Policy Regulatory and Measuring Outcomes task

Policy Regulatory and Measuring Outcomes task

Policy/Regulatory: Adoption of m-Health to all households

Does this quality and safety project have an impact on policy within the chosen setting? If so, who might be involved in considering the policy change? (i.e., individuals, departments, committees).

Yes, it has. M-health presents multiple advantages in healthcare. However, not all that glitters is gold. It has a diverse effect on various divisions within healthcare, and these include financial issues, changes in workflow, temporary loss of productivity associated with m-health adoption, privacy and security concerns, among others (MINGUEL & NIEZEN, 2016). To put this in perspective, healthcare financial departments will have to do mega budgets to ensure that the m-health systems see the light. Being that the system increases the reliance on technology, many physicians and nurses might experience some incompetency due to overreliance in technology.

Identify a regulatory body that may have oversight (direct or indirect) to the proposed change (i.e., TJC, CMS, ANA).

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been mandate through the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, with authority to establish programs to improve health care quality, safety, and efficiency through the promotion of health I.T., including electronic health records and private and secure electronic health information exchange (Burwell, 2015). This being an I.T. project, I expect them to offer oversight. Other healthcare organizations such as ANA are also free to air their views on the implementation of the m-health.

Are there regulatory considerations that would impact this change project?

Yes, some issues will be considered on m-health by The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the issue of information confidentiality. Most health care practitioners have failed to uphold this ethical issue. Consequently, the relevant authorities are coming up with a strict and punitive measure that would discourage the sharing or leaking of confidential information (Mattei, 2017). As a result, some physicians are distancing themselves from using m-health; they encourage patients to avail themselves to health facilities. This would impact its implementation negatively.

Measuring Outcomes:

How will you measure cost-effectiveness (financial) of the change if implemented?

m-health will act as an informatory and a surveillance tool. Through it, errors may be reduced due to the early detection of symptoms as will have been notified by the households. The reduction of errors and hospital re-admissions after surgery will show the amount that has been saved from attending to errors, re-admissions and other unnecessary procedures.

How will you measure employee satisfaction of the change if implemented?

Through the views and suggestions brought up by professional health organizations and random health care providers who will be interviewed. If the views are encouraging, then I will know the project is in the right direction. If the views are that every m-health household adoption to be abolished without views on improvement, then I’ll know that health care employees are not satisfied.

How will you determine the impact on patient experience of the change if implemented?

Through feedback from households who have used the service.

How will you determine the impact on the quality of care if the change is implemented?

This project will help a lot, especially for the public health department. Primary care will be the main focus. It will be an excellent tool for surveillance, where households will be communicating with the assigned health providers on some emerging symptoms and health absurdities before things get out of hand. It will thus save on the cost of curing some dangerous pandemics as a result of quick prevention.

Reflection:

Retrospectively, when implementing this change, do you think that it would be more essential to be a leader or manager? Explain why.

One thing that a bunch of people don’t know is that there is a massive difference between a leader and a manager. A leader is more of a servant while a manager is more of a boss (Covey, 2017). In the implementation of this project, I’d rather be a leader. This is because this project is one that needs everyone to work together as equals for the realization of the common goal, better health care outcomes.

Which of the leadership skills that you have learned about will be most important when dealing with change?

Transformational leadership. Helping both the employees and the community to understand their responsibility in their health and that of those surrounding them. Through inspiring and motivating both parties, they will all take responsibility and come up with creative ideas in making this project even better than it is.

How will you incorporate what you have learned in this activity into your practice?

I will incorporate the concept of m-health in each household by emphasizing the need to be our brother’s keepers while we are at home. Prevention is better than cure, therefore, working closely with the public health officials to come up with a system that might be better than the mobile health and more convenient with the community, will be my endeavour.

References

Burwell, S. M. (2015). Setting value-based payment goals—HHS efforts to improve U.S. health care. N Engl J            Med, 372(10), 897-899.

Covey, S. (2017). 8.1 Leader Versus Manager. Career Skills for Surgeons, 143.

Mattei, T. A. (2017). Privacy, confidentiality, and security of health care information: Lessons from the recent Wannacry            cyberattack. World neurosurgery, 104, 972-974.

MINGUEL, G., & NIEZEN, S. B. D. M. (2016). Privacy of m-health applications.