical conditions. On the other hand, the long-term
impact of the health care for the population can be incorporated in the outcome-based care
with ease, which is the main advantage over the previous systems that was lacking in this
regard (Prasad and Ioannidis, 2014).
As it has been stated previously the patients with more than one medical condition are the
main concern for the patients as the ageing demographics of the developed countries are
indicative of a single patient being affected by more than one health issue. As a result, the
rise in the patients with multiple health issues is the indication of the needs for a more
efficient system for keeping track of the overall health and mortality of the population and
understands the actual impact of the health care on the lives of the populace. This is an
effective way as the personally defined health goals would change the healthcare system
radically which currently provides a universal solution for each health issue (Correa et al.,
2013, p. 80). The consolidation of the outcomes for the patients can be therefore arranged to
meet all their health issues in the outcome based model and on the other hand, the healthcare
setting would enable better decision-making for patients based on all their medical issues.
This not only has the potential to increase the efficiency of the system but also simplifies
tracking the changes in the patient health by a collaboration of the various health services that
work together to addresses the patient goals that would be focused on the individual specific
condition or combination of conditions. Thus, it is evident that the care setting that is
currently in place is inefficient and increases the complexity by having several simultaneous
processes for chronic conditions while treating the patient for any specific issue.
Another factor that addresses the main issue of the patient-specific care is the health
outcomes might be inexpensive compared to the disease based care model, which is
responsible for most of the burden on the healthcare system. This makes the system more
capable and increases patient satisfaction despite being cheaper. Thus, the healthcare model
change seems to be the most reliable way to ensure the patient decision can be used in the
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treatment and help the patients achieve their personal health goals seem like a better option as
this allows the patient's opinion to affect their own health outcome (Porter, Larsson and Lee,
2016; pp.504-506).
Therefore, healthcare providers to increase system efficiency and enable the patient decision-
making can use the outcome for the care setting. These results in better care quality as per the
patient perspective, control the cost of the healthcare and reduce the burden on the healthcare
system (Boyce, Browne and Greenhalgh, 2014). On the other hand, the best possible
outcome not only ensure better health outcome for the individual being treated but also carry
the performance measurement advantages for the healthcare systems and reduce cost. This
makes the patient outcome in health care an important aspect to consider as this care setting
of the outcome based healthcare targets achievable goals based on the patient preferences.
Critically discuss the performance of teams
The teamwork is another aspect of the modern health care that is an inevitable part of the care
model, as the patients need specialised care from various professionals at one time. The
teamwork, therefore, is necessary provide said care for the people within the healthcare
system. This is the cause of the need for the teamwork that has led to the development of
multidisciplinary collaboration in patient care where the various professionals work together
to provide necessary care to the patients. This is essential even if the patient is only suffering
from a single issue as the healthcare professional development in specialization has led to
highly specialised care providers in the system who are more efficient and need to work in
collaboration with others (Weller, Boyd and Cumin, 2014).
Therefore, the specialised care providers are good at increasing the quality of care as they
concentrate on one aspect of the healthcare issues while the other professionals attend to the
other needs of the patients. The collaboration, therefore, facilitated specialised care, which is
bound to increase the quality standards that make the teams important in healthcare. As
previously discussed the healthcare needs of the patients are not only complex but also
diverse which means that the patient could require attention from the various health care
professionals who would treat the patients for the issues relevant to their speciality areas.
This makes better sense in a team setting where the professionals would be able to cooperate
and coordinate with the others to provide better healthcare (Hood et al, 2014; pp. 117-122).
Thus, the efficiency of the professionals in the specified fields in healthcare can take
responsibility aspects of healthcare and the team would be useful in makes the people with
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necessary expertise assemble based on the need of the patients. Based on this observation of
the health needs and the ability of the teams in meeting the needs efficiency and quickly
makes the importance of the teamwork significant in the healthcare sector.
For example, an anaesthetist's presence in the operations theatre is an example of the
teamwork. As the doctors' attention is fully on the surgery as the anaesthetist is aware of the
patient condition and can handle the part of the procedure more efficiently than any other
medical staff and the nurse or assisting in the operations is also fully concentrating on the
needs of the surgeon. Hence, this teamwork results in the better efficiency as all of the
processes are handled smoothly and efficiently and the effect the outcomes in both time and
quality aspects in a positive manner. The efficiency is increased through teamwork. There are
many such examples in various healthcare procedures and so the efficiency increase is one of
the greatest benefits of the teamwork in healthcare (Shrader et al., 2013; pp.1E-6E).
The communication in the team setting is also another positive aspect of the collaborative
healthcare that can be mentioned in the team performance as the communication, can
teamwork go hand in hand in health care and affect the quality of the patient care greatly.
Thus, the performance of the teams is dependent highly on the effective communication
between the various professionals, which seems to be the focus of the many of the health
professional training for this reason. The collaborative care model can understand the role of
the communication inefficient teamwork and improving healthcare service quality (Mosser
and Begun, 2014). As a result, the experience of the patient is improving greatly if a team of
professionals are providing care specialised care while minimising the number of people that
care for the patient. This also allows for the expansion of the knowledge development for the
professionals in the field through the collaborative work and the factor of reduction of error
in the medical procedures can be contributed equally to the teamwork and the specialised
professional development for the healthcare providers (Parush et al., 2014; pp.47-57.). The
increase in the efficiency and care accuracy are benefits enough through the teamwork but the
overall benefit lies in the patient outcome as the better health outcomes are as a result of the
teamwork in the professional's sectors is also present. This not only helps in the patient care
standards but also sharing of the responsibility that is a huge benefit in case of healthcare
professionals that increase the effectiveness of the team-based care in increasing the volume
of the patients which is an issue with most health systems. Thus, the befits in the healthcare
teams is not only present in the health outcome and efficiency of the system but the reduced
number of health care procedure errors lower burnout rate in the care workers are also an
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evident benefit where the specialised healthcare workers are a resource that is strained across
various organizations (Salas and Rosen, 2013, pp.369-373).
Accordingly, the performance of the team as is a useful addition that allows the healthcare
providers to increase the effectiveness and quality as well as the time in healthcare. The
development of the communication skills necessary also affects the patient and the
confidence and satisfaction, which are among the many benefits of team-based care under
various circumstances.
Critically discuss the management of continuous quality improvement
The continuous health improvement is one characteristic that is based on the patient safety
and positive health outcome for patients in the system. As the evidence-based best practice
and the actual healthcare processes are constantly differing based on new findings of the
various factors and their impact on the patient wellbeing this makes this an inherent part of
the healthcare sector principles. Thus, the continuous quality improvements are a necessary
part of the healthcare management (Clark, Silvester and Knowles, 2013).
The quality aspect of healthcare is becoming more important with each research on the topic
and the impact of the same on the patient care and outcomes based studies. The connections
with the evidence-based practices and development of the procedure are therefore part of the
equation as the validation of the studies and their implementation in the best practice in the
healthcare sectors is lagging and this needs to be improved to develop better application of
the findings in the practical setting (Prince et al., 2016). The requirement for the healthcare
development of the individuals in the healthcare is therefore based on the continuous
development, which is being implemented currently into various healthcare practices.
While the management of the continuous quality improvement is not defined in any specific
way, the various model implemented in the various healthcare organizations and medical
research studies are progressing. One such aspect that is very popular is the plan-do-check-act
method which uses the continuous development of the knowledge through the healthcare
professionals experience and the findings that help increase the quality of the healthcare.
Thus as the name suggests the is a way of development is bound in structure approach
towards any health issues and thus use the initial assessment to plan for the care that would
best help the patient needs (Taylor, et al., 2013; pp.bmjqs-2013). This is then carried out and
which augments the knowledge of the various procedures and their impact on the patients the
performance monitoring, therefore, is used to understand the impact of the health care plan on
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the patient. This is then used for development of the care plan, which is modified based on
the learning, and thus the improvement of the practice is done based on the actual practical
experience which makes this much more reliable than clinical trials.
While this facilitates the quick change in the system that improves the pace of healthcare
development the practice also has implications for the reliability and transferability across
populations which makes this inapplicable and unequal in all scenarios. In consequence, the
management of the continuous improvement is a centrally based process that needs much
validation through research under practical conditions and they are unable to be universally
implementable across populations, as the characteristics would lead to a difference in
outcomes for the patients. Therefore, while the practical implementation of the change has
huge potential this cannot be applied in a broad setting because of the diverse population and
the difference in practice standards in the medical field.
Reflect upon strategies that develop, maintain and evaluate systems
and structures to promote the rights, responsibilities and diversity of
service users in their setting
The current strategies and models that are implemented in healthcare are based on the volume
of care and the care model is based on the illness of specific medical issue affecting the
patient, which makes the possibility of personalised solution or the personal health goals
ineffective under practical conditions (Kitson, et al., 2013; pp.4-15.). This case the medical
decision is much more complex for the patients with more than one health issue and the
treatment of chronic or deteriorating conditions like Parkinsonism.
The development of the patient centred care is one of the best steps to facilitate all of the
objectives as the individual's characteristics and health needs of the patients are considered in
the approach, which is based on the proposed framework for improvement and supports
continuous improvement as discussed (BI, R., 2016; p.308.). This strategic development the
needs not only to consider the current state of the system by the future needs of the
population based on the projected characteristics that are based on the ageing demographics,
the prevalence of the various chronic health issues and the various interventions available for
the numerous issues.
Thus, the outcome based review system that takes the overall patient-based health outcome as
the indicator of the system efficiency and quality and the average length of hospital stay in
the different healthcare facilities are appropriate. The supporting evidence for this is present
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in the inefficiency of the patient volume and the overall long-term health information being
unavailable because of the lack of coordination between the various health issues. The
prevalence of the complex and chronic issues are also therefore not tracked across the various
speciality healthcare centres who each create a treatment plan based on the general With little
chance of the patient input in the medical process (Pulvirenti, McMillan and Lawn, 2014; pp.
303-310.).
The patient-centric care not only gives the patient to choose their own health goals and advise
them on the possibility of achievement and the procedures (Røsstad et al., 2013; p 121.). This
would also help incorporate the personal values and beliefs into the healthcare system
without having to make any specific arrangement based on the condition of the patient as is
the design in the disease-specific model that is utilised today.
Conclusion
Current care model for the healthcare sector is based on the patient volume, it is not
concerned with patient experience, and consequently, the expense of the system is based on
the condition-specific care and prevention measures. This is a weakness of the system
because of the view of the patient to the healthcare providers is minimal in the situation and
the development of the various costs of the care are not indicative of the patient satisfaction
but the procedural aspects itself. While these are the technical sides of the service being
deficient the impact of the much simpler process in patient healthcare and the patients having
to say in their health goals cannot be measured but they are very much present in the care
setting. Thus, the patients who feel in control are often healthier which is an added benefit for
the system (Mohammad Mosadeghrad, 2013). Therefore, it can be surmised that the patient-
centric outcome based care model not only benefits the healthcare providers but also the
patients, which makes the process equally beneficial for both parties.
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