Overcoming barriers to quality improvement

Gold standard clinical practice
A clinical setting where the team follows current clinical standards and guidance underpins patient safety and is the goal for all healthcare providers and clinicians.

With both the organisation and clinical teams committed to providing 'Gold Standard' clinical practice and safe care. Reducing preventable errors and avoidable complications may seem straightforward, this is not always the case when we unsure of why errors happen and what the errors are.

 

Implementing standards are beneficial
With so many organisations such as CQC ,NICE ,GMC and NMC to name a few releasing standards and guidance within the UK its clear implementing standards are beneficial : lowering overall costs, decreasing infection rates, reducing preventable errors and improving patient outcomes.

 

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However, the barriers to achieving compliance can be challenging.

Prioritisation

Too many and competing priorities. To action them all can be tough. Which priorities takes priority ?

Understanding

Clarification and understanding of what guidance and standards mean in real terms.

Time and Resources

Demands on healthcare workers time are high, time to keep abreast of new thinking and evidence can sometimes loose priority over essential patient care.

Responsibility

Clearly defines responsibilities over whose job it is to maintain practice guidelines and how information is disseminated to staff. This can sometimes be shared between practice educators and organisational managers.

Complacency

In any profession the day-to-day routine can lead to complacency about keeping up with developments in their specialism. In healthcare some issues are cultural e.g. 'we have always done it this way' or 'this is how my senior has showed me how to do it'. Developing bad habits and cutting corners can often happen.

Rapid Change

As different clinical specialties advance quickly so too does the updated guidance and standards.

 

Please contact us to hear how Medi-Mogul Consultancy Ltd can assist in overcoming these barriers.

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Venepuncture & IV Cannulation : the overlooked invasive procedure.

 

 

 

 

Venepuncture is the most commonly performed invasive procedure in hospitals. IV cannulation is the second most invasive procedure for patients in hospital. Today 85% - 95% of all hospitalised patients receive IV’s in one form or another.

There are a many factors that contribute to safe, sterile, comfortable  Venepuncture & IV cannulation, some of which  are technical but many have to do with how you prepare for the procedures , how you arrange your equipment ergonomically on your trolley, what you say to patients before during and after,  and how you deal with failed attempts.

There is a range of guidance on how to perform these key clinical skills. Most of  which has a focus on procedural steps . In my experience, choosing equipment is often left to the health care workers preference and the availability rather than what is most suitable for the patient. or considered best practice. 

 

This can often lead to difficulty during the procedure ,  repeated attempts , raised complication rates which ultimately leads to a rise in costs.

 

When considering guidance  and preparation for these  invasive procedures, a more holistic  approach could be  reviewed , to ensure you are set up for a successful procedure.

 

 

 

 

4 FOCUS AREAS TO REVIEW

• Absent / Failed Defences

These contributing factors result from inadequate or absent defences ,such as lack of risk management , lack of clinical audit or  poor/ outdated protocols.

• Individual / Team Actions

These are the errors or violations that led directly to the incident and are typically associated with personnel having direct contact with the equipment, such as key part contamination

• Task / Environmental Conditions

These are the conditions in existence immediately prior to, or at the time of the incident

that directly influence human and equipment performance in the workplace such as workspace, workload, resource availability ,time pressures

• Organisational Factors

These are organisational factors that produce the conditions that affect performance in the workplace such as staff training, equipment selection , patient safety culture

Please contact us by clicking on the link for a free comprehensive checklist of review actions for venepuncture & IV Cannulation.