In this course, you develop a comprehensive Course Project: Promoting Health Care

Quality. To initiate this project, this week you examine the systems and structures of an

organization with which you are familiar.

Organizational Systems and Structures, Part 1

Section 1: Organizational Systems and Structures Evaluation

When a problem related to health care quality and patient safety arises, there can be an

inclination to focus on a specific event rather than to examine the larger context

surrounding it. Analyzing the systems and structures within an organization provides a

foundation for generating a fuller understanding of how and why the event occurred and

for developing strategies to address the underlying issues. Perhaps more importantly,

such an analysis can be used to proactively identify potential challenges and improve

organizational systems and structures in order to promote positive outcomes.

In the first section of your Course Project, you analyze the systems and structures of a

health care organization with which you are familiar.

To prepare:

Identify a health care organization with which you are familiar; one that you will be

able to sufficiently analyze to complete the full scope of the Course Project. (Refer to

the Course Project Overview as needed.)

Select two or more of the following frameworks:

· Learning organizations

· Complex adaptive systems (CAS)

· Clinical microsystems

· Good to great

· The 5 Ps

With these frameworks in mind, analyze the systems and structures of the

organization. Be sure to research and consider:

· Mission, vision, and values

· Strategic plan, goals, and objectives, if possible

· Key operational processes and patterns

· Information technology use

· Organizational priorities and investments, as indicated by financial data

Week 4: Organizational Systems and Structures, Part 2

Section 1: Organizational Systems and Structures Evaluation

As you continue your evaluation of a health care organization, it is essential to pay

attention to culture. Organizational culture provides the context in which all interactions

and processes occur and is therefore central to any effort to enact change.

To prepare:

Continue to analyze your selected organization, as indicated in Week 3 (Section 1 of

the Course Project).

Continue to analyze essential elements of organizational culture and evaluate the

influence of culture on the ability to achieve goals within your selected organization.

To complete:

Write a 3- to 5-page paper in which you:

· Provide a description of the organization that you selected

· Present your analysis of the organization with attention to:

· Its mission, vision, values

· Strategic plan, goals, and objectives

· Key operational processes and patterns

· Information technology use

· Organizational priorities and investments, as indicated by financial data

· The essential elements of the organization’s culture

· The influence of culture on meeting organizational goals

Section 2: Quality Improvement Issue

To help you move forward with your Course Project, this week you identify a quality

issue that you would like to address and submit a description of this issue for Instructor

feedback.

Your proposed issue should reflect a genuine need for improvement within your

selected health care organization. Through your Course Project, you will analyze this 

issue and propose strategies to improve outcome(s), including the redesign of a related

process.

To prepare:

· Review the six quality improvement aims from the Institute of Medicine (IOM)

· Safe: Avoiding harm to patients from the care that is intended to help them.

· Effective: Providing services based on scientific knowledge to all who could benefit and refraining from providing services to those not likely to benefit (avoiding underuse and misuse, respectively).

· Patient-centered: Providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions.

· Timely: Reducing waits and sometimes harmful delays for both those who receive and those who give care.

· Efficient: Avoiding waste, including waste of equipment, supplies, ideas, and energy.

· Equitable: Providing care that does not vary in quality because of personal characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, geographic location, and socioeconomic status.

· Conduct a search of the literature to help you identify a specific issue that warrants attention and action to promote quality improvement.

· Consider what you have surmised thus far through your analysis of the organization

that you selected. What have you noticed that could help you identify a quality related need for improvement? For instance:

· What has captured your attention in meetings, reports, and/or daily activities?

· Have you noticed discrepancies between activities in the organization and

recommendations in the research literature, quality standards, and/or the

organization’s stated policies and procedures?

· If so, what do you think could be the reason(s) for variations or gaps between

what you have observed and what is recommended?

Identify a quality improvement issue that you would like to investigate for this project.

Note: Review the Course Project Overview/full instructions, located in the Week 3

Learning Resources, as needed to identify a quality improvement issue that is viable for

completing the full scope of this project. Once you receive a response from your

Instructor on the quality improvement issue that you submit, be sure to integrate his or

her feedback before moving forward with Section 3 of your Course Project.

To complete:

Write a brief description of the quality improvement issue that you would like to address

for your Course Project.