Quality Improvement Needs Assessment
Quality improvement in healthcare refers to different frameworks used to improve care delivery to patients in a systematical manner (Goodman et al., 2016). Healthcare entails processes that can be measured, analyzed, controlled, and improved. In improving this process, quality improvement is applied to achieve stable and predictable process results, which reduces variability and improves both patient and healthcare organization outcomes (Goodman et al., 2016). Identifying quality improvement needs through assessment enables the implementation of health systems that respond to these needs. A needs assessment refers to systematic methods for reviewing health challenges facing a population, which leads to agreed priorities and allocation of resources that improves general health and reduces disparities.
Importance of Quality Improvement Needs Assessment
Quality improvement needs assessment provides information that can be used to identify opportunities to improve the quality of care and the health of patients and community based on the needs that are identified to be the most urgent and are highly amenable to advancing care. It is generally a good business practice for the health sector to engage in these assessments because they can identify the ‘real needs’ based on the developed criteria (Counte & Meurer, 2011). Another importance of these assessments is that it facilitates planning for the future based on population growth, increase or decrease in community service capacity, etc. which provides projections of future needs (Counte & Meurer, 2011). These assessments can also maximize delivery models used in a healthcare organization for increased efficiency and better patient outcomes.
SMART Goals for Quality Improvement Needs Assessment
A SMART objective is one that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (Nolan, 2016). The training will offer lessons on the importance of quality improvement needs assessment training to fellow nursing students, which will ensure they are all (100%) conversant with the topic by the end of the module. The specific goal is to offer lessons on the importance of quality improvement needs assessment. This will be measured by all students’ proficiency in the topic at the end of the training (they should be moderate to excellent in proficiency). The duration in which this should be achieved is by the end of the module. The objective is relevant because its goals align and correspond with those of the module.
Target Population
The target population for this exercise will be nursing students. As potential nurses, nursing students are ethically responsible for providing quality service and striving for excellence. Through professional accountability and professional values, these nurses will be tasked with bridging gaps that are identified by quality improvement needs assessments (Goodman et al., 2016). The exercise will also inform them about nurses’ roles in quality improvement, nursing quality indicators, and tools for quality improvement data collection.