Healthcare Operations Management Discussion Example
Introduction
As is the case with all professional healthcare institutions, such as Nightingale Community Hospital whose overall goal is to create a healing environment, patient safety ranks as the most important attribute. One reason for this is the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 which was created “in response to growing concerns about patient safety in the United States” and the Institute of Medicine’s 1999 report To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. In essence then, the foundation of these two entities is simple–to foster and encourage a nationwide culture of patient safety (Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005, 2012).
Of course, patient safety is the main responsibility of those that provide patient care in a hospital environment, such as nurses and other on-site nursing personnel. Healthcare Operations Management Discussion Example This is especially relevant when dealing with patients that have undergone some type of serious and possibly life-threatening operation and/or procedure. For example, one of the most common surgical procedures in the United States is a hysterectomy with approximately 570,000 cases performed in 2006. The most common surgical approach is either vaginal or laparoscopic, both of which are considered as minimally invasive procedures as contrasted the abdominal surgical approach (Einarsson& Suzuki, 2009).
As noted by Jon Einarsson and Yoko Suzuki, vaginal and laparoscopic hysterectomies have been shown through extensive research studies to be “clearly associated with decreased blood loss, shorter hospital stays, speedier returns to normal activities, and fewer abdominal wall infections” as contrasted with the more traditional abdominal hysterectomy. Therefore, surgeons that specialize in hysterectomies must be made to understand that vaginal hysterectomies are almost always preferable to abdominal hysterectomies and that a “laparoscopic hysterectomy should be attempted when a vaginal hysterectomy is not possible,” to due to a number of existing physical obstacles or malformations in any given female patient. Einarsson and Suzuki also point out that the vaginal approach “may be challenging in patients with a history of an adnexal mass, endometriosis, pelvic pain, prior abdominal surgery, or . . . with a narrow pubic arch or poor vaginal descent” (2009).
Tracer Patient Case Summary
For this assessment, the tracer patient is a sixty-seven year-old female who had undergone a laparoscopic hysterectomy which was subsequently converted to an open procedure (i.e., an abdominal hysterectomy) because of excessive bleeding approximately five weeks prior to being admitted to the hospital. At this time, the patient developed fever and drainage which required that she be readmitted for possible post-operative infection. Consequently, the patient underwent additional surgery in order to treat abscesses that had developed as a result of her previous surgery. Also at this time, a central line was inserted as a way to administer long-term antibiotics. Rather than choosing re-admittance to the hospital for observation, the patient is scheduled to be sent home under the assistance of a professional home based nurse who will provide the patient with needed assistance related to antibiotic therapy and any possible future emergencies concerning additional abscesses and bleeding. Healthcare Operations Management
Patient Care Issues
Corrective Action Plan
As to devising an appropriate corrective action plan for the patient, the surgeon and his/her team members should have paid great attention to the following protocols:
Conclusion
As noted by the Joint Commission, most of the standards created by this important entity are directly related to patient safety and protocols, such as issues related to the application of medication, infection control, surgery and anesthesia, transfusions, restraint and seclusion, staffing, and staff competence (Patient Safety and Performance Measurement Fact Sheets, 2015). Thus, in regards to the sixty-seven year old tracer patient at Nightingale Community Hospital, all attending physicians, surgeons, and team members responsible for carrying out the laparoscopic hysterectomy should have been made fully aware of the Joint Commission’s 2014 Patient Safety Systems chapter of the hospital manual which describes “how hospital leaders can use existing requirements to achieve improved quality of care and patient safety” as a sort of road map for”implementing a fully integrated patient safety system”that allows surgeons and team members to work together to help eliminate the possibility of medical complications, especially when elderly patients are involved in a given medical procedure (Patient Safety and Performance Measurement Fact Sheets, 2015).
References
Einarsson, J., and Suzuki, Y. (2009). Total laparoscopic hysterectomy: 10 steps toward successful procedure.Reviews in Obstetrics and Gynecology (2)1: 57-64. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC 2673000
Patient safety and performance measurement fact sheets. (2015). The Joint Commission. Retrieved from http://www.jointcommission.org/about_us/patient_safety_fact_sheets.aspx
Patient safety and quality improvement act of 2005. (2012). AHRQ: Agency for Heathcare Research and quality. Retrieved from http://archive.ahrq.gov/news/newsroom/press-releases/2008/psoact.html