The discussed paper and Power Point Presentation evaluate the quality improvement project associated with the program to reduce the obesity within the Cajun community developed for Minute Med Walk in Clinic, Incorporated® (MMI®) in Louisiana. The project should identify the solution of the obesity problem at three levels (macro, meso, and micro levels); the role of purpose, patients, professionals, processes, and patterns in the project; used metrics; the specific aim; used improvement methods and tools; the quality improvement program’s elements; and monitoring processes, outcomes, and results.
The strengths of the Power Point Presentation are in identifying all the above-mentioned components of the project strictly and in providing the necessary concise explanation of the points. The Power Point Presentation also determines clearly the aspects associated with the role of purpose, patients, professionals, processes, and patterns in the project and provides the background for the project in the form of needs assessment. The outcomes and results provided in the Power Point Presentation are more detailed and expanded than the expected results mentioned in the paper.
However, the weaknesses of the Power Point Presentation are in the fact that the determined purpose reflects the purpose of the paper without stating the purpose of the project. Moreover, while presenting the necessary metrics, the research question used in the project is identified as the thesis statement, and this fact can lead to misunderstanding the purpose of the project and of the Power Point Presentation. The paper refers to the use of the assessment for goal achievement which is not mentioned as the measurement in the Power Point Presentation. The next weakness is the absence of the clearly stated specific aim for improvement which is based on assessment and organization strategies because the provided aim is associated with the essential elements of quality improvement program. The Power Point Presentation demonstrates the variety of methods and tools used for the project development, but they are not mentioned in the paper.
The strengths of the paper are in providing the detailed discussion of the QI model used in the project. The project depends on using the effective the Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) model to contribute to the obesity reduction among the population (Institute of Medicine, 2012). The weaknesses of the paper are in the structure because the important elements of the project are not identified clearly. Thus, the discussion of the macro, meso, and micro systems levels is presented as the background information in the introductory part of the paper, the 5 p’s are not determined clearly as it is in the Power Point Presentation that is why the role of patients and professionals id discussed with more details than the role of processes or the purpose. Furthermore, the specific aim for improvement and the essential elements of quality improvement program are provided in the paper in the form of appendixes, and they are not discussed in the body paragraphs appropriately.
Moreover, some additional methods and tools to monitor the process and measure the results can be added to the project as well as the expected outcomes and results. It is appropriate to use the Waist-to-Hip Ratio to measure abdominal obesity and Skinfold Thickness to measure the thickness of skin as the additional methods to the mentioned BMI and waist circumference measurements in order to monitor the effectiveness of the program (CDC: Healthy Weight, 2013; Measuring obesity, 2013). It is also possible to add such expected outcomes as the decrease of the diabetes rates among the community’s population and the increased population’s interest to healthy lifestyle and diets (Schriefer et al., 2010).
References
CDC: Healthy Weight – it’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle! (2013). Web.
Institute of Medicine. (2012). Accelerating progress in obesity prevention: Solving the weight of the nation. Web.
Measuring obesity. (2013). Web.
Schriefer, S. P., Landis, S. E., Turbow, D. J., & Patch, S. C. (2010). Effect of BMI on the diagnosis and treatment of adult obesity. Family Medicine, 41(7), 502-507.