Project 1: Promoting Health Care Quality  

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 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.

 Select two or more of the following frameworks: o Learning organizations o Complex adaptive systems (CAS) o Clinical microsystems o Good to great o 

The 5 Ps You may use the same frameworks that you addressed in this week’s Discussion. 

 With these frameworks in mind, analyze the systems and structures of the organization. Be sure to research and consider: o Mission, vision, and values o Strategic plan, goals, and objectives, if possible o Key operational processes and patterns o Information technology use o Organizational priorities and investments, as indicated by financial data.

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). •In addition, consider the ideas and information exchanged in this week’s Discussion. 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 4- to 5-page paper in which you: 

•Provide a description of the organization 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.

Required Readings  

Hickey, J. V., & Brosnan, C. A. (2017). Evaluation  of health care quality in for DNPs (2nd  ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.  •Chapter 10, “Evaluation of Patient Care Standards, Guidelines, and Protocols” (pp. 207-226) 

•Chapter 12, “Evaluating Populations and Population Health” (pp. 265-280) Chapter 10 reviews methods for using national, local, and organizational standards to evaluate the quality of health care practices. Chapter 12 examines strategies for identifying quality issues through the evaluation of populations.   Sadeghi, S., Barzi, A., Mikhail, O., & Shabot, M. M. (2013). Integrating quality and strategy in health care organizations, Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.  

•Chapter 3, “General Concepts in Quality” (pp. 45–82) See the six aims for quality 

proposed by the Institute of Medicine (IOM).   Bellot, J. (2011). Defining and assessing organizational culture. Nursing Forum, 46(1), 29–37.