Pediatric Quality Indicators

PediatricQuality Indicators

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Abstract

Pediatrichealthcare is a very vital aspect of the health sector, preciselybecause it deals with the most vulnerable group of patients –children. Quality health indicators, therefore, play a verysignificant role in ensuring that these groups are given the car thatthey require. This essay focuses on pediatric healthcare, outliningthe challenges faced in pediatric healthcare as well as the measuresthat should be taken to ensure Quality Health Measurement.

PediatricQuality Indicators (PDIs) are a set of standards that are used withdischarge data for admitted patients in hospitals to show the qualityof healthcare. The PDIs scan for issues that arise when a patient isadmitted or problems that may occur when a patient is enrolled in thehealthcare system. The aim of the PDIs is to prevent any issues thata patient may undergo and in return stops them in a provider orsystem level. To develop quality pediatric indicators, additional andspecial measures should be taken as compared to adult healthcare.Indicators should, therefore, be carefully designed, establishingvalidity and reliability, detecting bias and adjusting appropriaterisk while using administrative data (McManusetal., 2015).

PediatricSafety and Quality

Overthe past years, pediatric groups have joined hands to improve thequality of pediatric healthcare. This includes all activitiesassociated with reporting and processing the improvement of pediatrichealthcare. Patient safety processing seeks to reduce the hindrancesthat prevent deliverance of quality healthcare. Most emphases arelaid on medication errors, which are the most reported and the onlypotential unfavorable event in pediatric healthcare. Thoughpreventable, medical errors have a higher rate of death in childrenas compared to adult patients. 1.86 – 2.96 medical errors arereported in every 100 discharges of admitted children (Adamsetal., 2013).

ProblemsFaced by Pediatric Patients

Thefollowing are problems that are faced by pediatric patients. Theseproblems were seen to create a high-risk environment for hospitalizedchildren.

• Development: The needs of children change as they grow physically and mentally. The fluid nature of children’s growth, therefore, makes it difficult to have a general approach to pediatric safety.

• Demographics: Since children depend highly on public insurance such as Medicaid, they are more probable to experience racial and ethnic discrimination ad live in poverty.

• Dependency: Admitted children, especially the very young ones, rely highly on parents, caregivers or surrogates to express themselves comfortably. This, thus, means that their care must be confirmed as satisfactory by their caregivers at all times.

• Different Epidemiology: Most children require serious care, usually in episodes, contrary to adults who require care for chronic conditions. Planning a safe initiative is, therefore, difficult, given the episodic care that children require. [ CITATION Sus16 l 1033 ]

Measuresto Ensure Quality Pediatric Care

Toensure quality pediatric care, the following measures should be takenand adhered to.

• Pediatric healthcare workflow should be easily integrated into everyday healthcare practices. This will ensure that patients have quality healthcare at all times.

• Methods used in quality indication should be scientifically sound. This ensures the use of reliable equipment and measures.

• Pediatric Quality Measurement should be aligned with patients’ and families’ needs.

• Children and families should be the primary focus of all measurement procedures.

• Measures should be scalable and in line with future developments to enhance flexibility in change of technology

• Pediatric Quality Measurement should be in line with the decision-making procedures of the general health system. This will ensure that pediatric health improves with the same pace as other health sectors.

Conclusion

Thefragility in pediatric healthcare requires that Pediatric QualityMeasurement is done accordingly to prevent mortality in every waypossible. The same attribute makes pediatric care very complex. Toensure the best performance, the quality of staff in pediatrichealthcare should be above average. This means a staff that iscommitted to delivering quality care to the most delicate groups inhealthcare. People who advocate for pediatric health should also beavailable whenever key policies and issues are discussed.

References

Adams,S., Cohen, E., Mahant, S., Friedman, J. N., MacCulloch, R., &ampNicholas, D. B. (2013). Exploring the usefulness of comprehensivecare plans for children with medical complexity (CMC): a qualitativestudy.&nbspBMCpediatrics,&nbsp13(1),1.

Lacey,S., Smith, J. B., &amp Cox., K. (2016, April 18). PediatricSafety and Quality.Retrieved December 24, 2016, from National Center for BiotechnologyInformation: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2662/

McManus, M., White, P., Barbour, A., Downing, B., Hawkins, K., Quion, N., … &amp McAllister, J. W. (2015). Pediatric to adult transition: a quality improvement model for primary care.&nbspJournal of Adolescent Health,&nbsp56(1), 73-78.