Balancing Productivity and Quality Patient Care

balancing Productivity and Quality uncomplaining C atomic number 18Balancing Productivity and Quality Patient C arAbstractThe purpose of this interrogation is to identify challenges balancing productiveness and role persevering of pity as it stands from a supervisory position. Todays supervisors mustiness not all focus on their staff and diligents, alone also on the organizational business horizons such(prenominal) as increasing productiveness and persona long-suffering feel for. Supervisors ar getting sandwiched between balancing productiveness and quality mete out. In this somewhat daunting quandary the supervisors must strive to find shipway to accomplish both(prenominal) missions. As I bequeath propose this will require talk changes in organizational health c atomic number 18 systems and a trope shift in current ideologies in the health keeping industry.Lets start off in my induce backyard so to speak, my organization is a Nursing and Rehabilitation hosp ital. The Mission controversy is, drive Here, Get Well, and Go Home. This is a 213 bed facility. There are approximately 135 employees throughout the organization working on every given day. The organization specializes in sub-acute business organization, long-term care and has a refilling unit. Also the organization has physical therapy, agate lineal therapy and speech therapy components to support longanimouss recovery. All of these people in organization eventually whitethorn collapse some contact with a new patient at different times in the recovery process.It is obvious from a macro-perspective it would be difficult to realize any improvements in productivity or patient care without solid supervisory skills and association. Nursing is my focus and professional occupation in which I will narrow the field to care for for this examination.As a treat supervisor one has to continually be lettered to accomplish both goals of productivity and quality patient care. Their re sponsibilities include planning, organizing and overseeing staff. bindmaid supervisors provided demandership two staffs under their charge. The nurse supervisor implements and interprets organizational policies and procedures maintaining treat standards and regulations. They also continually evaluate patient care and ensuring their satisfaction. A nursing supervisor skills also include budgeting, prioritizing duties and delegating responsibilities.Some of the obstacles that impede the big businessman of nursing supervisors out of their control is rising healthcare expenditures have incite spending reforms such as Medicares payment system. While such initiatives resolve to limit wasteful healthcare expenses, they may inadvertently result in lower-quality care providers may face an incentive to reduce the quality of their treatments to disparage costs and increase patient loads. (McDevitt, 2013)Unfortunately this is not the only drive in which health care organizations have to do more with less. Supplies, direct costs, state and national legislation has placed a huge push on the healthcare system at large.In the past nursing productivity has been the defined as the ratio of patient care per hour, per patient to salary and benefit costs paid out to staff by the organization. (Kohr, 2012) In the current economy this does not take into consideration the direct of expertise in which nurses must process information to accomplish the goals of change magnitude productivity and patient care. After all of that is saidNursing productivity models of any kind should take into account patients needs, nursing competencies, the availability of natural resources, and services provided. Nursing workload is a direct reflection of these variables and gos the tar of patient care, patient safety, as well as satisfaction of nurses and of patients and their family members. many an(prenominal) investigators have linked nursing staff indicators and nurse staffing with pa tients outcomes (Kohr, 2012)The difficultys of balancing productivity with quality patients care are reducing costs and employee hours for the sake of defend the bottom line is that really protecting the patient?. Yet that statement has clearly infiltrated and grayed the area between professional ethical, moral boundaries.In attempts at optimizing for efficiency are we as supervisors ultimately must manage both dichotomies. Managing these dichotomies is ostensibly overwhelming at first glance. This is what I mean by the proverbial sandwich effect, the danger here is being so overwhelmed that you are paralyzed into doing nothing. I contend that productivity and quality patient care are not at odds with one some other they are both vital to the success of any healthcare organization.The essence of productivity vs. quality patient care dilemma is this Productivity is visible, continuous, readily-understood and directly thrifty a daily metric. On the other hand, quality patient car e is invisible, boring, discontinuous, indirect, and its success is measured by the absence of negative outcomes. (Appel, 2012) Now thats somewhat of a quandary. Almost in the same breath organizations are willing to state quality patient care is our core principle. The problem, thus far, is bit that vision into action it is in the daily operations (Appel, 2012) and responsibility functions of the nurse supervisor, this is where the rubber meets the road. cheer supervisors are critical to the surveillance and coordination that reduce such adverse outcomes. Much work remains to be done in evaluating the impact of nursing care on positive quality care indicators, such as appropriate self-care and other measures of improved health status. (Mitchell, 2008)Nurse supervisors must instill in the people that they manage to continually profit information that can be correlated into data to finding that oddment between productivity and quality patient care. Whether it be quantitative or q ualitative data all must be brought together to serve to make informed decision for possible change. Harnessing this information could unlock knowledge that may elicit innovations striking that balance between productivity and quality patient care. Leave no stone unturned, is the mantra of nurse supervisors in nows tough economic and social times.How do we start? Communication, communication, communication is essential to establish any opportunity to balance a seemingly diametri bodey opposed processes. They can be integrated (productivity and quality patient care) to provide success for the organization and the patient. Tighter reins of communication and functions must be satiny for optimal performance.Nurse supervisors can trigger a needs summary of the situation informing the employees and organization that there is a performance cattle ranch between productivity and quality patient care. This brings in the team innovation of the organization as a whole (everyones job) need s to be the spearhead, focal point for systematic change and concern with both issues of productivity and quality patient care.A decision-making structures is needed, a paradigm shift. What is a paradigm shift? Stephen Covey suggests that a paradigm shift is what we might call the AHA experience when someone finally sees the composite picture in another way or finally sees the light. (Covey, 2004)The health care industry has been piteous paradigm shift toward placing more value on quality and outcomes. This affect has changed in the way health care organizations do business. Higher quality can be the solution, said Dr. Michael Ogden, chief clinical integration officeholder with Cornerstone Health solicitude during the discussion at High bit University. In health care specifically, higher quality could actually lead to lower costs. (Covington, 2014) As a nurse supervisor myself this sounds good but how do we get there?Some employers and health plans are push for greater price t ransparency. They argue that if consumers realized that they could receive high-quality services from lower-cost providers, they would set about them out. This, in turn, could encourage competition among providers based on the value of care not just on reputation and market share. (Unknown, 2012)Another aspect would be to empower the patients to be active participants making decisions about their own care. Empowerment of the patient also means to include them as a part of the health care team which may stimulate opportunities and innovation.As a nurse supervisors some of these ideas are not new, I however assert that nurse supervisors must educate themselves to perform their managerial duties at high levels, not only will the organization benefit, but so too will the patients. Nurse supervisors will need considerable enteric fortitude to sustain balancing productivity and quality patient care.A nurse supervisor of the future will have to be multi-dimensional with traits equivalent leadership and persuasion skills. Nurse supervisors must show empathy, creating trust with coworkers and patients. They must also have analysis skills, to be able to make fact-based decisions. blend in but not least, a nurse supervisor must have performance management and coaching skills to follow through on goals and objectives. Finally, I concludes this examination by making a statement that balancing productivity and quality patient care will always be challenging.ReferencesAppel, M. (2012, April 20). KevinMD. Retrieved from The problem of mixing productivity with patient safety http//www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/04/problem-mixing-productivity-patient-safety.htmlCovey, S. R. (2004). The 7 Habits of highly Effective People Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York unleash Press a division of Simon and Schuster.Covington, O. (2014, March 21st). Health care providers judge paradigm shift as path to reining in costs. Triad note Journal.Kohr, L. M. (2012, November Volume 21, No 6). American Journal of Critical Care. Retrieved from Building a Nurse and Productivity Measure Based on this Energy feign http//www.aacn.org/wd/Cetests/media/A1221063.pdfMcDevitt, P. L. (2013, February). Productivity and Quality in Health CareEvidence from the Dialysis Industry. Retrieved from http//www.econ.psu.edu/plg15/gm_dialysis_Feb2013.pdf.Mitchell, P. H. (2008). Patient Safety and Quality An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. Rockville, Md Agency for Health Care Research and Quality.Unknown. (2012, April/May). The Commonwealth fund. Retrieved from Quality Matters http//www.commonwealthfund.org/Newsletters/Quality-Matters/2012/April-May/In-Focus.aspx