Establish General Aims-Complicated Pressure Ulcers

Establishing Goals for Quality Improvement Projects

Establishing appropriate goals is essential for maintaining focus and motivating the team. Eventually your aims should be specific, measurable, and time defined and should specify the population or populations for whom you want to improve care. A “stretch” goal should be established that should be aggressive enough to mandate a change in the design of your current process in order to achieve it. Until you have reliable metrics and a baseline evaluation, however, team-supported general aims or goals can be important for galvanizing action and establishing clarity of purpose.

Consider drafting a team charter for review and approval by the group. The charter should state the members requested, responsibilities involved, and goals of the team.

One important task is to define the scope of your efforts. We encourage a broad view of the scope of your efforts as affecting all aspects of the care of the patient with a complicated pressure ulcer, but it may be reasonable to start small and then spread your improvement methods to other areas. On the other hand, whatever the scope of your effort, the interventions you choose should be piloted on a small scale when possible. The bottom line is this: think BIG! Don’t bite off more than you can chew initially, but serial testing and learning on a small scale can make even very large projects more manageable.

Examples of general aims:

1. Substantially improve the rate of acquired pressure ulcers and the progression of pressure ulcers in the hospital setting in both non-critical and critical care adults.
2. Reduce the incidence and the progression of hospital acquired pressure ulcers in non-critical care adults.

   Note: Any improvement is considered positive. Literature does not report what would be acceptable rates. Optimally, the rate would be zero progression. Focus should be on Stage II and higher until these are eliminated and then proceed to Stage I and higher.

3. Reduce the incidence of hospital acquired pressure ulcers and the progression of pressure ulcers in critical care adults
4. Improve the knowledge base of both patients and health care providers on management of current pressure ulcers and the recognition of risk factors for pressure ulcers.
5. Improve the knowledge base of both patients and health care providers on the prevention of pressure ulcers and the treatment of pressure ulcers.

TASK: Establish general aims
Task assignment: The Improvement Team
Due Date: First team meeting