After completing the assigned readings, answer the following questions:
As nurses we know that pain assessments and management are of upmost importance in all clinical settings. Although similar to pain, we must also incorporate suffering into our assessments. At times, balancing person and family expectations of pain/suffering management with our personal beliefs can be difficult. In today’s healthcare arena, we almost always add an additional layer of complexity of pain/suffering management through use of technology.
What human-technology interface have you encountered that you think needs improvement for assessment, management, documentation, care coordination or care delivery of persons (or families) regarding pain and/or suffering? If you were to design a replacement, which quality or process improvement technique or strategy would you choose and why? (See links below and learning modules for resources on quality and process improvement techniques or strategies.) Describe the importance of addressing the process or technology itself that needs improvement rather than relying solely on the nurse’s memory to ensure the interventions or technology are executed correctly. What are the ethical implications of this human-technology interface and/or improvement related to pain/suffering?
Continuous quality improvement is essential in all health care settings, but is especially important after implementing a process change. Given the improvements you’ve described above, explain how you would use a run chart or control chart to monitor improvement. (See below and learning modules for resources on run charts and control charts.)
Please type or paste your posting into the discussion topic box, instead of attaching a document.
Please note: Initial discussion posts are due by 11:59 on Thursday and a response to at least two other people is due by 11:59 pm on Sunday.
Each student is expected to read all the initial weekly discussion posts, contribute one initial response discussion post weekly, and contribute participation discussion responses to at least two other students’ posts.
Each initial discussion posting should end with a question related to the topic to stimulate further discussion.
The initial posting must include at least two APA citations and references (one of which must be a journal article). Each reply post must include at least 1 APA citation and reference.
The participation postings to peers must be substantial and may include a story about a related experience, a probing question, or a differing point(s) of view.
Learners should complete self-grading of their discussion posts by Thursday at 11:59 pm of the following week. The faculty will review self-grades and reserve the right to make any adjustments in grades per grading rubric.
Resources for quality and process improvement technique and strategies:
Failure Modes and Effect Analysis (FMEA) https://asq.org/quality-resources/fmea
Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/practice/resources/phqitoolbox/pdsa.html
Fishbone diagram https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/practice/resources/phqitoolbox/fishbone.html
Flow Chart – https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/practice/resources/phqitoolbox/flowchart.html
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) –
https://www.cms.gov/medicare/provider-enrollment-and-certification/qapi/downloads/guidanceforrca.pdf
https://www.jointcommission.org/-/media/tjc/documents/resources/patient-safety-topics/sentinel-event/rca_framework_101017.pdf?db=web&hash=B2B439317A20C3D1982F9FBB94E1724B&hash=B2B439317A20C3D1982F9FBB94E1724B
Resources for run charts and control charts:
Run Charts – https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/practice/resources/phqitoolbox/runchart.html
Control Charts –
1. https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/practice/resources/phqitoolbox/docs/controlchart.pdf
2. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPTdz8mkxi8
Special Cause Variation – https://www.isixsigma.com/dictionary/special-cause-variation/#:~:text=Special%20cause%20variation%20is%20present,%2Dof%2Dcontrol%