NHS FPX 6004 Assessment 1
[Student Name]
Capella University
Professor’s Name
August 2025
NHS FPX 6004 Assessment 1: Diabetic Benchmarks
Healthcare is a dynamic sector that has numerous rules, legislations, and policies that are in place to serve the patient in the best way possible. These regulations and laws may have a wide range of sources like state and national. The 1990s standards have been transferred to the healthcare sector since the objective was to measure and compare clinical outcomes of healthcare organizations (Willmington, et al. 2022. p.2). With the use of dashboards that measure an organization’s performance in areas like patient population or medical intervention, benchmarking helps to improve performance. The goal of NHS FPX 6004 Assessment 1 is to improve the diabetic population’s foot, eye, and HbA1C examinations at the Mercy Medical Center in Minnesota in order to meet the set standards.
Dashboard Metrics
The hospital dashboard measures are centered on the foot and eye exams, and HbA1C exams in the year 2019-2020. In evaluating healthcare dashboard metrics, when measuring these three metrics, there is no pattern of steady decline; however, it reveals the need to improve diabetic examinations in all aspects of the assessments. The percentage of diabetic grown person receiving a yearly eye exam is one of the objectives of Healthy People 2030 that are becoming worse. The intended outcome is 70 percent of diabetic adults are screened during a yearly eye examination, and the current percentage stands at 64.8 percent in 2019, Healthy People 2030. The dashboard shows two significant drops in Mercy Medical eye exam dashboard, the first one happened in quarter 4 of 2019, and the second one happened in quarter 2 of 2020. Low performance was also seen in the first half of 2019 and the performance was more consistent in 2020. In NHS FPX 6004 Assessment 1, the other measure that needs much enhancement in the hospital is the foot exams, where Quarter 3, 2019, and Quarters 2 and 3, 2020 performed very poorly. Lastly, the dashboard associated with HbA1C testing recorded low performance during
Quarters 2 and 4 of 2019, but all quarters of 2020 recorded higher rates of performance as compared to 2019.
Not Meeting Benchmarks
Diabetes is a crippling disease unless treated. To realize the best in diabetes care, the Minnesota Health Department has stated that there are five goals of diabetes that health providers should monitor. The targets include HbA1C under 8.0 mg/dL, blood pressure under 140/90, non-tobacco user, on statin therapy unless contraindicated and patient with ischemic vascular illness on aspirin or an anti-platelet unless contraindicated. According to the healthcare dashboard metrics, the current guidelines in most cases include recommendations for out-patient services, such as eye and foot exams, HbA1C checks, and regular primary care visits, all aimed at reducing the burden of complications associated with diabetes (Albright, et al., 2021. p. 2). Patients who underuse these services run the risk of developing problems from diabetes. A minor diabetic foot wound can lead to these consequences, which can include infection, treatment, limb loss, or even death. In NHS FPX 6004 Assessment 1, the hospital’s diabetic exam dashboards all demonstrated low performance rates; therefore, they were not up to the expected standards. The most concerning aspect is the disparity in the number of patients receiving routine foot exams, which highlights a critical gap in patient care and monitoring.
Underperforming Benchmark
In 2019, 2020 Mercy Medical Center, overall performance in terms of foot exams was below the national standard. The National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report developed these benchmarks by reviewing the national reported average and developing the standard. Diabetic foot exams criteria are that 84 percent of diabetic patients over 40 years old have a yearly foot examination. In dashboard metrics in healthcare, patient education is identified as a crucial element for enhancing these benchmarks during the evaluation of dashboard metrics.
Even though patient education is a valuable variable in achieving the standards established to reduce the incidence of diabetic difficulties and enhance the patient outcome, education is inadequate by itself in preventing diabetic complications. The other objective of the Healthy People 2030 is to reduce foot and leg amputations among the fully-grown population of diabetic patients. Most diabetic foot wound complication is amputation. A multidisciplinary strategy that incorporates regular foot examinations, wound treatment, offloading techniques like recommended footwear, careful glucose tracking, and patient education is necessary to successfully avoid ulcers (Del Core, et al., 2018. p. 9). The current statistics reported by Healthy People 2030 estimates that in 2016 there was an overall rate of 4.9 amputation associated with diabetes out of 1000 adults with diabetes. In NHS FPX 6004 Assessment 1, it is emphasized that besides negatively impacting the quality of life of a person, an amputation will also prolong hospital stay and significantly increase the rate of mortality. In one study, the researchers followed patients who were already amputated during a duration of 109 weeks, and among the patients, 29.4% of patients died after amputation (Del Core, et al., 2018. p. 8).
Stakeholders
The stakeholders have a vested interest in an organization. These stakeholders may include the employees, investors, customers or patients and the community at Mercy Medical. Healthcare is an important area to determine credible performance indicators that are tailored to the stakeholders who are the end-users of the benchmarking information (Willmington, et al., 2022. p. 17). In NHS FPX 6004 Assessment 1, it is highlighted that performance indicators must provide the appropriate data to the relevant stakeholders in order to facilitate accurate quality improvements. The healthcare metrics dashboard shows that performance data in the area of diabetic exams might lead to process changes by creating programs designed to enhance patient outcomes.
Conclusion
In NHS FPX 6004 Assessment 1, it is noted that indicators are established to help develop and sustain a consistent level of care within the healthcare setting. In the case of Mercy Medical Center in Minnesota, there was poor performance in the benchmarks of all exams concerning diabetic patient population. In order to enhance the benchmarks of the Mercy Medical Center, a joint staff method, and the appropriate education of the staff, might enhance the benchmarks and general patient outcomes. The first move towards better patient outcomes is to educate the staff properly on the significance of diabetic examinations. In the dashboard and health care benchmark evaluation, it is noted that when staff are able to communicate effectively with clients about the importance of follow-ups and proper home care, the likelihood of improving patient compliance increases. A system of having staff follow up with the patients; this could be by setting appointments can also enhance benchmark scores hence resulting to better patient outcomes.
References
Albright, R. H., & Fleischer, A. E. (2021). Association of select preventative services and hospitalization in people with diabetes. Journal of Diabetes and its Complications, 35(5) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2021.107903
Del Core Michael, A., Junho, A., Lewis,Robert B., I.,II, Raspovic, K. M., Lalli Trapper, A. J., & Wukich, D. K. (2018). The evaluation and treatment of diabetic foot ulcers and diabetic foot infections. Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics, 3(3) https://doi.org/10.1177/2473011418788864
Willmington, C., Belardi, P., Murante, A. M., & Vainieri, M. (2022). The contribution of benchmarking to quality improvement in healthcare. A systematic literature review. BMC Health Services Research, 22, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-07467-8
