Enhancing Quality And Safety Assignment Paper

Enhancing Quality And Safety Assignment Paper

Enhancing Quality And Safety Assignment Paper

Enhancing Quality and Safety
Medication administration is one of a nurse’s most crucial duties because any errors can have unintended, grave consequences for the patient. Medication errors contribute to adverse outcomes like increased duration of hospital stay, mortality rates, and high care costs. Physicians and pharmacists can cause medication errors, but those caused by nurses are the most common (Schroers et al., 2021). The purpose of this paper is to discuss factors associated with patient-safety risks in medication administration. In addition, the paper will discuss solutions to improve patient safety and coordination of care by nurses to improve patient safety and stakeholders.

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Factors Leading to a Specific Patient-Safety Risk Focusing on Medication Administration
When working in a medical-surgical unit, a novice nurse administered a diabetic patient 60 IU of insulin instead of the indicated 20 IU. This led to the patient’s blood glucose levels fluctuating more abruptly than expected and becoming hypoglycemic. The attending physician noticed that the patient, who was previously active and alert, had suddenly developed confusion and was sweating and shaking. An RBS test was immediately taken and revealed the patient had sugar levels of 3.2 mmol/L. It was later established that the patient had been administered an overdose of insulin.
Wrong dosage is a common medication administration error (MAE) that risks patient safety. Factors attributed to this MAE include nurses’ clinical practices and techniques, errors in prescription, miscommunication, and errors in labeling, packaging, and nomenclature of medications. Nkurunziza et al. (2019) classify the causes of MAEs as Nurse-related, Physician-related, nurse-physician-related, and Organizational factors. Nurse-related factors include age, being a new nurse, work experience, fatigue, knowledge and skills about a medication, and dosage calculation skills. Physicians contribute to MAEs by changing medication orders to unclear orders leading to confusion among nurses. Besides, ineffective communication between nurses and physicians and nurses lacking the initiative to clarify prescription doubts contribute to MAEs (Mohammed et al., 2022). Organizational factors include a high workload for nurses, a high nurse-to-patient ratio, and interruptions during medication administration,
Evidence-Based and Best-Practice Solutions to Improve Patient Safety
Evidence-based solutions are crucial to reduce the incidence of MAEs and lower associated costs. Manias et al. (2020) identified the following solutions: Pharmacist-led medication reconciliation, pharmacist partnership, computerized medication reconciliation, prescriber education, and computerized physician order entry (CPOE). These interventions significantly reduced medication errors. Pharmacist-led medication reconciliation is time-consuming and expensive. Thus, computerized medication reconciliation is proposed as an appropriate alternative (Manias et al., 2020). However, the computerized system cannot replace pharmacists since they have the skills to take comprehensive medication history.
According to Tsegaye et al. (2020), MAEs can be prevented by adopting technology like bar-coding for medications and patients and smart infusion pumps for IV administration. The article also proposes using single-use drug packages and reducing interruptions during drug administration. In addition, nurse-physician-related factors can be addressed by creating effective communication and collaboration channels between healthcare providers. This includes facilitating open communications and team accountability among providers, which decreased MAEs. MAEs can also be reduced by developing and availing medication administration guidelines which help to enhance the quality of nursing care.
Self-reporting has also been proposed to reduce MAEs in patient care settings. Mutair et al. (2021) explain that efforts are required to promote reporting of medication errors. Reporting engages health providers in improvement opportunities and helps determine the MAE incidence’s root cause. Mutair et al. (2021) propose establishing a medication error reporting program. A successful reporting program should be safe for the provider who reports and should bring about constructive and useful recommendations and useful changes. It should also include all providers and be supported with relevant resources. Furthermore, barriers to self-reporting of MAEs among providers should be identified and addressed, significantly enhancing patient care.
How Nurses Can Help Coordinate Care to Increase Patient Safety with Medication Administration and Reduce Costs
Care coordination entails the management of a patient’s care between two or more care providers and the patients themselves. Nurses can assist in coordinating care in medication administration through structured medication monitoring, including early identification of drug-related problems (DRPs) and monitoring of ADRs to improve patient safety (De Baetselier et al., 2022). Nurses can also conduct assessments and follow up with patients on their medication regimen through phone calls to prevent DRPs.
In addition, nurses can manage patient medication self-management to prevent self-administration errors. De Baetselier et al. (2022) explain that nurses can evaluate patients’ drug self-administration competencies and caregiver-assisted self-administration and empower individuals to self-manage their medications. Regular visits by nurses and e-health interventions improve self-care and self-management of medications among patients, thus increasing their safety. Nurses can assess patients’ needs, educate patients and their caregivers before discharge, and follow up with patients after discharge. During the transition of care, nurses can identify medication discrepancies and communicate with the prescribing physician.
Stakeholders with Whom Nurses Would Coordinate To Drive Safety Enhancements
Collaboration with other healthcare professionals is indispensable. Nurses will need to coordinate with physicians, pharmacists, and patients to promote safety in medication administration. Thus, interprofessional communication is vital during discharge planning and follow-up (De Baetselier et al., 2022). For example, they will have to coordinate with physicians and inform them of the observed patients’ clinical status and needs to guide them in prescribing the appropriate medication and dosages. Besides, the nurse communicates with the physician and pharmacist on the identified side effects of medication and collaboratively plans the best therapeutic plan (De Baetselier et al., 2022). The nurse also collaborates with the patient and caregiver when educating them on the prescribed medications and during follow-up after discharge.
Conclusion
MAEs like incorrect dosage are attributed to nurse-related, physician-related, nurse-physician, and organizational factors. Pharmacist-led and computerized medication reconciliation, pharmacist partnership, prescriber education, use of technology, and self-reporting are some of the evidence-based solutions to addressing MAEs. Thus, it is possible to lower costs, and prolonged hospitalizations caused by MAEs and improve the quality of patient outcomes.

References
De Baetselier, E., Dilles, T., Feyen, H., Haegdorens, F., Mortelmans, L., & Van Rompaey, B. (2022). Nurses’ responsibilities and tasks in pharmaceutical care: A scoping review. Nursing Open, 9(6), 2562-2571. https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.984
Manias, E., Kusljic, S., & Wu, A. (2020). Interventions to reduce medication errors in adult medical and surgical settings: a systematic review. Therapeutic advances in drug safety, 11, 2042098620968309. https://doi.org/10.1177/2042098620968309
Mohammed, T., Mahmud, S., Gintamo, B., Mekuria, Z. N., & Gizaw, Z. (2022). Medication administration errors and associated factors among nurses in Addis Ababa federal hospitals, Ethiopia: a hospital-based cross-sectional study. BMJ open, 12(12), e066531. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-066531
Mutair, A. A., Alhumaid, S., Shamsan, A., Zaidi, A. R. Z., Mohaini, M. A., Al Mutairi, A., Rabaan, A. A., Awad, M., & Al-Omari, A. (2021). The Effective Strategies to Avoid Medication Errors and Improving Reporting Systems. Medicines (Basel, Switzerland), 8(9), 46. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicines8090046
Nkurunziza, A., Chironda, G., Mukeshimana, M., Uwamahoro, M. C., Umwangange, M. L., & Ngendahayo, F. (2019). Factors contributing to medication administration errors and barriers to self-reporting among nurses: a review of literature. Rwanda Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 2(3), 294-303. https://doi.org/10.4314/rjmhs.v2i3.14
Schroers, G., Ross, J. G., & Moriarty, H. (2021). Nurses’ perceived causes of medication administration errors: a qualitative systematic review. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 47(1), 38-53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcjq.2020.09.010
Tsegaye, D., Alem, G., Tessema, Z., & Alebachew, W. (2020). Medication Administration Errors and Associated Factors Among Nurses. International Journal of general medicine, 13, 1621–1632. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJGM.S289452

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Assignment: Enhancing Quality And Safety

Assessment 1 Instructions: Enhancing Quality and Safety

For this assessment, you will develop a 3-5 page paper that examines a safety quality issue pertaining to medication administration in a health care setting. You will analyze the issue and examine potential evidence-based and best-practice solutions from the literature as well as the role of nurses and other stakeholders in addressing the issue.

assignment: enhancing quality and safety

Health care organizations and professionals strive to create safe environments for patients; however, due to the complexity of the health care system, maintaining safety can be a challenge. Since nurses comprise the largest group of health care professionals, a great deal of responsibility falls in the hands of practicing nurses. Quality improvement (QI) measures and safety improvement plans are effective interventions to reduce medical errors and sentinel events such as medication errors, falls, infections, and deaths. A 2000 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report indicated that almost one million people are harmed annually in the United States, (Kohn et al., 2000) and 210,000–440,000 die as a result of medical errors (Allen, 2013).

The role of the baccalaureate nurse includes identifying and explaining specific patient risk factors, incorporating evidence-based solutions to improving patient safety and coordinating care. A solid foundation of knowledge and understanding of safety organizations such as Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN), the Institute of Medicine (IOM), and The Joint Commission and its National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) program is vital to practicing nurses with regard to providing and promoting safe and effective patient care.

You are encouraged to complete the Identifying Safety Risks and Solutions activity. This activity offers an opportunity to review a case study and practice identifying safety risks and possible solutions. We have found that learners who complete course activities and review resources are more successful with first submissions. Completing course activities is also a way to demonstrate course engagement.

Demonstration of Proficiency

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria
Competency 1: Analyze the elements of a successful quality improvement initiative.

Explain evidence-based and best-practice solutions to improve patient safety focusing on medication administration and reducing costs.

Competency 2: Analyze factors that lead to patient safety risks.

Explain factors leading to a specific patient-safety risk focusing on medication administration.

Competency 4: Explain the nurse’s role in coordinating care to enhance quality and reduce costs.

Explain how nurses can help coordinate care to increase patient safety with medication administration and reduce costs.

Identify stakeholders with whom nurses would need to coordinate to drive quality and safety enhancements with medication administration.

Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly, evidence-based strategies to communicate in a manner that supports safe and effective patient care.

Organize content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions; contains few errors in grammar or punctuation, word choice, and spelling.

Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references exhibiting nearly flawless adherence to APA format.

References

Allen, M. (2013). How many die from medical mistakes in U.S. hospitals? Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/09/20/224507654/how-many-die-from-medical-mistakes-in-u-s-hospitals.

Kohn, L. T., Corrigan, J., & Donaldson, M. S. (Eds.). (2000). To err is human: Building a safer health system. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Professional Context

As a baccalaureate-prepared nurse, you will be responsible for implementing quality improvement (QI) and patient safety measures in health care settings. Effective quality improvement measures result in systemic and organizational changes, ultimately leading to the development of a patient safety culture.

Scenario

Consider a previous experience or hypothetical situation pertaining to medication errors, and consider how the error could have been prevented or alleviated with the use of evidence-based guidelines.

Choose a specific condition of interest surrounding a medication administration safety risk and incorporate evidence-based strategies to support communication and ensure safe and effective care.

For this assessment:
Analyze a current issue or experience in clinical practice surrounding a medication administration safety risk and identify a quality improvement (QI) initiative in the health care setting.

Instructions

The purpose of this assessment is to better understand the role of the baccalaureate-prepared nurse in enhancing quality improvement (QI) measures that address a medication administration safety risk. This will be within the specific context of patient safety risks at a health care setting of your choice. You will do this by exploring the professional guidelines and best practices for improving and maintaining patient safety in health care settings from organizations such as QSEN and the IOM. Looking through the lens of these professional best practices to examine the current policies and procedures currently in place at your chosen organization and the impact on safety measures for patients surrounding medication administration, you will consider the role of the nurse in driving quality and safety improvements. You will identify stakeholders in QI improvement and safety measures as well as consider evidence-based strategies to enhance quality of care and promote medication administration safety in the context of your chosen health care setting.

Be sure that your plan addresses the following, which corresponds to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. Please study the scoring guide carefully so that you know what is needed for a distinguished score.
Explain factors leading to a specific patient-safety risk focusing on medication administration.Explain evidence-based and best-practice solutions to improve patient safety focusing on medication administration and reducing costs.

Explain how nurses can help coordinate care to increase patient safety with medication administration and reduce costs.

Identify stakeholders with whom nurses would coordinate to drive safety enhancements with medication administration.

Communicate using writing that is clear, logical, and professional, with correct grammar and spelling, using current APA style.

Additional Requirements
Length of submission: 3–5 pages, plus title and reference pages.

Number of references: Cite a minimum of 4 sources of scholarly or professional evidence that support your findings and considerations. Resources should be no more than 5 years old.

APA formatting: References and citations are formatted according to current APA style.

For this assessment, you will develop a 3-5 page paper that examines a safety quality issue pertaining to medication administration in a health care setting. You will analyze the issue and examine potential evidence-based and best-practice solutions from the literature as well as the role of nurses and other stakeholders in addressing the issue.

Health care organizations and professionals strive to create safe environments for patients however, due to the complexity of the health care system, maintaining safety can be a challenge. Since nurses comprise the largest group of health care professionals, a great deal of responsibility falls in the hands of practicing nurses. Quality improvement (QI) measures and safety improvement plans are effective interventions to reduce medical errors and sentinel events such as medication errors, falls, infections, and deaths. A 2000 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report indicated that almost one million people are harmed annually in the United States, (Kohn et al., 2000) and 210,000–440,000 die as a result of medical errors (Allen, 2013).

The role of the baccalaureate nurse includes identifying and explaining specific patient risk factors, incorporating evidence-based solutions to improving patient safety and coordinating care. A solid foundation of knowledge and understanding of safety organizations such as Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN), the Institute of Medicine (IOM), and The Joint Commission and its National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) program is vital to practicing nurses with regard to providing and promoting safe and effective patient care.

You are encouraged to complete the Identifying Safety Risks and Solutions activity. This activity offers an opportunity to review a case study and practice identifying safety risks and possible solutions. We have found that learners who complete course activities and review resources are more successful with first submissions. Completing course activities is also a way to demonstrate course engagement.

Demonstration of Proficiency

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

Competency 1: Analyze the elements of a successful quality improvement initiative.

Explain evidence-based and best-practice solutions to improve patient safety focusing on medication administration and reducing costs.

Competency 2: Analyze factors that lead to patient safety risks.

Explain factors leading to a specific patient-safety risk focusing on medication administration.

Competency 4: Explain the nurse’s role in coordinating care to enhance quality and reduce costs.

Explain how nurses can help coordinate care to increase patient safety with medication administration and reduce costs.

Identify stakeholders with whom nurses would need to coordinate to drive quality and safety enhancements with medication administration.

Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly, evidence-based strategies to communicate in a manner that supports safe and effective patient care.

Communicate using writing that is clear, logical, and professional with correct grammar and spelling using current APA style.

References

Allen, M. (2013). How many die from medical mistakes in U.S. hospitals? Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/09/20/224507654/how-many-die-from-medical-mistakes-in-u-s-hospitals.

Kohn, L. T., Corrigan, J., & Donaldson, M. S. (Eds.). (2000). To err is human: Building a safer health system. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Professional Context

As a baccalaureate-prepared nurse, you will be responsible for implementing quality improvement (QI) and patient safety measures in health care settings. Effective quality improvement measures result in systemic and organizational changes, ultimately leading to the development of a patient safety culture.

Scenario

Consider the hospital-acquired conditions that are not reimbursed under Medicare/Medicaid, some of which are specific safety issues such as infections, falls, medication errors, and other concerns that could have been prevented or alleviated with the use of evidence-based guidelines.

Choose a specific condition of interest surrounding a medication administration safety risk and incorporate evidence-based strategies to support communication and ensure safe and effective care.

For this assessment:

Analyze a current issue or experience in clinical practice surrounding a medication administration safety risk and identify a quality improvement (QI) initiative in the health care setting.

Instructions

The purpose of this assessment is to better understand the role of the baccalaureate-prepared nurse in enhancing quality improvement (QI) measures that address a medication administration safety risk. This will be within the specific context of patient safety risks at a health care setting of your choice. You will do this by exploring the professional guidelines and best practices for improving and maintaining patient safety in health care settings from organizations such as QSEN and the IOM. Looking through the lens of these professional best practices to examine the current policies and procedures currently in place at your chosen organization and the impact on safety measures for patients surrounding medication administration, you will consider the role of the nurse in driving quality and safety improvements. You will identify stakeholders in QI improvement and safety measures as well as consider evidence-based strategies to enhance quality of care and promote medication administration safety in the context of your chosen health care setting.

Be sure that your plan addresses the following, which corresponds to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. Please study the scoring guide carefully so that you know what is needed for a distinguished score.

Explain factors leading to a specific patient-safety risk focusing on medication administration.

Explain evidence-based and best-practice solutions to improve patient safety focusing on medication administration and reducing costs.

Explain how nurses can help coordinate care to increase patient safety with medication administration and reduce costs.

Identify stakeholders with whom nurses would coordinate to drive safety enhancements with medication administration.

Communicate using writing that is clear, logical, and professional, with correct grammar and spelling, using current APA style.

Additional Requirements

Length of submission: 3-5 pages, plus title and reference pages.

Number of references: Cite a minimum of 4 sources of scholarly or professional evidence that support your findings and considerations. Resources should be no more than 5 years old.

APA formatting: References and citations are formatted according to current APA style.

Portfolio Prompt: Remember to save the final assessment to your ePortfolio so that you may refer to it as you complete the final Capstone course.

Scoring Guide

Use the scoring guide to understand how your assessment will be evaluated.

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Assignment: Enhancing Quality And Safety

Assignment: Enhancing Quality And Safety

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.

Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.

One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.

I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.

In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.

Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).

Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).

Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.

I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.

As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.

It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.

Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.

Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?

Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.

Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.

If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.

I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.

As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:

Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.

Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Enhancing Quality and Safety Scoring Guide

CRITERIA NON-PERFORMANCE BASIC PROFICIENT DISTINGUISHED
Explain factors leading to a specific patient-safety risk focusing on medication administration. Does not identify factors leading to a specific patient-safety risk focusing on medication administration. Identifies factors leading to a specific patient-safety risk focusing on medication administration. Explains factors leading to a specific patient-safety risk focusing on medication administration. Explains factors leading to a specific patient-safety risk focusing on medication administration. Makes reference to specific data, evidence, or standards to illustrate the safety risk.
Explain evidence-based and best-practice solutions to improve patient safety focusing on medication administration and reducing costs. Does not identify evidence-based and best-practice solutions to improve patient safety focusing on medication administration and reducing costs. Identifies evidence-based and best-practice solutions to improve patient safety focusing on medication administration and/or discusses reducing costs but not both. Explains evidence-based and best-practice solutions to improve patient safety focusing on medication administration and reducing costs. Explains evidence-based and best practice solutions to improve patient safety focusing on medication administration and reducing costs. Makes explicit reference to scholarly or professional resources to support explanation.
Explain how nurses can help coordinate care to increase patient safety with medication administration and reduce costs. Does not identify how nurses can help coordinate care to increase patient safety with medication administration and reduce costs. Identifies how nurses can help coordinate care to increase patient safety with medication administration and/or how to reduce costs but not both. Explains how nurses can help coordinate care to increase patient safety with medication administration and reduce costs. Explains how nurses can help coordinate care to increase patient safety with medication administration and reduce costs, providing specific examples related to a patient safety risk.
Identify stakeholders with whom nurses would need to coordinate to drive quality and safety enhancements with medication administration. Does not identify stakeholders with whom nurses would need to coordinate to drive quality and safety enhancements with medication administration. Identifies stakeholders, but their relevance to collaboration with nurses or their ability to drive quality and safety enhancements with medication administration is unclear. Identifies stakeholders with whom nurses would need to coordinate to drive quality and safety enhancements with medication administration. Identifies stakeholders with whom nurses would need to coordinate to drive quality and safety enhancements with medication administration, noting the relevance and potential importance of the stakeholders.
Organize content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions; contains few errors in grammar or punctuation, word choice, and spelling. Does not organize content for ideas. Lacks logical flow and smooth transitions. Organizes content with some logical flow and smooth transitions. Contains errors in grammar or punctuation, word choice, and spelling. Organizes content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions; contains few errors in grammar or punctuation, word choice, and spelling. Organizes content with a clear purpose. Content flows logically with smooth transitions using coherent paragraphs, correct grammar or punctuation, word choice, and free of spelling errors.
Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references exhibiting nearly flawless adherence to APA format. Does not apply APA formatting to headings, in-text citations, and references. Does not use quotes or paraphrase correctly. Applies APA formatting to in-text citations, headings and references incorrectly or inconsistently, detracting noticeably from the content. Inconsistently uses headings, quotes or paraphrasing. Applies APA formatting to in-text citations and references exhibiting nearly flawless adherence to APA format. Exhibits strict and flawless adherence to APA formatting of headings, in-text citations, and references. Quotes and paraphrases correctly.