Nursing Informatics Project Proposal for Quality Improvement (QI) in a Hospital Setting

Nursing Informatics Project Proposal for Quality Improvement (QI) in a Hospital Setting

Nursing informatics is currently a very crucial part of the healthcare infrastructure of any healthcare organization. It is involved with the management of information concerning patients. This information is stored electronically in a special system referred to as the electronic health record (EHR) system. EHR systems are sold by different vendors in the market but basically have the same functionality (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). They should be able to allow for the capture of the patient’s biographical data, biometrics, and history. The EHR system should also be able to allow the clinician to enter details of physical examination and prescribed therapies. In the same manner, nurses must be able to enter nursing care notes just as they would have written them on a paper-based cardex. To allow for these different functionalities, an EHR usually has different system subcomponents such as the computerized provider order entry or CPOE (used by the clinician to write treatment orders), the patient data management system or PDMS (can be used by nurses to enter their nursing notes about the patient’s care), electronic medication administration record or eMAR, clinical decision support (CDS), and bar code medication administration (BCMA) amongst others (Alotaibi & Federico, 2017). This paper is about the proposal of a QI nursing informatics project in the form of an upgrade to an existing EHR system for better performance, interoperability, and improved patient outcomes.

The Proposed Project

This project involves the installation of a new upgraded version of the existing EHR system in the organization. It is to replace the old EHR system that had several shortcomings impacting the quality of care, patient safety, and patient outcomes. Some of these drawbacks or bottlenecks that have been witnessed with old system include a lack of interoperability, loss of data after entering it when the system hangs up, and difficulties with access to the system during peak hours when many users are logged in at the same time. It has been agreed that the system is probably becoming obsolete and needs upgrading to keep up the quality of service delivered with the help of the system. The upgrading of the EHR system is to be undertaken as a QI initiative to meet specific quality benchmarks. These benchmarks are to be monitored through the EHR dashboard designed specifically to meet this organization’s specifications. They include quality, performance, and staff engagement benchmarks (Wang et al., 2018). Specific outcome measures to be monitored through the system’s dashboard will include the rates of patient falls, the rates of hospital-acquired infections or HAIs (like central line-associated blood stream infections or CLABSI and catheter-associated urinary tract infections or CAUTI), the rates of in-patient readmissions to the hospital, and the rates of pressure injuries amongst others.

The Stakeholders Impacted by the Project

There are several stakeholders who are impacted by this project. These include the following:

1. The patients: These are the main stakeholders because they are the recipients of the improved services that are envisaged by the upgrading of the EHR system. With te improvement, their safety will be guaranteed, services will be faster and seamless, and time spent in the hospital will reduce. This reduction in time spent will translate to reduced hospitalization costs and hence produce a direct benefit to the patients.NR599 Midterm / Final Exam Study
2. The healthcare staff including clinicians (physicians, APRNs, and physician assistants), pharmacists, and nurses (RNs): These are the staff that have to use the system and who are directly affected by the functionality of the system. If the system is slow, hangs up, or proves difficult to access as has been witnessed with the current old system; these staff members get frustrated and may be prone to committing errors due to this. What this means is that non-functionality of the system impacts the performance of the staff.

• The organization’s leadership: This is represented by the directors who are the policy makers in the organization. An improved EHR system that has better functionality will enable the organization to reach and achieve its strategic objectives and vision a contained in its long term strategic plan. Revenue will also increase as a result of improved services that are faster and more efficient.

1. The community: The community that forms the catchment area of the hospital are the other stakeholders. With the improvement in the services at the hospital, word-of-mouth will spread and those who were seeking services elsewhere because of delays occasioned by the old system will come back. They will benefit from services that are not only near but also
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