Performance and Implementation Plan for Improving Patient Care by Addressing Diagnostic Errors in Healthcare

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Performance and Implementation Plan for Improving Patient Care

By Addressing Diagnostic Errors in Healthcare

This paper is in continuation of the previous paper “Improving Patient Care by Addressing Diagnostic Errors in Healthcare,” that highlighted the problem of Diagnostic Errors made by the healthcare professionals, the challenges posed by the healthcare organizations and how the quality initiatives bring in better outcomes in terms of quality patient care in the healthcare arena. This paper will look into the Performance Improvement plan as well as an Implementation plan that will gauge the effect of the performance improvement plan on the basis of the quality standards and benchmarks set for an efficient patient care.

Diagnostic Errors and the Need for Performance Improvement

Diagnostic Errors are among the most dreaded adverse events. The Harvard Medical Practice Study reviewed that 17 percent of the adverse events were caused due to diagnostic errors (National Academy of Sciences, 2015). The path to improving diagnosis and reducing diagnostic errors requires a lot of deliberation and forethought as the problem is challenging owing to its multifaceted nature and no single solution can bring about the desired change (National Academy of Sciences, 2015). To decrease the diagnostic errors, a multidisciplinary performance plan needs to be in place to enhance the overall performance of the organization. The performance improvement plan as developed by the National Academy of Sciences (2015) entails particulars varying from professional education of the healthcare professionals, involvement of IT teams to requirement of funding for the research and development for reducing diagnostic errors.

Performance Improvement Goals for Reducing Diagnostic Errors

The National Academy of Sciences Committee (2015) developed overarching goals that involves effective teamwork involving healthcare professionals, families and patients themselves for a better teamwork with the aim that together everyone achieved more.

Multidisciplinary Teamwork, Education, and Organizational Culture

They also ensure that the healthcare professionals undergo the training and education in diagnostic process, they develop and ensure the ways by which diagnostic errors can be minimized in the workplace. The committee also supports the creation of an organizational culture that is supportive of better diagnostic performance. 

IT Support, Error Reporting, and Research Funding

It also makes sure that the IT team support the patients as well as healthcare professionals (as proposed by AHRQ) through effective Electronic Health Records (EHR) for decreasing diagnostic errors. Also, the committee recommends that there should be a reporting environment that registers the medical errors and address the near misses. Also, the research and development on the diagnostic errors should be sufficiently funded.

Implementation Plan for Improving Patient Care

To make things fall in the right place and make the performance improvement plan successful, an implementation plan should be communicated within the multi-disciplinary teams. Ochom et al. (2019) suggest and implementation plan for improving patient care by addressing diagnostic errors through the right communication strategies and audits. 

Communication Strategies

A proper communication within the departments through face to face, email, telephone and documentation can be a good way to convey right direction and reduce diagnostic errors. The right information conveyed about the right patient at the right time through the right source not only minimizes the diagnostic error but it also contributes to a better cultural environment. 

Audits and Computerized Decision Support

Additionally, the audits and computerized decision support systems can further decrease the likelihood of making diagnostic errors in future. 

Conclusion

Concluding, diagnostic errors are a great hindrance to meeting the quality patient care, which is the most critical requirement for a successful healthcare delivery system. Knowing about the needs of the organization and then making an improvement plan along with an implantation strategy help to make a good culture in the organization which lead to minimization of the diagnostic errors. The outcome of such a plan is thus conducive to both the patients and the healthcare provider. Therefore, a performance improvement plan, if followed by a good implementation strategy can minimize the diagnostic errors and adverse events at the workplace.

References

National Academy of Sciences (2015) The Path to Improve Diagnosis and Reduce Diagnostic 

Error. National Academies Press. Available at 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK338594/ 

Ochom et al. (2019) Strategies to reduce diagnostic errors: a systematic review.

BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. Available at 

https://bmcmedinformdecismak.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12911-019-0901-1