NURS FPX 6212 Assessment 1 Quality and Safety Gap Analysis NURS-FPX 6212 Health Care Quality and Safety Management ​​​​​​​Quality and Safety Gap Analysis – Hospital-Acquired Infections

NURS FPX 6212 Assessment 1 Quality and Safety Gap Analysis

NURS-FPX 6212 Health Care Quality and Safety Management

Quality and Safety Gap Analysis – Hospital-Acquired Infections

Healthcare organizations worldwide strive effortlessly to maintain the quality of healthcare according to the standards and improve patient safety within the organization. However, there are still various challenges that may arise during the healthcare practices. These challenges occur due to several adverse events taking place within the healthcare system. Hospital-acquired infections are such adverse events that impair the quality of care and impose negative impacts on patients’ safety. Hospital-acquired infections are recently found in Vila Health organization as well during the quality and safety assurance audit. Since the problem has evolved, administrators have called upon all nurse leaders to analyze the gap which is established between current and desired outcomes in terms of improving quality and safety. 

Systemic Problems Related to Quality and Safety Outcomes 

Hospital-acquired infections (HAI), as the name suggests, are infections encountered within healthcare settings. A study claims that these infections develop 48 hours later a patient is admitted to the hospital (Monegro et al., 2023). These infections are most commonly caused by inadequate care and malpractices by healthcare providers. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 8.7% of patients admitted to hospitals encounter different types of HAIs, whereby, urinary tract infections are very common.

HAIs result in poor consequences for the patients in terms of increasing their length of stay at the hospital, enhancing the risks of developing morbidities, adding financial burden to the hospital as well as the patients, and in serious cases, may lead to long-term complications and death (Stewart et al., 2021). These poor outcomes emphasize the need for addressing this problem within healthcare settings to ensure quality healthcare is provided by maintaining patient safety and improving health outcomes. Certain underlying assumptions that must be taken into consideration for addressing the problem are that change in healthcare organizations requires a collaborative approach whereby communication among stakeholders is essential. Moreover, it is assumed that healthcare providers should develop insight to bring successful changes in their practices. 

Practice Changes to Improve the Quality and Safety Outcomes 

To improve patient outcomes, quality, and safety, specifically addressing healthcare-associated infections, it is significant to propose practice changes within healthcare organizations. The strategy that should be used within healthcare organizations is TAP, which stands for Targeted Assessment for Prevention (TAP). This is established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to improve quality in terms of HAIs. The strategy constitutes of three steps targeting the organizations, assessing the needs, and bringing prevention strategies (CDC, 2023). Several transformations which should be implemented in the organization on a priority basis to minimize the risks of HAIs are 1) proper utilization of personal protective equipment (PPE) which reduces the occupational risks of transmission of infections.

Occupational risks mean infections that travel from the patients to the healthcare providers and vice versa (Alhumaid et al., 2021), 2) hands of healthcare workers are considered the foremost source of transmission of infections. Following the WHO’s established guidelines for hand hygiene which are; a) adequate hand rubbing in case of no visible contamination with alcohol-based hand rubs, b) following five moments of hand washing and c) and use of hand gloves while handling patients and their surroundings (WHO, n.d.), 3) it is claimed that contaminated surroundings and surfaces within hospitals are major sources of transmission of infections. Therefore, improving environmental hygiene is necessary to minimize the risks of HAIs in the patient population.