There are two-parts to this assignment. Please submit the Kanban chart as the last page of your paper.

Part 1:

In a paper 3-5 pages long, you will design a Quality Improvement Project (QUIP) for a healthcare agency of your choice at the micro level (unit). You will identify a need of the agency then design a QUIP proposal that is a workable solution for the identified need. Some ideas are improving patient satisfaction, increasing nursing staff morale, improving patient flow patterns in an ED, or a similar issue. This assignment does not require an abstract, however there should be a cover page and peer reviewed resources (reference page) to support your work.

The goal is to design a change project that is relatively cost neutral. This project is not about buying new equipment that might be needed or new computer software, which are capital expenditures. The focus should be on a needed quality improvement change that can be done within a nursing unit without major expense. Often, through collaboration with other departments or changing a process on a unit, quality improvements are made without requiring major expenditures.

Use this format for your Proposal Plan (Steps 1-8):

Introduction: (Step 1 -Urgency Creation)
Identify the type of agency and unit.
Identified agency need, providing a brief history surrounding the need.

Body of the Paper:
Clearly written goal statement. (Step 3- Create a Vision)
2-3 measurable objectives. (Step 3- Create a Vision)
Identify a time frame. (Step 7- Let the Change Mature)
Change theory framework used and application to the proposed change. (Step 8- Integrate the Change)
Key stake holders and their role in the change process. (Step 2- Build a Team)
Implementation the change. (Step 4- Communication of Visions & Step 5- Removing Obstacles)

Part 2:

Successful implementation of a quality improvement project is monitoring and controlling of all the tasks and metrics to ensure that the project is within scope (goals & objectives), on time, within budget and has a minimal risk for failure. The monitoring and controlling process is continuously performed throughout the life of the project and is the responsibility of the project team leader.

Complete the Quality Improvement Project Implementation (Kanban) Chart as it relates to your project. Put your name and QUIP title on the top of the Kanban Chart and add it as the last page(s) of your paper.

The chart for this assignment is a modified Kanban chart.

Here is an example of how to complete the implementation chart for this assignment.

Kanban is a popular framework used to implement agile software development. It requires real-time communication of capacity and full transparency of work. Work items are represented visually on a kanban board, allowing team members to see the state of every piece of work at any time. Using the Kanban method for workflow management can help you significantly with prioritizing tasks precisely. It will guide you to arrange tasks based on their importance and to resolve urgent issues as fast as possible.

Quip Improvement Project Implementation (Kanban) Chart

Student:

QUIP Title:

 

TASK TO BE ACCOMPLISHED	DELIVERABLE	START DATE/END DATE	WORK TEAM MEMBERS	SUPPLIES NEED	COST

 

Patient Satisfactory Quality Improvement Project

 Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course

Instructor’s Name

Date

Patient Satisfactory Quality Improvement Project

Introduction

The healthcare facility is a 250-bed short-term acute care hospital. Recently, the head of surgery (the head of the surgical unit) organized a patient perspective survey using the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS). Most of the patients were unsatisfied with the discharge and follow-up processes in the surgical unit. Patients’ discharge should be well organized, and a good follow-up plan reinforced (DeSai et al., 2021). Patients complained of a lack of patient education during discharge. They said no one contacted them and did not have direct access or contact with a healthcare professional. The issue is a matter that needs urgent attention as many patients from the surgical unit have experienced adverse effects. According to DeSai et al. (2021), health workers often assume patients understand written discharge instructions; however, that is not always the case. Patient follow-up is also important to ensure patients recover fully (Shen et al., 2017). A case was presented where a patient discharged with a catheter did not receive education about the use. The patient developed deep venous thrombosis and was readmitted in less than 30 days.

Build a Team

After creating urgency and letting everyone in the surgical unit understand the need for a quality improvement project, it is now necessary to build a guiding team to ensure the project is successful. In that case, some of the stakeholders in this project quality improvement project include all healthcare professionals in the surgery unit (DeSai et al., 2021). These health care workers include one surgeon, one anesthesiologist, scrub tech, circulating tech, one nurse, a physician, and a surgical assistant. All these members of the interdisciplinary team are important. All disciplines are represented to ensure fairness in this guiding coalition.

Create a Vision

The newly created guiding team will now take the responsibility henceforth. The team will now create a vision. Some of the defining values of this quality improvement include patient safety, quality health care delivery, and positive patient outcomes (Sittrop et al., 2021). The quality improvement project is based on the idea that patient care should be safe and always observe the ethical principles of beneficence and non-maleficence. Additionally, this quality improvement project believes that healthcare services should be patient-centered and always address the patient’s exact needs. As a result, there should be positive patient outcomes. Quality of care, patient safety, and positive patient outcomes are elements that constitute patient satisfaction (Shen et al., 2017). In that regard, the vision of this quality improvement project incorporates all the three perspectives described above. Therefore, the vision is to allow the organization to improve patient satisfaction in the surgical unit concerning patient discharge and follow.

Communication of Visions

Communication is very crucial in quality improvement projects. Once the guiding team has developed the project vision, it is now important to pass it to the rest of the surgical unit. Since the message might have a strong opposition, communication must happen frequently and powerfully (Sittrop et al., 2021). There are many ways that the team can consider passing the vision to the rest members of the unit. The first and crucial one is to convene a meeting with all the health workers in the surgical unit. Other ways include PowerPoint presentations, SMS, email, and posters. The team can use a powerPoint presentation to explain the meaning of the project and its benefits. They will present a question and answer session. Posters can be placed in the wards, treatment rooms, and physician offices as a reminder (Shen et al., 2017). Email and SMS are reliable and flexible methods of communication. Information is often sent directly to individual inboxes. It is important to address anxieties and concerns during these conferences honestly and openly.

Removing Obstacles

The project team can remove obstacles by empowering others to act on the vision. Resistance is a serious obstacle that must be addressed accordingly. Other obstacles can be a lack of understanding of the project, unclear communication, lack of resources, financial issues, structural issues, management, and many more (Sittrop et al., 2021). Together with the project teamwork, the change leader identifies and addresses any hindrance to the project implementation. The first thing to do is recognize people who promote the change and give them a small appreciation award.

Additionally, it will be necessary to identify some individuals who oppose change and try to explain to them what is expected and why they need to support it. The team will also identify barriers interns of personal knowledge, structural issues, and others (Sittrop et al., 2021). Some of the team’s questions include; is there anyone resisting the change? Are there structures or processes that are getting in its way?. Hopefully, the staff will get busy and achieve the project vision and objectives after removing the barriers.

Measurable Objectives

Measurable objectives give the organization a taste of history. People often want something that will determine their success. These measurable objectives include:

• To achieve more than 90% patient satisfaction about the discharge process and follow-up plan in three months.
• Ensure that more than 98% of discharges do not result in 30-day readmissions in three months.
• Ensure that 100% of the patients discharged in the surgical unit attend all follow-up appointments.

All these objectives are measurable, timely, and achievable. The first objective gives hope that the organization should have achieved 90% patient satisfaction concerning the discharge process and follow-up plan (DeSai et al., 2021). Similarly, the second objective provides that more than 98% of patients discharged will not experience 30-day readmission in three months. Furthermore, there will be 100% patient adherence to follow-up appointments (Shen et al., 2017). The attainment of these measurable objectives will be monitored in three months. After which adjustments can be made to improve the processes.

Let the Change Mature

A change must take time to realize its success. The energy, motivation, and momentum must be maintained until the end. So many projects fail due to complacency that creeps in towards the end of the project (Sittrop et al., 2021). When complacency gets into the process, it might be hard to finish it properly. Therefore, it is important to sustain and cement the change. In this case, the change team should have requested monitoring of the process. The change analysis should be done every week to track the progress and record. The team can take perspectives from health workers, patients, and their families and consider them when executing continuous improvement (DeSai et al., 2021). Training health workers and patients is a good way of sustaining the project to perform their responsibilities towards a successful discharge process and follow-up plans.

 

Integrate the Change

Last but not least, it is essential to integrate the change in the organizational culture. The project team will ensure that the change becomes part of the organization’s core (Sittrop et al., 2021). Integrating the change into the organizational culture is much more possible because the value of the quality improvement project is in line with the organization’s daily activities. Some of the necessary actions include continued talk about the project. Also, it would be appropriate to make the changes as part of the unit’s policies (Sittrop et al., 2021). New employees must be encouraged to adopt the changes. Those promoting the change must be recognized and awarded to motivate others.

Conclusion

Patient satisfaction is important because it is used as a quality indicator in hospitals. Low patient satisfaction indicates poor quality of healthcare and patient safety. It might also reflect on patient outcomes. Quality improvement projects are used to address such issues. This paper described eight steps of quality improvement project management to address the issue. This paper identified a clear project vision as well as three measurable objectives. The quality improvement project is expected to produce success in improving care

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Quip Improvement Project Implementation (Kanban) Chart

Student:

QUIP Title: Patient Satisfactory Quality Improvement Project

TASK TO BE ACCOMPLISHED	DELIVERABLE	START DATE/END DATE	WORK TEAM MEMBERS	SUPPLIES NEED	COST
Staff meeting 1	One-hour meeting to inform staff in the unit about the problem and the urgency it needs.	Start date: 3/7/2022 End date: 3/7/2022	All staff members in the surgical unit will attend the meeting	Reserved room Sandwich platter, green salad, cookies and soft drinks.	25 staff members@ $ 5 each =$ 125
Create staff education program for staff	Online educational module: 4-Parts: 1-Problem identification 2-Project objectives 3-project evaluation 4-intergration and new policy	Start date: 3/11/2022 End date: 3/14/2022	one surgeon, one anesthesiologist, scrub tech, circulating tech, one nurse, a physician, and a surgical assistant.	soft drinks.	7 Coca-Cola @ $ 14
Staff meeting 2	20 minute-meeting informing about staff education requirements	Start date: 3/16/2022 End date: 3/16/2022	All staff members in the surgical unit will attend the meeting	Reserved room	N/A
Staff education	1-Problem identification (recap) 2-Project objectives 3-project evaluation 4-intergration and new policy	Start date: 3/17/2022 End date: 3/17/2022	All staff members in the surgical unit will attend the lessons	Reserved room Projector, laptop, white board, pens, note books, handouts	Food for 25 staff members@ $ 125 Note books and pens @ $50 Handouts @ $ 100 Total=$275
Implementation	· The use of the discharge checklist. · Patient education during discharge · proper follow up of every discharged patient.	Start date: 3/21/2022 End date: 6/21/2022	All staff members in the surgical unit will implement the project.	Instruction papers for every patient. Discharge checklists $ 50 motivations for each care provider.	25 staff members @ $50 each=$1250
Evaluation	Staff interview patient surveys Clinical observations	Start date: 6/23/2022 End date: 3/30/2022	All staff members in the surgical unit will be involved	· Staff perspective questionnaires · HCAHPS for patient surveys.	Both types of questionnaires @ $ 100
Project integration	Communicating evaluation results Making the change a unit policy establishing penalty measures for policy violators.	Start date: 7/4/2022 End date: N/A	Head surgeon and head nurse will ensure continuity of the new change.	Handouts explaining the evaluation results and new policy change.	Handouts @ $ 50

 

 

 

References

DeSai, C., Janowiak, K., Secheli, B., Phelps, E., McDonald, S., Reed, G., & Blomkalns, A. (2021). Empowering patients: simplifying discharge instructions. BMJ open quality, 10(3), e001419.https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/bmjqir/10/3/e001419.full.pdf

Sittrop, D., & Crosthwaite, C. (2021). Minimising Risk—The Application of Kotter’s Change Management Model on Customer Relationship Management Systems: A Case Study. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 14(10), 496. https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm14100496

Shen, E., Koyama, S. Y., Huynh, D. N., Watson, H. L., Mittman, B., Kanter, M. H., & Nguyen, H. Q. (2017). Association of a dedicated post–hospital discharge follow-up visit and 30-day readmission risk in a medicare advantage population. JAMA internal medicine, 177(1), 132-135. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.7061