Flagler Hospital Patient Safety Improvement Plan

Flagler Hospital is a major Florida healthcare facility that has been serving residents of
the state for over a hundred years. Recently, however, it has been having poor patient safety
record. The problem is a major concern because apart from increasing length of hospital stay for
patients, it also increases costs and contributes to in-hospital mortality. The net effect of these
factors is to reduce public confidence in the healthcare facility which may have a negative effect
on the hospital’s financial status. For these reasons, it is important to implement performance
improvement measures that increase patient safety at the hospital.

Performance improvement initiative

The proposed performance improvement initiative to address Flagler’s hospital safety
problem is error prevention training. The initiative will have all of the hospital’s staff that are
involved in primary care of patients undergo regular training in error prevention techniques that
will be conducted by coaches who are experts in the field. This initiative is likely to significantly
improve patient safety because the vast cases of patient safety issues are caused by errors
committed by hospital staff particularly, nurses and physicians (Kusano et al., 2015). This
measure will particularly reduce cases of patient injuries.

Data determinants for success

Success of this initiative will be measured using data such as number of patients with
hospital acquired infections and injuries. The initiative will be considered a success if these
numbers of patient injuries and infections go down.

FLAGLER HOSPITAL PATIENT SAFETY IMPROVEMENT PLAN 3
Implementation plan for the initiative

The proposed patient safety improvement plan will involve multiple departments in the
healthcare facility. As such, it will be necessary to establish communication channels that make
it easy for personnel from different departments to communicate with each other. Since staff
from different departments will be trained together, communication among them will take place
face-to-face. They will also communicate via email and telephones.

Data interpretation used to communicate findings

Data used to determine whether the initiative is leading to improvement in patient safety
or not can be presented in various forms to make it easy to understand. In the intervention plan
envisioned here, data will be communicated in the form of graphs. Using graphs to communicate
the findings will make it easy for all staff to understand the findings and monitor progress.

Hypothetical effect of the plan on patient safety

Errors are a major cause of patient injuries and other problems that significantly reduce a
hospital’s patient safety record. Through regular training of nurses, physicians, and other hospital
staff involved in primary care of patients, it is likely that patient errors are going to reduce. With
reduced errors, patients are likely to have higher levels of safety while at the hospital.

The reduction in errors will even be more profound when combined with health
information systems. Such systems facilitate coordination and reduce human errors by providing
critical information in a timely manner (Waterson, 2018).

Hypothetical impact of the plan on culture of safety at Flagler Hospital

FLAGLER HOSPITAL PATIENT SAFETY IMPROVEMENT PLAN 4
Regular error prevention training will lead to development of a positive patient safety
culture that will help the hospital to achieve high levels of patient safety. This patient safety
culture includes open communication, patient-centred care, evidence-based care, teamwork, and
leadership (Waterson, 2018). All these factors will be oriented towards achieving improved
patient safety at the hospital. Thus, the error prevention training will lead to a culture that
supports safety of patients.

Conclusion

Improving patient safety is a challenge that many healthcare facilities face. There is no
single solution to this problem because it involves many factors. One of the most important of
these factors is human error. Such errors can be a result of negligence, poor coordination among
various healthcare professionals, and lack of timely information on a patient. Focusing on regular
training of nurses and physicians helps reduce instances of human error and improves
coordination among various care givers thus significantly improving patient safety.

FLAGLER HOSPITAL PATIENT SAFETY IMPROVEMENT PLAN 5

References

Kusano, A. S., Nyflot, M. J., Zeng, J., Sponseller, P. A., Ermoian, R., Jordan, L., & Ford, E. C.
(2015). Measurable improvement in patient safety culture: A departmental experience
with incident learning. Practical radiation oncology, 5(3), e229-e237.

Waterson, P. (Ed.). (2018). Patient safety culture: theory, methods and application. CRC Press.