Patient Experience, Patient Safety, and Healthcare Cost
Introduction
Patient safety and patient satisfaction are two of the essential components of nursing care. The quality of patient care, according to Simon (2004), can be defined as the adequacy of the total consideration received by the patient from healthcare professionals such as nurses. Patient dissatisfaction, medical errors, rising medical costs, and compromised patient safety pose a threat to healthcare. To improve patient safety. The government formed The Joint Commission, which seeks to improve public healthcare by working with other stakeholders in the healthcare sector. The Joint Commission is mandated to evaluate healthcare organizations to ensure that health organizations offer the highest quality healthcare services. The Joint Commission credits and certifies health organizations that meet the national healthcare standards in terms of safety, cost, and patient experience.
Application of Triple Aim Initiative to Improve Quality, Safety, and Cost
The Triple Aim is a healthcare initiative meant to improve the quality of healthcare by improving certain aspects of public healthcare such as cost, safety, and patient experience. According to the Triple Aim initiative, an overall evaluation of the healthcare system in communities need to be assessed to improve the patient experience. These community health evaluations help in identifying risk areas by evaluating the community’s overall mortality rates. (Institute for Healthcare Improvement, 2017). To improve the quality and safety of patient care, I will encourage the monitoring of patient experience through open communication between caregivers and patients as well as with the community they serve. Community health records can also be used to study community health experience. By applying these measures, patient satisfaction can be improved by fixing the problem areas such as poor service delivery, medical errors, and communication. I will also enhance the patient experience by involving individuals and their families in designing patient care models. By including the people in healthcare decisions, caregivers can improve patient satisfaction by making patients feel like they are a part of the system and the decision-making process. Patients with acute medical conditions and those in need of long-term care spend long periods in the hospital. Carrying out regular evaluation of the long-term patient experiences and their needs will help to improve their hospital experiences and fasten their healing process or make their stay in the hospital comfortable.
I will work on reducing the cost of healthcare can help to improve patient satisfaction and increase access to quality healthcare. One of the mandates of the Triple Aim Initiative is to reduce the per-capita cost of healthcare. According to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (2017), the United States of America has one of the most expensive healthcare costs in the world. Millions of Americans are unable to afford healthcare without the government’s intervention. According to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (2017), healthcare in America takes up to up to 17% of the total GDP, with estimations that the figure will reach 20% by the end of 2020 By reducing the cost of healthcare, the government will be able to allocate the healthcare funds into the purchase of medical equipment other medical needs. Reduced cost of healthcare will also affect the long-term patient since they will be enjoying reduced payments on medical services. Long-term patients comprise of patients suffering from illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, severe mental diseases such as schizophrenia and dementia, cancer patients, among others.
Reduced healthcare costs will benefit long-term care patients who spend millions of dollars on hospice care. These patients are often in need of constant nursing care that may be too expensive for millions of Americans.
The third purpose of the Triple Aim Initiative is to improve the overall health of populations by understanding the community needs. By engaging members of specific communities in the making of the healthcare systems, I will develop strategies that can offset medical costs and provide improved, coordinated, patient-centered care. This will be achieved by redesigning primary care services, and structures, patient care for the terminally ill, and those in need of long term care can be improved. By seeking to improve the population health, the health of the individual is impacted positively. Improvement in patient care also improves the working experience for the nurses (Ryan et al., 2016). By involving the community in the development of the healthcare systems, caregivers can identify the unique community healthcare needs, which go towards improving patient safety and satisfaction.
A Reflection On Future Role in Healthcare
As a healthcare administrator, I will take part in improving patient satisfaction, quality of healthcare, as well as patient safety. As a healthcare administrator, I will play a role in the organization of healthcare costs by advocating against inflated healthcare costs that arose through unnecessary treatments and medications. One of the reasons the cost of healthcare is expensive is because healthcare workers, in collaboration with insurance companies, inflate the price of medical procedures as well as the cost of medications to earn more money from the patient or the government (Ryan et al., 2016). This leaves the patients at a loss as they spend a lot of money on substandard medical care. Healthcare administrators can monitor and report cases of malpractice to save patients from overpayments and to save e public healthcare form overspending. As an administrator, I will also track the use of supplies in the hospital by taking inventory of the supplies. This data can help in determining essential from non-essential needs. This way, the organization can save millions of dollars that can be used in improving patient safety and ensure patient satisfaction.
To improve patient safety and satisfaction in healthcare, I would encourage open and effective communication between patients and health workers. Being the primary caregivers, nurses have extensive experience in patient care and patient needs. Nurses are, therefore, in the best position to influence patient satisfaction and safety. Nurses should be able to speak up if they have any safety concerns that would affect the nurse or the patient. Nurses should be able to report issues such as faulty equipment, substandard medications, or expired medications. By cultivating a culture of open communication, nurses will feel comfortable reporting issues that may need the administration’s attention or problems in the administration that may risk patient’s safety.
As an administrator, I would encourage regular primary care and the use of follow up checklists s to ensure patient satisfaction. For instance, patients in long-term care are often in need of help in performing simple tasks such as turning, eating, bathing, and going to the bathroom. By ensuring that patients are checked regularly will and attended to when they need attention will help to reduce issues such as bedsores, which may pose a risk to the patient’s health. Follow up checklists can assist nurses in ensuring that patients receive regular care. This will go a long way in ensuring patient safety and satisfaction.
I would use my position in administration to improve patient engagement in their health decisions. Although trained professionals in the healthcare sector possess knowledge of human health, they do not have the autonomy to make decisions for the patients. Patient autonomy is a vital component of healthcare. Patients should be included in discussion s about their health. Patients also have a right to access the correct information about their health and to be allowed to decide if they want to be treated or if they want to forego the suggested treatment. Giving patients the chance to determine their course of therapy ensure patient satisfaction and protects caregivers from lawsuits resulting from malpractice.
Practices to Minimize Medical Errors Among Front-Line Nursing Staff
Given the opportunity, there are various actions I would take to reduce medical errors among front-line nurses. First, I would suggest the increment of the nurse to patient ration reduce the nurse’s workload. Studies show that understaffing is one of the leading causes of medical errors (Carlton and Blegen, 2006). When one nurse is responsible for more than ten patients in a day, the excess workload will lead to fatigue resulting in errors such as administration of wrong medication, confusion of patient files and information, negligence, and irritability that hinders communication between nurses and patients. When the ratio of nurses to patients is increased, there is a chance of better quality of care, lower nurse turnover, and less negligence (Weiner, 2014).
Retraining nurses and improving caregivers’ skills can also help to reduce medical malpractice (Carlton and Blegen, 2006). Due to frequent changes in medical technology and preventive approaches, there is a constant need for health workers to study and learn new methods of treatments. Allowing nurses to take time off to improve the skills can help to reduce medical errors.
Shorter shifts can also help to reduce medical errors. When nurses work long hours, such as 12-hour shifts, nurses are more prone to making mistakes due to fatigue(Carlton and Blegen, 2006). I would, therefore, suggest six-hour shifts for nurses to allow them to focus on patients’ needs and allow them time to rest and get enough sleep as well as read to improve their skills.
References
Carlton and Blegen (2006). Medication-Related Errors: A Literature Review of Incidence and Antecedents. Annu Rev Nurs Res. 24:19-38.
Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (2017). IHI triple aim initiative.
Ryan, B. L., Brown, J. B., Glazier, R. H., & Hutchison, B. (2016). Examining primary healthcare performance through a triple aim lens. Healthcare Policy, 11(3), 19.
Simon, RI (2004). Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk: Guidelines for Clinically Based Risk Management. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.
Weiner, E. (2014). The Effects of Mandated nurse-to-patient Ratios on Reducing Preventable Medical Error and Hospital Costs.