HLSC604 - Quality and Safety in Health Care

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Teaching organisation

Unit rationale, description and aim

Adverse events and poor quality of health care can have a significant impact on health care costs and health system sustainability. This unit is essential for future leaders in health care who need to have specialised knowledge and skill in applying effective quality measures in a digital environment to administer culturally safe health services across a variety of healthcare contexts.

In this unit, students will explore the emergence of the quality movement and accreditation and safety standards that have been progressively driven by consumer expectations around safe, quality care, in preparing to become effective health care administrators. This foundational knowledge is required to enable interpretation and evaluation of paper based and digitally supported quality and safety processes and to develop a repertoire of quality improvement tools used to create strategies that improve quality and safety processes.

The aim of this unit is to ensure that students can effectively promote quality and safety leading to better health outcomes as well as cost efficiencies in a variety of health care settings. Managing health care in this way ensures that safe, quality care is a transformative process of continuous improvement that respects the dignity of individuals and contributes to the common good. 

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Analyse issues/factors that influence, or are influenced by, the emergence of the quality and safety movement in health care including accreditation programs, health care standards and the consumer movement (GA1, GA4, GA7)

LO2 - Evaluate risk management strategies and processes that are designed to identify and minimise potential risk, manage adverse events and promote ethical, safe, quality patient care in digitally supported healthcare (GA2, GA3, GA4, GA7)

LO3 - Create strategies to improve health outcomes that incorporate moral responsibility toward the common good as well as a person-centred care approach (GA1, GA2, GA3, GA4, GA5, GA6, GA7)

Graduate attributes

GA1 - Demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity 

GA2 - Recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA3 - Apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA4 - Think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - Demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - Solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA7 - Work both autonomously and collaboratively 

Content

Topics will include:  

Quality and safety systems

• Emergence of the quality and safety movement
• Consumer movement, globalisation 
• Integrated governance systems
• Risk and quality management  

Best practice for a quality and safe workforce

• Clinical/digital guidelines/pathways/data standards
• Integrated patient clinical records/electronic health records (EHRs)
• The clinical workforce
• Performance development   

Person-centred approach to quality and safety

• Incident management
• Complaint management
• Patient rights and ethical care
• Promoting participation and partnerships with patients/consumers

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit is offered in both multi-mode and fully online modes. 

The active learning approaches applied in this unit are flexible and inclusive, allowing students the opportunity to analyse and critically evaluate various approaches to managing for quality and safety in complex healthcare environments. Teaching and learning strategies utilised in this unit will support students in meeting the aim and achieving the learning outcomes relevant to this unit as well as to the broader course learning outcomes. 

Multi-mode  

The classroom learning environment in this unit will create opportunities for students to reflect on current safety and quality practices, to explore the emergence of the quality and consumer movements, differentiate accreditation programs and analyse safety standards applicable to the provision of safe, quality care in a variety of settings through discussion, debate, role play and other activities. In constructing knowledge about why safe, quality care is necessary, students will evaluate risk management strategies that they will be able to apply in managing adverse events and improving health outcomes in a digital healthcare environment.  

Online mode 

Through an online learning platform, students will have the opportunity to reflect on current safety and quality practices, to explore the emergence of the quality and consumer movements, differentiate accreditation programs and analyse safety standards applicable to the provision of safe, quality care in a variety of settings. In constructing knowledge about why safe, quality care is necessary, students will evaluate risk management strategies that they will be able to apply in managing adverse events and improving health outcomes in a digital healthcare environment. Online learning in this unit will be supported by the provision of opportunities for students to attend online Webinars that allow synchronous exchange of information and facilitate responses to queries generated by students in relation to unit content. For those unable to participate in synchronous Webinars, recordings will be available. 

Assessment strategy and rationale

In order to pass this unit, students are expected to submit three graded assessment tasks. In addition, students must achieve a cumulative grade of at least 50% across all assessments. In order to reward students for engagement and performance, a final graded result will be awarded. The assessment strategy used allows for the progressive development of knowledge and skills relevant to quality and safety in health care which are necessary for the student to be able to demonstrate achievement of learning outcomes. 

Multi-mode 

To become effective in improving safety and quality in healthcare, the student will be supported to develop comprehensive knowledge of factors that impact on quality and safety through a reflective writing process. Reflective, foundational knowledge is further developed through collaboration with peers in a seminar presentation that supports the interpretation and evaluation of quality and safety processes enabling the student to develop a repertoire of quality improvement tools. The application of quality improvement tools is necessary for the student to create strategies that transform quality and safety processes in a variety of health care settings which will be demonstrated in a final essay/proposal or report.  

Online mode 

To become effective in improving safety and quality in healthcare, the student must first develop comprehensive knowledge of factors that impact on quality and safety through a reflective writing process. Reflective, foundational knowledge is further developed through collaboration with peers in an online seminar presentation that supports the interpretation and evaluation of quality and safety processes enabling the student to develop a repertoire of quality improvement tools. The application of quality improvement tools is necessary for the student to create strategies that transform quality and safety processes in a variety of health care settings which will be demonstrated in a final essay/proposal or report.  

Overview of assessments

Multi-mode;

Example Task for Assessment 1:

The student is required to engage actively in class -based discussion to discuss and analyse an emergent health issue and its application to ONE of the National Quality and Safety Standards in terms of management; and to submit a brief Quality Assessment Report (template provided)

Example Task for Assessment 2

The student is required to create and submit an eposter that identifies and evaluates at least three risk mitigation strategies that address the problem/issue identified in Task 1. 

Online mode

Example Task for Assessment 1:

The student is required to engage actively in class -based discussion to discuss and analyse an emergent health issue and its application to ONE of the National Quality and Safety Standards in terms of management; and to submit a brief Quality Assessment Report (template provided)

Example Task for Assessment 2

The student is required to create and submit an eposter that identifies and evaluates at least three risk mitigation strategies that address the problem/issue identified in Task 1. 

Representative texts and references

Recommended

Johnson, J. K., & Sollecito, W. A. & (Eds.) (2020). McLaughlin and Kaluzny’s continuous quality improvement in health care (5th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Nash, D. B., Joshi, M. S., Ransom, E. R., & Ransom, S. B. (2019). The healthcare quality book: Vision, strategy and tools (4th ed.). Health Administration Press. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/acu/reader.action?docID=59096

Further references

Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. (2017). National safety and quality health care standards. Retrieved from http://www.safetyandquality.gov.au

Bognar, G., & Hirose, I. (2014). The ethics of health care rationing: An introduction. Routledge.

Burke, J. (2013). Health analytics: Gaining the insights to transform health care. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Clark, J. P., & Ritson, C. (2013). Ethical thinking and practice. Wiley.

Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2013). Quality management for organizational excellence: Introduction to total quality (7th ed.). Pearson Education.

Shar, R. K., & Godambe, S. A. (2021). Patient Safety and Quality Improvement in Healthcare: a case based approach. Springer International.

Spath, P. (2013). Introduction to healthcare quality management (2nd ed.). Health Administration Press.