LeadingAge Washington

7/23/13

Focus on QAPI: The Second Element


QAPI (Quality Assurance Performance Improvement) has 5 elements that you must include in your program.  The second aspect of QAPI is Governance and Leadership.   This aspect deals with who is going to take responsibility for the QAPI process and how are they going to do it?  Those of you in Administration need to take the lead in QAPI.  Use your staff, residents and families to get input that will help you to decide how to proceed.  You need to provide the necessary training and equipment for the staff as you select projects to work on.  When you think about establishing policies around QAPI, you need to make sure they will stand up in the face of changes in personnel and turnover.    Set your priorities for improvement.  Your QAPI program must have at least one person accountable with adequate resources to ensure the success.  It is important to set expectations from the start.  As you set these expectations, keep in mind safety, quality, rights, choice and respect.  Finally, create an organizational culture and climate that holds staff accountable, where systems are evaluated through root cause analysis rather than punishing individuals and creating fear of retaliation.  Very often identified problems are due to a system failure rather than an individual making a mistake. 
 
For assistance, contact Bonnie Blachly at bblachly@leadingagewa.org.
 

No comments:

Post a Comment

 

Diamond Sponsors

  • Sodexo
  • Ziegler