Process Improvement and Quality

Case M- The Piney Woods Hospital Emergency Department By Julie Anstine and Kyle Dorsey

Instructions

Before submitting your Assessment, carefully review the rubric. This is the same rubric the assessor will use to evaluate your submission and it provides detailed criteria describing how to achieve or master the Competency.

Many students find that understanding the requirements of the Assessment and the rubric criteria help them direct their focus and use their time most productively.

Access the following to complete this Assessment:

Piney Woods Hospital Emergency Department Case Study

To begin, read the "Piney Woods Hospital Emergency Department Case Study."

Imagine you are a summer resident completing your master of health administration degree. Write your responses to Parts I-IV below as if you are writing for the chief executive officer (CEO) of Piney Woods Hospital.

As you prepare your responses, ask yourself what the CEO would want to know before making a large financial and organizational decision.

Part I: Opportunities for Improvement

You have a meeting with Zach Porter, CEO of Piney Woods Hospital, to discuss the issues in the emergency department. Analyze the issues presented in the Piney Woods Hospital Emergency Department Case Study. Then, prepare a 13-slide presentation that summarizes your analysis.

Using a combination of text, graphics, and charts, prepare your presentation as follows:

Identify and describe five opportunities for process improvement and cost reduction in the emergency department.

For each of the five areas identified at Piney Woods Hospital, using text and graphics/charts, compare and contrast the rates of emergency room waste to national benchmark rates.

Quantify the size of three waste-reduction opportunities and three cost- reduction opportunities, and describe the impact they have on the emergency department and on quality.

Part II: Stretch Goals

You and Zach have a productive meeting, and your analysis helps him understand the cost- and waste-reduction opportunities. For your next meeting, he asks you to develop stretch goals for leveraging those opportunities and to present those goals in a report.

Develop five measureable stretch goals, one for each of the five cost- and waste-reduction opportunities you identified at Piney Woods. The goals should be designed to improve process and quality, and to reduce risk, waste, and cost.

Then, prepare your report as follows:

List the five stretch goals you developed, and explain the research and analysis you used to develop the goals. (3 pages)

Create a chart that shows how the goals will improve will improve processes and lower costs for the Piney Woods emergency department. (1 page)

Describe how progress and achievement of each stretch goal will be measured.

Part III: Continuum of Care

Zach is pleased with your stretch goals for cost- and waste-reduction. Now, he asks you to focus on the continuum of care in the emergency department. He believes addressing issues with the continuum of care will improve the patient and staff experience. (3 pages)

Conduct an analysis of the continuum of care across the Piney Woods Hospital organization, and develop recommendations to eliminate redundancy and decrease quality risk.

Using text and graphics/charts, prepare a report of your analysis and recommendations as follows:

Identify three opportunities to improve the continuum of care, decrease quality risks, and eliminate redundancy. Provide a rationale for targeting these areas.

Make one recommendation for improvement for each opportunity area you identified. Explain how each recommendation would achieve desired results.

Part IV: Culture of Accountability and Quality Excellence

Zach and the hospital board of directors are concerned about the organizational culture in the emergency department. Zach has asked you to recommend ways to improve the organizational culture and to present those recommendations to the board of directors.

Using academic resources to support your thinking, create a 10-slide presentation as follows:

Define a culture of accountability and quality excellence.

Explain why a culture of accountability and quality excellence will improve the patient experience and the work environment at Piney Woods Hospital.

Recommend how Zach and the leadership team can foster a culture of accountability and quality excellence in the emergency department.

Describe the challenges of fostering a culture of accountability and quality excellence in the emergency department.