Continuous Quality Improvement

Continuous quality improvement in healthcare is about sustaining and hardwiring the right behaviors and constantly seeking out new information on better ways to help improve the quality of healthcare. Business research helps identify opportunities and threats and provides answers to questions that the healthcare community has (Wilson, 2014). According to the National Quality Strategy’s there are three aims for improving healthcare’s quality today: improving the patient care experience, improving the population’s health, and reducing healthcare costs (Weston & Roberts, 2013). Research, especially business research, is needed to complete these aims.
An example of how research has positively impacted the quality of healthcare is researchers who wanted to look at an organization’s medical administration behaviors. The nurses were followed so that the researchers could observe their medical administration actions (Weston & Roberts, 2013). Nurses would use the automated medication cabinet, some recorded medications on their handheld devices at the start of their shift and then used this information to pull all medications at the same time, some charted medications as they administered them, and some charted all medications once they completed administration for all patients (Weston & Roberts, 2013). The behaviors of pulling multiple medications at once and visiting other patient rooms prior to administering medications are known to increase medical errors. The research study led to the implementation of workstations on wheels with hand held scanners that allowed nurses to alleviate the issue of the need to travel for supplies and non-real time charting (Weston & Roberts, 2013). This implementation
(2013). The influence of quality improvement efforts on patient outcomes and nursing work: A perspective from chief nursing officers at three large health systems. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 18(3),