Introduction
Many organizations are involved in hospital safety and quality initiatives. This paper presets current quality outcome measures such as the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program (IQR) and the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey (HCAHPS). These hospitals work hard to meet all of the standards. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid use this data to rank and reimburse hospitals. There are many other organizations like the Joint Commission, the American Nurses Association and others that help hospitals meet or exceed standards. Many hospitals like the University of Tennessee Medical Center (UTMC) have adopted these standards, as well as actively work to create their own projects to improve…show more content… The Joint Commission is an independent not for profit organization that has helped establish standards for quality healthcare by providing standards for health care facilities that focus on patient safety and facility compliance. A facility can apply to be accredited and will be accredited for 1 to 3 years. If a facility is JCO accredited, it means that they meet or exceed the minimum requirements set out by JCO (JCO, 2017). The AHRQ is a federal agency that has created tools and education to work to improve healthcare quality and safety. They provide classroom materials and create measures to assist provider’s, facility’s and policymakers in putting evidence AHRQ has gathered into practice in their facilities to improve patients safety and quality of care. The CMS pays out many hospitals for the services they provide and withhold payments for things like readmissions. This provides incentives for hospital’s to make sure they are providing safe and high quality care to patient’s so they can be reimbursed (CMS, n.d). The ANA participates in improving healthcare through advocating for reforms that would ensure high quality healthcare to all. The ANA has many nurses that work with legislators and lobbyists to try and enact change. The ANA president, Pamela Cipriano recently said, “ANA will continue to work with congress to improve health care quality and delivery, and to provide affordable coverage to all Americans.” (ANA,…show more content… Hospitals like UTMC are working to improve patient safety by working with organizations like JCO and in-house programs to improve safety and outcomes. Examples of current improvement projects include reducing central line blood stream infection (CLABSI), catheter associated urinary tract infections (UTI), falls and interprofessional communication rates to be at or higher than the National Healthcare Safety network (NHSN) benchmark. They are also working to improve hand hygiene rates that will reduce hospital acquired infections, creating an environment of Just Culture and meeting the National Patient Safety Goals. Just Culture works to ensure professionals can report incidents without fear of retribution, while making sure continuing education is always available. They hope the ability to report an incident without fear will help ensure the patient gets the proper attention to correct the error in a timely manner and avoid mortality. In the recent past, UTMC has worked to provide education to patients with heart failure to improve outcomes. They have also developed an ulcer team that works to educate and prevent bed sores on patients. They have developed flow for optimal bed assignments for patient’s and improved staffing flow, especially in transporters and housekeepers to meet the demands of filling rooms and moving patients (University of Tennessee Medical Center,
