The Quality of Care Committee (QCC) at Arrowhead District Hospital implemented several strategies to improve quality of care, including crew resource management, rounding, and a just culture approach to errors. As a result of these efforts, the hospital demonstrated significant improvements such as a 25% reduction in mortality and improved core measure scores. Key strategies that helped drive quality included engaging physicians in quality goals, overseeing credentialing, and adding a family member to the QCC.

1. DHA7002 Walden University Improving Healthcare Quality Discussion
DHA7002 Walden University Improving Healthcare Quality DiscussionDHA7002 Walden
University Improving Healthcare Quality DiscussionCLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR
ASSIGNMENTInstructionsIn 2006, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) launched
the 5 Million Lives Campaign, a nationwide quality initiative to significantly reduce levels of
morbidity and mortality in the United States. IHI quantified this aim by asking hospitals that
participated in the Campaign to prevent 5 million incidents of medical harm by adopting 12
patient safety interventions over a two-year period (Berwick, 2014). In response to the
Campaign, Arrowhead District Hospital, a 374-bed medical facility located in the
Midwestern part of the United States, created the Quality of Care Committee (QCC). The QCC
was launched in an effort to enhance accountability for delivery of quality care through the
following strategies:Improve performance in clinical quality as reflected in the core
measures.Reduce mortality through the adoption of best practices.Improve accountability
across the organization and its various departments and units.Improve the
comprehensiveness and timeliness of the peer review process.Improve patient
satisfaction.Foster a culture of patient safety.One of the first steps taken by the QCC was to
educate the executive leadership team about key quality initiatives and metrics, and inform
the medical staff about the credentialing and reappointment process, and patient
satisfaction. To enhance leadership and QCC member competency, the QCC made a
commitment to continuous learning, and sought knowledge about best practices and the
principles of quality improvement. Several QCC members, physicians, and executive leaders
made a site visit to a best practice facility and met with their leadership team to learn about
their hospital’s keys to achieving top performance results. In addition, Arrowhead’s Board
members attended IHI and Leapfrog Group conferences, which focused on the role of
governing boards in driving quality outcomes. For example, an ongoing commitment to
education is demonstrated not only through conference attendance, but also through the
regular provision and discussion of pertinent literature at each Board meeting (Rubino,
Esparza, & Chassiakos, 2014).The QCC explored and ed the adoption of several innovative
strategies to foster a culture of quality and safety. These included crew resource
management (CRM), QCC rounding, and the “Just Culture” approach to errors. The CRM
model was originally developed by the aviation industry in response to critical and fatal
errors by a flight team. It has since been adapted for use in healthcare from the techniques
used by aerospace cockpit crews to promote effective teamwork and structured
communication for enhanced patient safety (McConaughey, 2008). QCC members also

2. began conducting rounds throughout the hospital prior to its monthly meetings. The rounds
were used to create greater visibility for executive leadership’s commitment to quality care,
and provide an opportunity for QCC member to assess and validate the deployment of
effective, patient/family-centered and evidence-based care practices at the bedside. Rounds
have been made to various Arrowhead departments and units to interact with frontline
staff, physicians, and managers, and evaluate progress using tracer methodology (Schmidt,
2014, April 21). Patient “tracers” were developed by The Joint Commission as a means to
evaluate a patient’s care across the continuum of care in order to evaluate compliance to
accreditation standards. Some areas assessed during rounds were core measures processes,
pressure ulcer prevention, emergency department (ED) and hospital throughout, and the
case management/patient discharge process (The Joint Commission, 2017, February 10).
“Just Culture” error reporting is an approach that shifts attention from retrospective
judgment of others to real-time evaluation of behavioral choices in a rational and organized
manner. A just culture balances the need for an open and honest reporting environment
with the end of a quality learning environment and culture. While the organization has a
duty and responsibility to employees (and ultimately to patients), this approach emphasizes
that all employees are held responsible for the quality of their choices. Just culture requires
a change from focusing on errors and outcomes to system design and management of the
behavioral choices of all employees (Boysen, 2013).In the years since its inception, the QCC
has led efforts to engage physicians by creating aligned incentives such as the incorporation
of performance goals in physician administrative contracts and the referral of core measure
fall-outs for peer review. The QCC has ed physician leadership in their oversight of medical
staff credentialing, proctoring, and tracking f medical staff performance data as part of their
ongoing professional practice evaluation process. To ensure continued focus on the patient
and family experience, a family member representative was added to the QCC as a voting
member. To reinforce leadership accountability across the organization, the QCC invited
department managers and directors to the QCC meetings to communicate their plans for
improving their area’s performance if their results were falling below the established
benchmarks. DHA7002 Walden University Improving Healthcare Quality DiscussionAs a
result of these efforts, Arrowhead District Hospital demonstrated significant improvements,
including a 25% reduction in mortality, improved core-measure perfect-care score, ED and
hospital throughput improvement, a shift to performance-based medical staff
reappointment, and the sharing of their best practices with others through publications in
peer-reviewed, scholarly journals (Rubino, Esparza, & Chassiakos, 2014).Using a systems
thinking approach, keeping in mind that every action in the hospital results in a reaction
somewhere else the facility, answer the following questions:Which of the key strategies
adopted by the QCC do you think are the most effective for ongoing quality improvement?
Explain your rationale.What additional rounds can you suggest for QCC members besides
the ones already mentioned? Why?What other measures can be used to assess the quality of
care being delivered at Arrowhead District Hospital? your recommendations.Length: 2–3
pages (excluding title page, references page, and any appendices)References: Include a
minimum of 3 peer-reviewed, scholarly resources.Your assignment should demonstrate
thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts that are presented in the course and

3. provide new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your assignment should
also reflect graduate-level writing and APA standards (6th edition). Be sure to adhere to
University’s Academic Integrity Policy.Upload your document and click the Submit to
Dropbox button.References:Berwick, D. M. (2014). Promising care: how we can rescue
health care by improving it. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Boysen, P. G. (2013). Just culture: a
foundation for balanced accountability and patient safety. Ochsner Journal, 13(3), 400-
406.McConaughey, E. (2008). Crew resource management in healthcare: the evolution of
teamwork training and MedTeams. Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing, 22(2), 96-
104.Rubino, L., Esparza, S., & Chassiakos, Y. R. (2014). New leadership for today’s health
care professionals: cases and concepts. Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett
Learning.Schmidt, B. (2014, April 21). Patient- and family-centered care: advancing quality
and safety with bedside rounding. Retrieved from https://www.psqh.com/analysis/patient-
and-family-c…The Joint Commission. (2017, February 10). Facts about the tracer
methodology. Retrieved from https://www.jointcommission.org/facts_about_the_tr…Due
DateJul 14, 2019 11:59 PMRubric Name: Common Grading Rubric (10
points)CriteriaUnacceptable0 pointsNeeds Improvement1.5 pointsMeets1.7
pointsExceeds2 pointsContent/QualityNo evidence of knowledge and understanding of
assignment content.Little evidence of knowledge and understanding of assignment
content.Some evidence of knowledge and understanding of assignment content.Strong
evidence of knowledge and understanding of assignment content.Critical ThinkingNo
evidence of analysis of assignment content.Little evidence of analysis of assignment
content.Some evidence of analysis of assignment content.Thorough analysis of assignment
concept.Grammar and MechanicsNumerous misspelled words and grammatical
errors.Frequently misspells words and/or makes consistent grammatical
errors.Occasionally misspells words and/or some grammatical errors.No or very few
misspelled words and/or no or very few grammatical errors.APA FormattingNot used.Used;
numerous formatting issues.Used; minor formatting issues.Used; no formatting
issues.References/ Sources not scholarly or peer-reviewed; does not meet minimum
number of required sources.Most sources are not scholarly or peer-reviewed; meets
minimum number of required sources (low end of range).Most sources are scholarly or
peer-reviewed; meets minimum number of required sources (high end of range).Sources
are scholarly and peer-reviewed; exceeds maximum number of required sources.