NURS FPX 4020 Assessment 2 Root-Cause Analysis and Improvement Plan

Root-Cause Analysis and Improvement Plan

Student Name

Capella University

NURS-FPX4020

Professor Name

Submission Date

The language barrier, social services and lack of culturally competent care are all cultural factors that have delayed Maria’s diagnosis and treatment at St. Mary’s Medical Center. The organisation’s resources and priorities and how the precise diagnosis of the patient safety problem can be improved, and the underlying cause of the problem of patient safety in Maria’s case, will also be part of the method adopted to analyse

Root Cause Analysis of Patient Safety Issue

When Maria, a 35-year-old female migrant to the USA, presents to St. Mary’s Medical Center, there is a concern that she may have a sentinel event as she complains of being fatigued, experiencing migraines and experiencing stress. These represent the following barriers – Lack of Language interpretation, Lack of culturally sensitive care and social support referral. With different healthcare workers, one or more of those barriers occurred when Maria could not communicate effectively, provide all necessary information or have a conversation with him/her about the healthcare-associated problems of their illness.

This affected the patient and caused them to be delayed in diagnosis and treatment, add stress and make them susceptible to disease complications (Saint Luke Institute, 2020). In addition to these socioeconomic factors (housing, insurance, etc.), coordinating her St. Mary’s Medical Center care was a challenge that also threatened her safety. During Maria’s visit, proper communication should have occurred between Maria and the care and support workers through signing with an interpreter, history taking, and care planning based on Maria’s cultural and economic background.

There were some needs that were not fully met, however, such as the need for interpreters as needed and the cultural appropriateness of the family (Bae, 2023). External factors, lack of housing for Maria, system inadequacies and uninsured patients at St. Mary’s Medical Center are other factors after these events. Other factors, such as a lack of healthcare professionals’ ability to seek more in-depth information about what the patient may be experiencing emotionally, other than complaints, and the inability of the healthcare providers to understand cultures, also played a role in the issue.

There were also some skill and language issues; for instance, when Maria fell ill and/or became phobic, this was not recognised, understood or addressed. The main underlying causes are that there is a lack of language programs with an explicit operative structure and training in cultural awareness. Additionally, lack of awareness of the social determinants or social factors in the effectiveness of the systems. The unmet care needs that arose in these gaps are why the integrated care model and changes in the system at St. Mary’s Medical Center are needed to make the care of frail older people safer.

Evidence-Based Strategies for Enhancing Diagnostic Accuracy

Language interpretation services and/or cultural competency must be incorporated into clinical care to prevent problems with language, security, and safety like those experienced by Maria, which happened at St. Mary’s Medical Center. There are many positive aspects to using in-service interpreters; for one, they are able to serve as a translator of signs and symptoms or as a medical historian, resulting in a misdiagnosis or poor care.

Examples of how cultural competence is implemented at St. Mary’s Medical Center to promote understanding, empathy and diminish stigma are listed below: All these evidence-based interventions target communication and cultural factors that could negatively impact Maria’s relationship with care providers and ensure she is treated appropriately by the care providers and is in culturally competent care.

Such interventions have been shown to increase patients’ compliance, adherence to treatments and overall health. Structured care coordination practices should be developed in St. Mary’s Medical Center (Khatri et al., 2023), taking communities’ health needs into account. Referrals for Maria to community resources like housing and food are related to her socio-economic factors, which are the leading causes of her health problems.

She has schedules to follow after encountering the activity or event and to check up on others to avoid detrimental effects. The Washington State Hospital Association’s statistics show that a wrap-around coordinated care system would benefit to patients, and that frequent trips to the Emergency Room (ER) would be avoided, which would mean lower costs and a longer lifespan. The following are some best practice strategies that will help address Maria’s safety concerns clinically, culturally and socially.

Strategies to Improve Patient Safety

The strategies are also related to Maria’s concerns for her safety, as they focus on the communications that are breaking, and ways to build trust and comprehensive care for Maria. Interpreting Services is a service in which the patient translates symptoms and medical history, to avoid misinterpreting the diagnosis (Heath et al., 2023). In being able to provide her with the psychologically safe environment she needs, cultural competence education equips providers with the ability to respond to Maria’s concerns of stigma and be responsive to her culturally unique needs.

Referrals such as for housing and nutrition help address some of her concerns, which in turn would improve her health, rather than make things worse as she might if she didn’t have referrals; follow-ups and reminders to follow up on her health plan would make it worse. Overall, these approaches logically create the synthesized health plan, multidimensional and multinational, directed towards the patient, boosting the safety level of the patient and the safety of his health in general.

Feasible, Evidence-Based Safety Improvement Plan

The safety improvement plan will be based on three areas of interpersonal communication, information, cultural and client-directed communication and will address patient safety issues that Maria has at St. Mary’s Medical Center. The first action that needs to take place in this process is for the professional language interpreter’s service to be made available in the care system and be embraced and utilized.

This way, I am able to help Maria provide the most accurate description of the pains, other symptoms, and history of diseases, which then eliminates the chance of an improper treatment plan. This does, however, mean that we will have to provide training to St. Mary’s Medical Center’s healthcare employees on effective and efficient communication in the healthcare sector. The second is the provision of cultural competency education to all of St. Mary’s Medical Center workers.

Training in dealing with providers’ fears and concerns in seeking alternative care mechanisms will be helpful as will be provider incompetence training related to Maria’s fears and concerns. This will enable the providers to have empathy for Maria and to help give her a sense of responsibility not to be stigmatised, and to know where she can find help. It will also create a healthcare culture that will make the patient feel comfortable to share information about her entire healthcare journey. The providers will also gain knowledge on the psychological effects of being displaced and migrated, and how to respond to her psychological needs in line with her physical needs to maximise her health.

The final of three recommendations in the plan at St. Mary’s Medical Center to make the facility safer for Maria will be a care coordination plan. By connecting Maria with services such as housing, nutrition, and mental health — all of which can happen in the community — we’ll be able to help address other health problems besides the chronic disease. There will also be structured follow-up procedures such as reminders for patient appointments and checkups to avoid failure to follow the patient’s care plan. In doing so, the holistic approach to seamless care will improve the health of the patients at St. Mary’s Medical Center, lower the cost of health care, and improve safety.

Leveraging Organizational Resources for Safety Improvement

In addition to the plan for safety improvements at Maria’s site at St. Mary’s Medical Center, there are a number of other organizational resources that can be leveraged to support this plan. Although there are a few important things that nearly every healthcare organization has to deal with, one is the electronic health record (EHR) system. It can be used to help track the health-related records information of an individual (in this case, Maria), such as her health history, signs, and health plans. EHRs can reduce the number of times a patient may receive incorrect care, or you may miss giving the care or a needed intervention at the right time, due to additional options for follow-up care assessments and services.

Moreover, the system can also notify the health care providers in St. Mary’s Medical Center of the changes that take place to Maria, making it easier for the physician to change the treatment plan accordingly. The EHR system can also be utilized in management to aid in coordinating care and keeping all participating caregivers up-to-date on what is occurring in Maria’s care.

The healthcare organizations also have community partnerships as well as support networks at St. Mary’s Medical Center. Most, if not all, healthcare organizations, including St. Mary’s, have come together with community-based organizations that can help patients such as Maria. They can help in getting access to housing, food and mental health resources – things Maria cares about, that affect the health precincts.

These community resources will play a key role in her and her health care providers’ comprehensive care plan, tailored to her. In addition, the cultural education of health care personnel, diversity, and cultural and psychological training at St. Mary’s Medical Center, ensure that Maria receives the best medical care. These are designed to enhance staff’s ability to meet her cultural and psychological needs and preferences, increase her confidence in health systems and assist her to implement her plan of care.

Prioritizing Resources for Safety Improvement

The HER is the single most important resource that should be allocated based on the importance of enhancing the performance and goals in St. Mary’s Medical Center. When it comes to patient safety, through its social determinants, by using St. Mary’s community partnerships for housing, food assistance, and mental health help, there is less confusion and misunderstanding, which decreases Maria’s vulnerability to adverse outcomes related to her health. Finally, providing cultural competence for physicians will enhance the physician-patient relationship and understanding of Maria, which will result in increased participation in his/her treatment, and thus improve outcomes.

Conclusion

As the concept of caring for Maria is introduced into St. Mary’s Medical Center, problems are highlighted in regard to safety, requiring a complex strategy in which professional communication, cultural sensitivity, and coordination of care will all play a part. Thus, language interpretation services, promoting cultural understanding, and community engagement through the use of organizational resources (including EHR tools) can greatly help to advance patient safety. The identified safety improvement plan ensures that the healthcare needs of Maria (including cultural and socioeconomic barriers) will be identified in a comprehensive manner, which will enhance the health of the population and patient safety of the vulnerable groups.