Continuous quality improvement (CQI) is the responsibility of all nurses and is vital when addressing the challenges of the healthcare industry. Provide an example of how you would apply CQI in your current or past position. If you are new to health care, select a nurse practice issue and discuss how you would apply CQI to address the issue. Discuss a quality improvement method that could be used to support CQI in your example.
Sample solution
Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell.
In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.
God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.
Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.
To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.
References
Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.
Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.
Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.
Sample Answer
Sample Answer
Title: The Role of Continuous Quality Improvement in Nursing Practice
Introduction
Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) is a crucial aspect of nursing practice that ensures the delivery of high-quality care to patients. In the dynamic healthcare industry, nurses play a pivotal role in implementing CQI initiatives to address challenges and enhance patient outcomes. This essay aims to explore the application of CQI in nursing practice through a real-world example and discuss a quality improvement method to support CQI efforts.
Example of Applying CQI in Nursing Practice
In my previous position as a nurse in an intensive care unit (ICU), I encountered a common issue related to medication errors during shift changes. To address this challenge, I proposed the implementation of a structured handoff process utilizing the SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) technique. By standardizing communication during handoffs, the aim was to reduce the risk of medication errors and improve patient safety.
Applying CQI to Address Nurse Practice Issue
For new nurses facing a practice issue, let’s consider the challenge of high rates of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) in a medical-surgical unit. To apply CQI in this scenario, the first step would involve conducting a root cause analysis to identify factors contributing to the prevalence of HAIs. Subsequently, a multidisciplinary team comprising nurses, infection control specialists, and quality improvement experts would collaborate to develop and implement evidence-based strategies aimed at reducing HAIs.
Quality Improvement Method to Support CQI
A quality improvement method that could support CQI in these examples is the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle. The PDSA cycle is a systematic framework for testing and implementing changes in healthcare settings. In the context of the structured handoff process for medication safety in the ICU, nurses could use the PDSA cycle to plan the intervention, implement it on a small scale, study its impact on medication errors, and act on the findings by refining the process before full-scale implementation.
In the case of addressing HAIs in a medical-surgical unit, the multidisciplinary team could utilize the PDSA cycle to pilot various interventions such as enhanced hand hygiene protocols, antimicrobial stewardship initiatives, and environmental cleaning practices. By iteratively testing and refining these interventions, nurses can effectively monitor progress, identify successful strategies, and sustain improvements over time.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Continuous Quality Improvement is an essential component of nursing practice that empowers nurses to drive positive change and enhance patient care outcomes. By applying CQI principles, nurses can address practice issues, such as medication errors and HAIs, through evidence-based interventions and quality improvement methods like the PDSA cycle. Embracing a culture of continuous learning and improvement enables nurses to deliver safer, more efficient, and patient-centered care in today’s complex healthcare environment.
