Reference no: EM133878489

Question

Quality improvement comes when a problem is seen or an error occurs and a multidisciplinary team comes together to find a solution. My facility utilizes unit practice council meetings to address needs and concerns of the unit. Our manager can then direct the concerns to the appropriate area, whether it be dietary, environmental services, etc. According to Whiteman et al., (2022), involving everyone that may be affected by a change is imperative to achieve the most success and best outcomes.

I work on a small patient unit. With that, our supply room is fairly small but it is very disorganized. It is almost automatic, for us to warn anyone entering the room with, "we know, it doesn't make sense." Going along the same supply theme, patient rooms have no storage space for supplies. A typical situation is a patient needing an IV. The nurse goes to the supply room and gathers all the supplies they think are necessary to start the IV, including alcohol swabs, flushes, tape, gauze, etc. It always seems to be the case that I forget to grab a certain supply and I remember that I need it at the most inconvenient time. We've been told that the supply room was designed to be central to the patient rooms, thus avoiding the need for supply carts to be in patient rooms. Having to stop a task to go grab a common supply is time consuming and often stressful for the nurse and patient alike.

I would propose the reorganization of our supply room, keeping body system supplies grouped accordingly. NG tubes shouldn't be tucked in the midst of lab tubes. This would prevent unnecessary time being wasted tracking all the bins looking for something. I would also propose providing locked storage for certain common supplies in patient rooms. To address the quality improvement plan, my unit director would be my first stakeholder. She is important in planning these changes in the budget. The supply chain is another stakeholder. They would be able to assist in the reorganization of the supply room and removing unnecessary items. Nurse input would also be essential to see what works and what doesn't along with what supplies they think would be beneficial to have in patient rooms. Data that could be assessed would be a top 5 item list of most needed items. All nurses on the unit would be encouraged to contribute for the best outcomes.

Discuss which tools or methodology could be used to implement quality improvement related to the problem each identified.