Question

Please answer the following question IN YOUROWN WORDS not copy from internet 350 word count please provide all references cited from internet in your question. You work at a small community-based hospital as a manager in the quality assurance department. One function of your job is to analyze internal data such as medical records, patient surveys, and incident reports to track trends and help improve patient care delivery. Your supervisor just came back from a seminar on quality benchmarking and has asked about your thoughts on analyzing secondary data from the health care industry as a way to benchmark and measure the organization's quality performance against its peers. You have been asked to prepare a report on the use of both secondary data and internal data as way to improve quality in your organization. Complete the following:

Explain how health care organizations use secondary data as a comparison to internal data.

Answer 1

Data are considered as primary, secondary or tertiary based on the originality of the information obtained. Primary sources of data are from the patients’ health records. Primary data are more reliable and are clinically oriented. Examples of primary data are: disease specific data, blood and blood product use data, operative and invasive procedure data and behaviour management and treatment data. The secondary data sources are from registers and other data bases. These data are commonly recorded by clinicians and healthcare providers. Examples of secondary data are: demographic data, diagnosis, treatment, medications, laboratory investigations, morbidity and mortality data.

When primary data uses evidence based medicine findings, the results can be used to find out the relationship between the treatment and outcomes. It is very helpful in finding if the procedure and treatment given was profitable and efficient. It also helps to prevent chaos. By using these primary data we can be aware of the expected outcomes and provide a evidence based care.

Secondary data are more of an administration work. They are usually collected for financial reasons. They may sometimes highlight the issues and problems in the organization but do not reveal the exact reason. In some instances, secondary data may not be sensitive to show the quality of care provided by the organization. It is useful in determining the clinical issues that needs attention and it is very valuable in operational and financial aspects.

Secondary data can be used for benchmarking when there is a necessity to compare performance. For example: mortality rate in particular department or shift. It can be used to determine the quality of care provided by the organization and it helps to detect the problems that need further examination. Although it cannot be used to determine the underlying cause of high mortality rate, at least the areas of concern can be detected.

Benchmarking is the comparison of a key performance measurement relative to that of the competition or other leading organizations. It is also defined as the process of seeking best practices among better performing organizations. Steps for benchmarking data are:

• Identify the problems and gaps
• Identify the best outcomes in the organization
• Prepare a plan
• Compare the findings
• Adopt the positive practices in the organization.

References:

• Benchmarking in Health care by Joint Commission Resources
• Performance Improvement in Hospitals and Health Systems by James R. Langabeer II.