Application: Harm Events in Your Area

Patient harm events happen at an alarming rate, but resources are available to consumers to help them make informed decisions about the care they receive. Being an informed consumer of health care will not only help you protect yourself, but your family and friends, as well. In the following assignment, you review patient safety and quality of care performance measures at institutions in your own area. You analyze the data for similarities and differences, in order to become a better health care consumer.

To prepare for this Application Assignment:

• Review the Learning Resources for the last two weeks.
• Research health care quality and safety at institutions in your area utilizing the following websites. If you do not live within the U.S., please choose a region of the country, and hospitals in that area. (Consult your professor if you are not in the U.S. and have trouble locating three hospitals.)

• Medicare.gov: Hospital Compare http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/
• The Joint Commission: Quality Check http://www.qualitycheck.org/consumer/searchQCR.aspx

To complete this Application Assignment, write a 2- to 3-page paper that addresses the following:

• Choose three hospitals in your area for which data exists in both websites. Identify three measures of patient quality and safety from the websites.
• Compare and contrast each hospital's performance to the other hospitals within and between the two websites.
• Provide possible explanations for any disparities and/or similarities in the records.
• Analyze the most striking features of the statistics you reviewed.
• Explain how you would use this information to make decisions about your own health care.

Your written assignments must follow APA guidelines. Be sure to support your work with specific citations from this week's Learning Resources and additional scholarly sources, as appropriate. Refer to the Essential Guide to APA Style for Walden Students to ensure your in-text citations and reference list are correct. please put it in apa format citation