MHA FPX 5020 Assessment 1 Video Introduction and Topic Selection

Health Administration Capstone Video Introduction

• Slide 1:

Hi my name is _____. I am working on the Patient Safety Issues and Medication Errors at Grady Memorial Hospital, and also on the Patient Handoffs through the lens of a data-driven perspective of potential enhancements in the Safety of Patients who are transferred between one Care Provider to another for the Capstone Project. Medication Errors are a severe Patient Safety concern, and it affects the Quality of Life as patients change Care Provider to another. This project will give a chance to explore strategies to enhance Safety, Accountability, and Quality Improvement in the hospital environment using data. I would like to be in a position to carry with me what I would have learned in this project and be ready to work in a career in Healthcare Administration.

Background of the Learner

• Slide 2:

My career objective is to be a Clinical Quality and Patient Safety Analyst at Grady Memorial Hospital, in the field of medication safety and care transition. In the long term, I wish to help build safer health care systems with designs, development, and management of care processes that minimize preventable patient harm and enhance overall quality of healthcare.

Medication errors are one of the key concerns in healthcare institutions as they can impact patient outcomes during hospitalization. Guntschnig et al. (2025) found that medication errors were prevalent in clinical settings and called for increased medication safety measures and increased reliable care processes. A key solution to these mistakes is a thorough review of patient handoff and transition information, which can help to identify areas of opportunity in the healthcare system to prevent errors and optimize patient safety, and minimize medication mismanagement.

Prominent leadership and management are also vital in implementing patient safety efforts. National Center for Healthcare Leadership (2020) states that healthcare leaders need to showcase the following skills: strong communication, analytical, collaborative, and accounting, in order to build success in quality improvement. I have a good deal of these skills already, but I know that I need to grow and nurture these ones throughout my career. For instance, I am able to continue developing my communication skills through mentoring and encouraging team central collaboration. Similarly, fostering my strategic thinking abilities will enable me to create interprofessional teams that collaborate towards a common patient safety objective. Expanding my accountability/leadership skills will also drive proper utilization of resources to better support medication safety programs. Continuous professional development and partnership building to evolve as a leader, with the ability to make a significant difference in developing safe and reliable healthcare systems.

Selected Topic or Problem

• Slide 3:

This is a literature-based study to investigate medication errors within a framework of three categories of patient care transitions:

1. patient transfer
2. care transition
3. medication management.

Medication is often administered incorrectly during transitions of care because of issues such as poor communication, inconsistent practices, and a lack of shared information between healthcare providers. The World Health Organization reports that medication errors may cause preventable patient injury, extended hospitalizations, or additional costs to the healthcare system.

Analyses of blood pressure medication error trends at Grady Memorial Hospital have uncovered multiple issues affecting the rate of medication errors, such as inconsistent handoff communication, incomplete medication reconciliation, and a lack of standardized handoff tools to share information. Reducing these kinds of mistakes can help decrease the likelihood of experiencing an adverse event due to medication, and also show the importance of strong communication between healthcare providers and creating reliable processes to transition patients between providers. It is estimated that thousands of preventable adverse events occur each year due to medication misuse in the United States, demonstrating a need to improve patient safety practices and care coordination.

Value to Organization

This project will help Grady Memorial Hospital determine if there are any disconnects in the transfer of medication from one healthcare worker to another. The project will contribute to the generation of specific strategies to bridge some of those gaps and develop strategies to enhance medication errors when patients are transitioning between providers. The project has the following primary objective: Ensure adherence to protocols, reduce avoidable medication errors, enhance quality of care, and to support a smooth and safe patient movement across the health care continuum.

The project also highlights the importance of educating the HWs about the need for documentation and the key components of the care transition process, which is not just about following the protocol, but also involves personal responsibility and accountability for adherence to the protocol and patient safety in the process. However, he or she is not a participant in the handoff. To minimize communication issues and to achieve the best quality overall care, the patient needs to be kept in mind throughout the handoff process (Bhati et al., 2023).

Value to Future Career Interests

The contribution of this project will be towards my professional development goals, to acquire leadership skills in patient safety, quality improvement, and data analysis in the healthcare industry. I will apply the knowledge of the trends in medication errors to become more active in change processes within organizations, and my professional goals and interests in a healthcare organization can be met through the safety and efficiency of operations.

Name of Organization

• Slide 4:

For their capstone project, the students selected to perform the data analysis at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, GA, because it is one of the largest safety-net hospitals in America. Grady is also one of the largest publicly funded hospitals in the US, with a diverse, high acuity patient population, and has a reputation for implementing quality improvement initiatives and providing a safe and secure environment for its patients. The Chief of Staff and the Chief Medical Officer at Grady have agreed to allow the use of this data for the project. The Chief of Health Outcomes, Dr. Yolanda Wimberly, has also provided permission to use the Grady Memorial Hospital facilities as the site for the project, further exhibiting a very strong interest in assisting the students in their efforts to improve quality and patient safety through data analysis at the hospital.