Quality improvement
Transcript: Risk factors for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes are obesity, poor diet, smoking and lack of excersise which are highly prevalent amongst people with SMI (White et al, 2009). Implementing the HIP The HIP includes a comprehensive list of sections such as pulse, blood pressure, BMI, caffeine intake and dental health to ensure that a person's needs are identified and what follow up action is appropriate (White et al, 2009). People with SMI are more likely to suffer from chronic physical conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes (White et al, 2009). Quality improvement The side effects of medication used to treat SMI such as anti psychotics can affect a person's physical health. These include increased appetite, increased weight gain, metabolic effects and sedative effects which may affect co- ordination and decrease motivation to participate in physical activity (Cunningham et al,2013). Quality improvement is the concept of developing new or existing strategies to improve patient care (McCormack et al, 2013). It is important in nursing because nurses must ensure that they are delivering efficient, evidence based care to service users whilst ensuring care is individualized.By developing skills and knowledge, nurses can improve care outcomes for individuals (McCormack et al, 2013). What is Quality improvement? It is estimated that people with serious mental illness (SMI) die 10-15 years earlier than the general population (White et al, 2009). The HIP was developed as a tool to help mental health nurses assess a person's physical health. The aim of the HIP is to improve physical health monitoring in mental health care and to flag up any risk factors which may effect their physical health (White et al, 2009). Cunningham C, Peters K, Mannix J (2013)- Physical health inequities in people with severe mental illness: identifying initiatives for practice change, Issues in mental health nursing, 34 (12), 855-862. McCormack B, Manley K, Titchen A (2013)-Practice development in nursing and healthcare. White J, Gray R, Jones M (2009)-The devlopment of the serioss mental illness physical health improvement profile, Journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing, 16 (5), 493-498. White J, Gray R, Swift L, Barton G, Jones M (2011)-The serious mental illness health improvement profile (HIP):study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial, trails journal, 12:167. References Health improvement profile (HIP) Shuel et al (2010) conducted a study of the effectiveness of the HIP in an outpatient clinic in Scotland. The study found that mental health nurses and service users participating in the study found the assessment useful and it improved physical risk detection rates. A randomized controlled trial by White el al (2011) found that in the initial piloting stage, mental health nurses, service users, psychiatrists and G.P's found the HIP improves the detection of physical conditions and improves physical care planning. Why is physical health a big issue in mental health care? The HIP was implemented by training mental health nurses to deliver workshops to colleagues on the use of the HIP. There are barriers to implementing this on a larger scale.Mental health nurses may find there is no one in their area that is trained to teach them to use the HIP (White et al, 2009).