CPHQ Cafe
Coffee and CPHQ Conversation with Linda Weirauch, National CPHQ® Course Instructor
Are you curious about the CPHQ® exam?
How do you prepare for taking the exam?
ASK LINDA:
Q: I’m interested in taking the exam. I’ve been in our hospital’s quality department for a couple of years, and not sure if I am ready to take the exam. What advice can you give me?
A: The Content Outline is a great place to begin evaluating how your knowledge and experience relates to questions that may be on the exam. You can find the CPHQ® Content Outline at the link provided below. Each of the exam questions is related to a task on the Content Outline and are meant to test your knowledge and ability to either perform the task, or apply the information to a situation on the job. Critically look at the task statements. Determine what you know and what you may have not had experience in addressing. Remember, Quality Improvement is all about action plans! Once you have identified opportunities, develop a study action plan to close those gaps. Soon you will be ready to sit for the exam!!
Q: The nurse manager has been tracking the number, type and time of day that medication errors are occurring on her unit. She wants to create an action plan to address the primary causes. What tool would you use to illustrate the information, and why?
A: The data would be displayed best in a Pareto chart. This diagram displays a series of bars in order of descending height, from the most to the least frequently occurring issue. This tool states that 80% of the problems are a result of 20% of the causes. By addressing 20% of the most frequent issues, the nurse manager focuses her team’s resources and can achieve 80% improvement.
Have a question for Linda about the CPHQ® exam, review course, or career advancement with the CPHQ® credential? Send your questions to: communications.MAHQ@gmail.com, and put “CPHQ Cafe” in the subject line of your email.
