Clarify Aims: Diabetic Foot Infection

Going from General Aims to Specific Aims: Diabetic Foot Infection

Task

Your team must now refine the first of the original general aims. To do this, you’ll add an expectation of time to achieving the aim and define the inpatient subpopulation in question, following the principles in the previous section.
→ Recall general aims from  Establish General Aims — Diabetic Foot Infections.

Examples of Converting a General Aim to a More Specific and Time-Limited Aim

Progress toward core aims should be tracked, trended, and publicly reported in run charts, with frequent reiteration of the ultimate goals.

Examples of general aims converted to specific aims

1. Increase the number of patients with appropriate culture specimens obtained in the first 24 hours after admission → Convert to at least 90% of patients having appropriate cultures obtained in the first 24 hours after admission.
2. Increase the number of patients who undergo early bedside wound debridement → Convert to at least 90% of patients having bedside wound debridement within the first 24 hours.
3. Improve the percentage of patients who achieve adequate glycemic control in the first 48–72 hours after hospital admission → At least 90% of patients will have an am glucose reading ≤ 120 within 48–72 hours of admission.
4. Increase the number of patients who leave the hospital with adequate plans for ulcer off-loading in place → At least 90% of patients will have a discharge plan that includes off-loading.
5. Increase the ratio of low-level (i.e., transmetatarsal and more distal) to high-level amputations → The ration of low-level to high-level amputations will be 2 or greater.