Question

Review the Institute for Healthcare Improvement website. Select two resources to review (for example, a white paper or a current report or initiative). In three to four paragraphs, please post your evaluation and your response to these resources. Include how the information could be integrated into the role of a family nurse practitioner.

Answer 1

In the website of institute foe health care improvement there are many resources like model of improvement, tools , publications ,white papers,case studies, poster boards etc.

The most imortant I felt is healthcare improvement model in which the improvement is a dynamic and continious process.

IHI’s focus on improvement capability includes:

• Building science-based improvement capability at individual, organizational, and system levels;
• Arming future doctors and nurses and others preparing for careers in health care with quality improvement knowledge and skills before they enter the workforce;
• Expanding the capability of middle managers and other operational leaders to use advanced improvement methods to guide and support front-line improvement;
• Developing learning networks to accelerate implementation, spread, and scale-up of innovative approaches to improving health outcomes;
• Providing a clear roadmap for how organizations using Lean and Six Sigma can use the science of improvement to accelerate results; and
• Providing individuals, professional groups, organizations, and whole systems with the right “dose” of improvement capability to drive results.

Family caregivers take on the lion’s share of long-term care from managing medication to coordinating care for their own family members. When patients and families aren’t supported with training, the day-to-day tasks can become an overwhelming burden. Patient Safety in the Home: Assessment of Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities, a recent IHI report, explored the challenges of patient safety in the home. Extensive research identified several programs providing assistance to those assuming the challenging role of caregiver. Here are just three of those innovative programs that have achieved promising results.

IHI is working with systems both to improve the care experience (building stronger coordination, communication, and compassion) and to increase the level of the patients’ voice and influence. We are testing and spreading new ways to make reliability as relevant to person- and family-centered care as it is to safety and effectiveness. IHI and its partners are starting to demonstrate that engagement and co-design and co-production with individuals and families improves health, quality, and value.

IHI’s focus on person- and family-centered care includes:

• Developing care pathways that are co-designed and co-produced with individuals and their families;
• Ensuring that people’s care preferences are understood and honored, including at the end of life;
• Collaborating with partners on programs designed to improve engagement, shared decision making, and compassionate, empathic care; and
• Working with partners to ensure that communities are supported to stay healthy and to provide care for their loved ones closer to home.
• Family nurse practitioners who care for medically stable patients across the lifespan, from infants to geriatric patients.

·         Just like a primary care physician, FNPs provide continuous, comprehensive care through disease management, health promotion, health education, and preventative health services.

They are qualified to …

• Manage chronic conditions, such as hypertension and diabetes
• Oversee the health and wellness of women, including providing preconception and prenatal care
• Provide health and wellness care to infants and children
• Treat minor acute injuries
• Provide episodic care for acute illnesses in all ages

FNPs often co-manage the conditions of their patients with other specialists and provide case management for long-term illnesses and conditions.

Their job duties include diagnosing illnesses and conditions, ordering and interpreting diagnostic tests, conducting examinations, providing counseling, and prescribing medications in many cases.

FNPs may also earn additional specialty certification to further specialize in areas like cardiology, women’s health, and neurology, among many others.

Because of their ability to work with a broad patient population across all age ranges, life stages and genders, FNPs are found in an equally diverse number of settings – from independent private practices with other NPs, physician’s offices and major hospitals, to schools, state and local health departments, community clinics and other ambulatory care facilities.

In some areas of the country, particularly in rural and urban areas where physician shortages are persistent and prevalent, FNPs are the sole healthcare providers in nurse practitioner-led clinics. They provide much-needed services to underserved populations that would otherwise have very limited access to preventative care, or healthcare of any kind. It’s the very fact that FNPs are able to practice autonomously and have been educated at the post-bachelor’s level in health diagnosis and assessment, physiology and pharmacology that allows them to serve in a primary care role.