Process Improvement and Change Project Presentation
Power Point slide to be completed using Word Doc compatible with 2010
Prepare a 10 – 15 slide Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation with 150 word count to each speaker notes and include the following topics
• Introduce the chosen process for improvement.
• Identify problem, system, or process to be changed.
• Discuss the need for the change or enhancement, including driving forces such as:
o Regulatory, such as OSHA mandate
o Benchmarking
o Improved efficiency
o Patient satisfaction
o Life safety issue
• Integrate the methodology chosen.
• Select a change theory.
• Identify personal leadership style, and select a leadership theory to incorporate in your plan.
• Provide research literature to support proposed change process.
• Propose system changes needed to incorporate for your planned solution, including tools and technologies.
• Create a timeline for change implementation.
• Provide a detailed proposal to include Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA/PDCA) cycle, implementation strategies, and evaluation process.
• Summary
• Provide detailed speaker notes in the Notes Pages of the presentation.
Below is information which needs to be used to help to in Power Point
My Personal Views of Leadership (Week 1)
I believe that leadership is a call. While anybody would wish to be a leader, not everybody can lead because leaders have some personality traits that make them great leaders. One can develop some of the leadership traits through time with education, personal development, and experience but for others, they are inherent. For instance, a person may develop critical thinking skills and capabilities through development and experience but for other personality traits such as the ability to influence others and accountability, I believe they are inborn. I can define a leader as a person who has willing followers. By this, I mean people who are willing to follow the leader not that they have been forced to do so. A person may have willing followers, he/she must possess unique traits that make the members see the person (leader) as a superior person who deserves respect and who they can trust to give necessary directions. In short, a true leader is a person who commands trust from his followers. The person may be influential, may have a senior position in an organization or may have more knowledge in an area than his followers.
Whichever form of power the leader uses, the ability to command trust from his/her constituents is what makes him/her a leader. For instance, narcissistic leaders do have a lot of influential power but because of their selfish interest, their constituents cannot trust them (University of Ottawa, 2012). On the contrary, authentic transformational leaders have social charisma characterized by putting the interests of their constituents in the forefront. These are the real leaders who influence their followers to reach greater heights; since they command respect and trust from their followers, they can lead their followers to the realization of visions they share with their followers (University of Ottawa, 2012).
How Leadership Differs from Management
From a generalized point of view, management is about ensuring orderliness while true leadership is about creating disorderliness. This differentiation based on the fact that real leaders challenge the status quo because they are always in search for improvement. Leaders bring about transformations because they are never satisfied with the current state of things. They create visions and then empower their followers to realize such visions, some (or most) of which result in [mega] transformations in the industry. Consider, for example, Henry Ford; he challenged the status quo where cars were only affordable by the wealthy. His effort to the realization of the vision of having cars that were affordable by the typical American workers resulted in the transformation of the automotive industry (Tucker, 2003). Leaders pursue long-term goals. On the other hand, managers maintain the status quo because they ensure that things run as planned and that set performance target met. Managers pursue short-term goals.
An effective leader is one who has willing followers. For one to have willing followers, he/she must be trustworthy and respect-actable. Therefore, characteristics of an effective leader that makes him command respect and trust from his followers, apart from the personality traits from the Big Five Personality Model, are accountability, being respectful, proactive vs. being reactive, open-minded, resourceful (can provide answers to followers), flexible/adaptable vs. being rigid, be a good listener and be an excellent communicator. Other characteristics include being enthusiastic, confident, decisive (ability to make quick and robust decisions), delegator and being able to motivate or initiate performance.
Characteristics of an Effective Leader
An effective leader is one who has willing followers. For one to have willing followers, he/she must be trustworthy and respect-actable. Therefore, characteristics of an effective leader that makes him command respect and trust from his followers, apart from the personality traits from the Big Five Personality Model, are accountability, being respectful, proactive vs. being reactive, open-minded, resourceful (can provide answers to followers), flexible/adaptable vs. being rigid, be a good listener and be an excellent communicator. Other characteristics include being enthusiastic, confident, decisive (ability to make quick and solid decisions), delegator and being able to motivate or initiate performance.
References
Tucker, M. (2003). Henry Ford. Dayton, OH: Teaching & Learning Company.
University of Ottawa (2012). How Can Employees Shape their Managers’ Charismatic Leadership Behavior? Retrieved from https://www.uottawa.ca/media/media-release-2694.html
Leader Interview (Week 2)
In healthcare, a leader is someone that directs the group’s activities towards a common goal. The main aspects of a leader’s role include coping with change and influencing the activities of the health care facility. Changes in health care facilities are common, so a manager should ensure that the quality of services provided is not compromised while enacting this change. Therefore, a leader should ensure that as the healthcare system undergoes transformation, the cost of care is still affordable while there’s no change in the team performance. In addition, a manager should not be solely responsible for enacting change. The whole team should be held accountable for the change; accomplished through teamwork where the leader inspires the needed change (Thompson, 2008).
Health care Interview Analysis
The health care leader’s background comprised of a fearless, outspoken child that was often elected to lead teams in school. In addition, he was brought up believing that he had to make people listen to him through effective communication. Therefore, he acquired some leadership skills early in life. The qualities and characteristics of a leader, according to my interviewee include being proactive, respectful, adaptable, confident, open-minded, enthusiastic and resourceful. Organization is a vital skill in leadership, so all events should be well organized while considering the opinions of other people (Gunderman, 2009).
The interviewee offers collaborative leadership where the different department in the hospital works towards a common goal of ensuring patients’ wellbeing. Different departments work with various disciplines as well as community agencies to help patients achieve optimum functioning level. The ability of each discipline to deliver quality services to patient interacts and depends on the medical plan for patients’ care. Therefore, collegial relations between different disciplines in the health care institution are a means to achieve excellent patient outcomes, staff retention and customer satisfaction (Thompson, 2008).
A good leader usually initiative a plan, but at times delegation of duties is necessary. Since the leader may compromise the quality of his work when overwhelmed, delegating some duties to equally qualified juniors ensures accomplishment of activities, on time. Effective communication calls for making other people understand what the leaders have in their mind. In some instances, the interviewee has been met with blank expressions after explaining to physicians a plan. Through patience, he has honed his communication skills and currently succinctly and clearly expresses to his team a plan with the desired outcome. A team is working towards a common goal. He also emphasized the need for training new employees and coming up with a productive environment through effective communication (Thompson, 2008).
The interviewee’s philosophy of patient care is the achievement of excellence in service delivery. He ensures that his institution offers excellent service to the patients, the employees, the patients’ families and the community at large. He recognizes the need for key messages at an individual moment, as they model service excellence. In addition, an effective service recovery program empowers the employees in solving problems when in service. Each patient cared for, as an individual, the interviewee has steered a philosophy of care and respect to patients. All patients have the right to know their diagnosis and plan of care. The leaders direct a team of believes in preparing patients for such truths and encourage them to participate in the decision-making process regarding their care (Thompson, 2008).
In cases where the patient requires physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological support, the health care providers are equipped to offer such. Therefore, his philosophy as a leader entails uttermost respect and dignity for the patients who eventually entrust their well-being on the health care providers. Finally, the interviewee has a view of patients’ safety’s culture in order to instill confidence in the patients. Such a culture also enables patients as well as their families to attain and maintain maximum possible wellbeing. Furthermore, the leaders encourage the staff members to ensure the significant other express their concerns with the partner in order to promote an environment of safe patient care. The interviewee’s health care institution acknowledges the fact that the well-being of patients is largely their responsibility. Therefore, patients have the ability to ensure self-care as the health care providers offer the necessary information regarding the patients’ illnesses (Gunderman, 2009).
The interviewee felt that nurses have a role to play in influencing the provision of quality care. Presently, nurses have the ability to impact positively on the systems of health care they operate. Nursing leadership has resulted in the development of models and strategies that ensure quality patient care, reduction of health care costs and coordination with various health professionals. They also serve the vital role of liaising with other providers of health care, patients and physicians as nursing as among the extremely trusted profession. Evolution of nursing leadership has accommodated the changing needs of the day as well as those of the future. Nursing leadership has evolved into a form of reflective leadership that monitors own practices in order to identify vital improvement opportunities. Nursing leadership should also assist in establishing workplace standards, come up with procedures that assess quality service and determine how to make the overall nursing system better within their clinics and hospitals (Gunderman, 2009).
The interviewee is facing a number of challenges in his current leadership positions. One of the most frustrating challenges is the cost of health care. Many patients are unable to afford the high costs of medicine due to the economic strain in the modern world. In addition, modern health care is expensive for the providers. Acknowledgment in positive outcomes, health care providers must offer the modern standards of healthcare, which are expensive (Thompson, 2008). Health care provider is ensuring the satisfaction of patients, but to the leaders, this has become a tall order as he is accountable for leading and managing his staff towards the realization of this deluding goal. There is a financial pressure linked to quality and safety issues. Nevertheless, the most challenging aspect is the lack of an adequate pipeline of leaders in health care (Gantz et al., 2012).
The interviewee had a mentor who helped him acquire enhanced self-confidence, self-awareness and enabled him to view life in a more systematic and broader manner. He also acquired the ability to contribute and embrace teamwork while working in social systems. Observing the mentor, my interviewee gained the ability to differentiate problems requiring technical solutions and how to negotiate the new solutions as required. It is through the mentoring process that my interviewee harnessed his skills in creative thinking and an ability to adapt to evidence-based care (Gantz et al., 2012).
The health care system has various professional groups with subcultures that can either conflict or support each other. Anyone aspiring to be a leader in a healthcare facility should capitalize on diversity in the whole organization and utilize the available resources to design management processes that encourage the staff to work towards a common objective. Leadership approaches that can optimize management in a health care setting include; transformational leadership, collaborative leadership, shared leadership, ethical leadership and distributed leadership. In addition, healthcare leader should have exceptional skills in conflict management, a standard setback in collaborative leadership. Therefore, any prospective healthcare leader should embrace a functional, result oriented leadership method. He /she should be capable of meeting the needs of the team and those of individuals in order to deliver the desired (Gunderman, 2009).
Summary
Healthcare leadership is challenging, but with the necessary skills, a leader should be able to steer the team towards realizing the set goals. With the ever changing environment of health care setting, leadership should always ensure the safety and quality of the healthcare services rendered. The best quality care can be achieved under the leadership of a competent and skilled leader (Gantz et al., 2012).
References
Gantz, N. R., Sherman, R., Jasper, M., Choo, C. G., Herrin-Griffith, D., & Harris, K. (January 01, 2012). Global nurse leader perspectives on health systems and workforce challenges. Journal of Nursing Management, 20, 4, 433-43.
Gunderman, R. B. (2009). Leadership in medicine. New York: Springer.
Thompson, P. A. (January 01, 2008). Key challenges facing American nurse leaders. Journal of Nursing Management, 16, 8, 912-4.
1. Since organizational theories describe how organizations function, which of these theories best describes you current workplace?
The organization theory adopted by an organization will always affect how the organization operates. My current workplace recognized this fact and decided to adopt the open systems theory specifically the Nursing Service Delivery Theory. The management of my organization realized that it is not possible to work in an autonomous environment looking out the external world from the picture. It is for this reason that they have embraced the open system style of organization. With this theory in place, our organization is not tied to any formal structure. The operational styles keep on changing depending on the situation at hand (Thomas, 2011) At my workplace, it has been identified that every situation is unique and requires a structure to accommodate its uniqueness. It is worth noting that every organization is part of the large network and cannot therefore isolate itself. The medical environment is one area that keeps on changing from time to time. The technology being used may change, suppliers, distributors and government agencies and requirements may as well change. It is the realization of such things that encouraged the management of my current workplace to adopt an open system structure. It allows us to adapt quickly to the changes in cultural, economic, political and educational conditions. (Sullivan, 2013)
References
Sullivan, E. (2013). Effective Leadership and Management in. Boston: Pearson/ Prentice Hall.
Thomas, C. P. (2011). How To Succeed In Nursing School. NewYork: PrintPress Publishers.
2. Describe how the delivery system structures nursing care?
It is no doubt that the delivery system structures nursing care. It is the delivery system structure in place that determines the quality of service a patient receives. It is because the delivery system in place will determine the kind of relationship to be built between nurses and patients, as well as nurses and other staff members. (Maenhout, 2013) It is worth noting that once there is a good relationship between these people there will be smooth coordination, and thus patients being attended to at the right time and with the right people. The system in place will determine whether the clinical officers and nurses will be able to know their patients well. With a good delivery system, there will be a collaborative and smooth relationship that is the foundation for providing quality nursing care. The delivery system in place will always determine the responsibility of each person for taking care of the patient. It means that every person will be accountable for his or her actions and thus providing a way of evaluating the performance of nurses and clinical officers. It would, therefore, be possible to ensure quality and timely response to patients by putting in place a good delivery system structure. (Sullivan, 2013, p. Chapter 2).
References:
Maenhout, B. (2013). Analyzing the nursing organizational structure and process from a scheduling perspective. Health Care Management Science , 178.
Sullivan, E. (2013). Effective Leadership and Management in. Boston: Pearson/ Prentice Hall.
3. Compare the organizational structures identified in the reading to your workplace (University o Hospital in Newark NJ). If you could redesign or restructure your work unit, what format would you select? Different organizations have their different ways of doing things. For instance, in my workplace the organization structure in place is the direct supervision structure. Here, nurses report to nurse managers who their direct supervisors. These managers are in charge of a nursing floor or an assigned area. Each area will have a charge nurse at any particular shift. The charge nurse makes all the leadership decisions when the manager is not there. (Sullivan, 2013, chapter 8) With there being several departments in my workplace, each department has its boss who reports to the overall director. Direct supervision is different from other organization structure. It is different from nursing governance. Nursing governance structure encourages participation by nurses. There are no direct supervisors and instead they have nurse groups that advise individual nurses on what they should do in any given scenario. This organization structure results in effective health care to patients. It is so because not only ensures nurses know what to do but also it encourages nurses to participate in the decision-making process. Given the opportunity to redesign the structure in my workplace, I would recommend the nursing governance structure that will help grow the nurses both professionally and motivation.
4. How do generational differences influence the organizational culture of the workplace(Chapter 9)
Generational differences influence the organizational culture of the workplace. It is so because people in the same generation tend to share the same motivations and values. It means that when people from the different generations work together, they will differ in terms of values as well as what motivates them. It is especially the case for medical practitioners and nurses. Veteran nurses tend to value hard work and discipline at the workplace, and they are very conservative. On the other hand, the young Nurses in the Y generation take nursing as an avenue to grow up the ladder in their career. (PhD, 2010) They may not value hard work as much and thus always disagreeing with the older generations. It is also worth noting that generational differences can result in communication breakdown. It is so because different generations have different ways of communicating. For instance, a nurse in the Y generation may find it difficult communicating with the older nurses and the elderly patients. Despite the generation differences and issues arising from the same, it is important to recognize that generation diversity is inevitable in the nursing field. In fact, this diversity can prove to be an advantage well handled in the right manner. (Sullivan, 2013, p. Chapter 9)
5. Select 3 professional nursing organizations:
There are several professional nursing organizations in which a nurse can join to enjoy the benefits associated with the same. American Nursing Association, Emergency Nurse Association, and National Black Nurse Association are just but examples of these professional organizations. To join any of these professional organizations, you must be a professional in nursing. It means you must have studied and passed your nursing education up to the desired level. There are so many benefits of joining any of these professional organizations. First and foremost, they provide nurses with a platform for exchanging views and ideas in their profession. (Greggs-McQuilkin, 2112). Each organization brings together different professional nurses and provides them with a forum for brainstorming. It is also through joining any of these professional organizations, a nurse is sure of being up to date with what is happening in their profession. It is worth noting that these organizations will always provide them with news and occurrences in the ever-changing nursing field. These organizations always provide their members with programs that will help them grow in their profession. For instance, the American Nursing Association offers its members an opportunity to invest and enjoy a number of insurance benefits.
The type of professional nursing organization to choose depends on a number of factors. The area of specialty, race and region may dictate the organization to join. However, there are organizations that offer a wide range of benefits and are open to all nurses regardless of their specialty and race. The American Nursing Association is a good example of an open professional organization for all nurses in America. It has several advantages over the other two mentioned above. It accepts member regardless of their state and race. It has more members and thus offering a wider platform for brainstorming. It has an education resource center open to its members and also provide a number of educational tools. It provides annual conferences and symposiums to address emerging issues in the nursing profession and thus the reason I would choose it to other organizations. (Frank, 2013) American Nursing Association offers continuing professional development which means that if I get to join it today, I will not be in the same position after some years.
References:
Frank, K. (2013). Benefits of professional nursing organization membership. AORN Journal, 23. Greggs-McQuilkin, D. R. (2112). Why join a professional nursing organization? Journal For Nursing ,17.
6. Clinical Assignment: Process Improvement Research
. In recent year, many health organizations and practitioners used to operate in an autonomous manner. However, due to the sensitivity of the medical fields many of these practitioners and organizations are today agreeing to work together and come in handy to help each other. It is a very positive thing for a medical organization to come up with policies and procedure that enables them to work together. Despite the efforts being employed there is still a lot of integration that need to be done to ensure all hospitals works on one common platform.
An integration system would be the ideal thing providing a common platform for all hospitals and medical practitioners. Though there are clinical integrated delivery systems in some hospitals, these systems need to be integrated with all the nearby hospitals to ensure uniformity and uphold standards in operations. (R, 2011) It is worth noting that there are certain instances where all nearby hospitals are expected to act swiftly and attend emergencies. Such emergencies range from accidents, terror attacks or other occurrences harming people’s lives. In case of such eventualities, there has always been a disconnect in the way different hospitals come in to help. It is for this reason that a common platform needs to be created to address this issue. Integrated healthcare systems could be the best solution for this problem. With such a system in place, great improvements in patient results and a concomitant drop in costs of care would be accomplished. Emergencies will be addressed at the fastest possible time thus saving more lives.
Ensuring Coordination in clinical activities across multiple hospitals and other places of care in a multifaceted, integrated delivery system would serve important purposes in addition to improving patient care. This project is an important cultural change agent to change the individual constituents of the system into one that can deliver care uniformly across multiple sites. Standardization of care policies, practices, and procedures is greatly enhanced by ensuring coordination of these activities across the whole system. (Potter, 2012) It is no doubt that the integration of multiple hospitals would result in better delivery of health care services to patients.
References:
Potter, P. A. (2012). Fundamentals of Nursing. L.A: RedHen Publishers.
R, B. (2011). Clinical process improvement as a means of facilitating health care system integration. Sentara Health System (SHS), 243-246.
Change Theory (week 3)
Introduction
Change is common in today’s health sector. These changes may either be planned or unplanned depending on its nature. Planned change is desirable as opposed to unplanned change. The importance of planned change is that it has high chances of success, in case, it is properly implemented (Mitchell, 2012). In this regard, this paper will focus of culture change as one of the planned changes in the field of nursing. It should be noted that people behave differently in the face of change.
Change theory
In order to understand the human behaviors in relation to change, Kurt Lewin’s theory as one of the change theories in nursing can be applicable (Oguejiofo, 2015). A full understanding of behavior is capable of driving or opposing change in the field of nursing. Kurt Lewin’s change model entails three phases, and these are; unfreezing, moving and refreezing (Sutherland, 2013).
Applying change theory by Lewin Kurt in the project that aims at changing the nursing culture, the unfreezing stage, which is the first stage in this theory, will involve identifying the focus of change. The main aim, in this case, is the introduction of a new culture that is aimed at delivering nursing care in a care effective and cost effective manner. Apart from that, the second stage of Lewin’s change theory entails planning and the actual implementation of the focus of change, while the refreezing stage as the last phase of the theory is whereby the change practice is now put in place (Sutherland, 2013).
In Conclusion
Change occurs with behavioral involvement necessary. As a human being to understand for why the change is needed plays a large role of the effectiveness for change. Change with understanding introduces new cultural aspect of knowledge. Lewin’s Theory of change explains how change is applicable in his concept by unfreezing, moving, and refreezing to help produce an effective transition.
References:
McMahon, L. (2007). The hospitalist movement—Time to move on. New England Journal of Medicine, 357(25), pp. 2627–2629.
Oguejiofo, N., (2015). Mitchell, G., (2012). Selecting the best theory to implement planned change. Journal of Management theory, 20,pp. 1.Change theories in nursing. Bussiness Management Journal. Retrieved from:
https://www.nursingtimes.net/Journals/2013/02/12/u/u/q/120213-How-should-Francis-change-nursing-practice.pdf
Sutherland, K., (2013). Applying Lewin’s Change Management Theory to the Implementation of Bar-Coded Medication Administration. Canadian Journal of Nursing Informatics, 8,pp.1-
The main themes for change in nursing are: Nurses: A force for change, care effective, cost effective, and promoting nursing leadership, professional development, and the delivery of compassionate care in nursing. Findings indicate that in order for the nurses to deliver effective care as one of the requirements for cultural change in nursing, some of them sorted to go back to school to sharpen their nursing skills for them to be able to deliver care as expected. The main reasons as to why the nurses decide to upgrade their levels of education is for their personal desire of being ready to adapt to any changes that they may encounter in the course of their practice (Corazzini, Twersky, White, Buhr, McConnell, Weiner, & Colon-Emeric, 2014). Other findings indicated that some nurses resisted, and for this reason, they did not take any step.
Change in the nursing culture will have a significant effect on my practice as a nurse. This is because; the new ways of doing things will be introduced as a result of a change in culture. For this reason, updating of my skills may be expected of me. On acquisition of the latest skills and updating the already adopted skills, I will be able to meet the stakeholder’s expectations, which is one of the aims of the change in culture. The importance of planned change is that it has high chances of success, in case, it is properly implemented (Mitchell, 2012
In planned change in an organization is usually aimed at organizational success. For instance, in the above case of culture change in the nursing practice, the aim of this change is to enhance effectiveness in the delivery of nursing care. This aim is clearly highlighted in the theme for change, which is, Nurses: A force for change, care effective, cost effective. However, people tend to behave differently in the face of a change initiative or anywhere in the change process. In this scenario of culture change, there must some people who resisted such a proposal. Those who were in agreement with the change initiative decided to up their game, and this is through going for further studies to ensure that they meet the expectations of stakeholders (McMahon, 2007).
Reference
Corazzini, K., Twersky, J., White, H. K., Buhr, G.T., McConnell, E. S., Weiner, M., & Colon- Emeric, C.S., (2014). Implementing Culture Change in Nursing Homes: An Adaptive Leadership Framework. National Institutes of Health.
McMahon, L. (2007). The hospitalist movement—Time to move on. New England Journal of Medicine, 357(25), pp. 2627–2629.
Mitchell, G., (2012). Selecting the best theory to implement planned change. Journal of Management theory, 20,pp. 1.
T The main themes for change in nursing are: Nurses: A force for change, care effective, cost effective, and promoting nursing leadership, professional development, and the delivery of compassionate care in nursing. Findings indicate that in order for the nurses to deliver effective care as one of the requirements for cultural change in nursing, some of them sorted to go back to school to sharpen their nursing skills for them to be able to deliver care as expected. The main reasons as to why the nurses decide to upgrade their levels of education is for their personal desire of being ready to adapt to any changes that they may encounter in the course of their practice (Corazzini, Twersky, White, Buhr, McConnell, Weiner, & Colon-Emeric, 2014). Other findings indicated that some nurses resisted, and for this reason, they did not take any step.
Change in the nursing culture will have a significant effect on my practice as a nurse. This is because; the new ways of doing things will be introduced as a result of a change in culture. For this reason, updating of my skills may be expected of me. On acquisition of the latest skills and updating the already adopted skills, I will be able to meet the stakeholder’s expectations, which is one of the aims of the change in culture. The importance of planned change is that it has high chances of success, in case, it is properly implemented (Mitchell, 2012
In planned change in an organization is usually aimed at organizational success. For instance, in the above case of culture change in the nursing practice, the aim of this change is to enhance effectiveness in the delivery of nursing care. This aim is clearly highlighted in the theme for change, which is, Nurses: A force for change, care effective, cost effective. However, people tend to behave differently in the face of a change initiative or anywhere in the change process. In this scenario of culture change, there must some people who resisted such a proposal. Those who were in agreement with the change initiative decided to up their game, and this is through going for further studies to ensure that they meet the expectations of stakeholders (McMahon, 2007).
References
Corazzini, K., Twersky, J., White, H. K., Buhr, G.T., McConnell, E. S., Weiner, M., & Colon- Emeric, C.S., (2014). Implementing Culture Change in Nursing Homes: An Adaptive Leadership Framework. National Institutes of Health.
McMahon, L. (2007). The hospitalist movement—Time to move on. New England Journal of Medicine, 357(25), pp. 2627–2629.
Mitchell, G., (2012). Selecting the best theory to implement planned change. Journal of Management theory, 20,pp. 1.
Human Resource Management (Week 4)
This paper seeks to carry out an analysis of three articles whose theme is the aspect of human resource management in nursing. Notably, the report would contain three main elements contained in the articles that include the main theme, the findings of the articles, and how the articles will affect my nursing practice. The articles selected for this paper listed below. The first article that discusses human resource management in nursing is Premilla D’Cruza, Ernesto Noronha, and David Beale. The workplace bullying-organizational change interface: emerging challenges for human resource management. The second article is Human resource management practices: A comprehensive review by Pankaj Tiwari and Karunesh Saxena. The third article is The Third Way Reconfigured: How and Why Nonprofit Organizations are shifting Their Human Resource Management by Hans-Gerd Ridder, Erk P. Piening, and Alina McCandless Baluch
The main theme that is evident in the articles includes how human resource management in non-profit organizations such as health care facilities is carried out. Notably, the research that was carried out by the authors of such articles shows that human resource management is a very crucial factor that various hospitals should consider when hiring (Ridder et al., 2012). Additionally, the articles assert that human resource management in a nursing environment has a high significance in determining the level of success in the nursing environment. The human resource management embraced by practitioners is given the best working conditions and the most appropriate remunerations (D’Cruz Et al., 2014).
From the articles, it is obvious that the research carried out by the authors indicate that in situations where the human resource management was effective, there was increased productivity among the nurses. Moreover, the articles found out that internal factors within an organization have a significant effect in determining the reactions of nurses (Tiwari & Saxena, 2012). The articles also discussed the fact that information technology is becoming highly prevalent in human resource management in various health care facilities. The materials are essential in my nursing practice since they give me an insight on the roles that human resource management plays in nursing.
Reference
D’Cruz, P., Noronha, E., & Beale, D. (2014). The workplace bullying-organizational change interface: Emerging challenges for human resource management. The International Journal of Human Resource Management,25(10), 1434-1459.
Ridder, H. G., Piening, E. P., & Baluch, A. M. (2012). The third way reconfigured: How and why nonprofit organizations are shifting their human resource management. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 23(3), 605-635
Tiwari, P., & Saxena, K. (2012). Human resource management practices: A comprehensive review. Pakistan Business Review, 9(2), 669-705.
Financial Management in Nursing ( Week 5)
Financial management is an essential constituent of the healthcare system. It forms the basis upon which a healthcare organization derives its own sustainability. The article by Kelly looks at the dynamic of management in relation to finance by nurses (2010). It brings out the nurse as an important part of the healthcare system both as caregivers and financial managers. A nurse may rise through the ranks of a hospital to attain middle-level positions within the management of hospitals; it is with this in mind that Ellenbecker look at the importance of financial management inculcation in nurses (2010).
The article looks at some of the way that can improve the management of hospitals. In the final article, financial management is brought out as the sealing factor within any given healthcare system. The authors analyze the various processes that are involved in the management of an institution. It looks at the evolving nature of the healthcare system and the tremendous growth that has been realized over the years (Twigg, Duffield, Bremner, Rapley, Finn, 2011). The underlying theme that can be found all the articles is the business aspects of nursing as the responsibility of the nurse in the processes of managing the healthcare institution.
The main findings in all the three articles indicate that the role of the nurse in the healthcare system has become more significant even as the system of healthcare continues to change. The future of healthcare management will accommodate nurses with the skill of financial management. This has been attributed to the economic aspects that have been continually linked to patient satisfaction. The nursing practice has to shift and remain as dynamic as the changing healthcare system. Nurses have to take up the new roles and challenges that they are being predisposed as they become more integral players in the management of the healthcare system.
References
Ellenbecker, C. H. (2010). Preparing the nursing workforce of the future. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice.
Kelly, J. (2010), Financial Management for Nurse Managers: Merging the Heart with the Dollar. Journal of Nursing Management, 18: 618. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2834.2010.01099.x
Twigg D, Duffield C, Bremner A, Rapley P, Finn J. (2011). The impact of the nursing hours per patient day (NHPPD) staffing method on patient outcomes: a retrospective analysis of patient and staffing data. Int J Nurs Stud. ;48(5): 540–548.
Risk Management Paper (Week 6)
Addressing High Patient fall incidents in our Health Facility,After a thorough assessment of the high patient fall event in our health service, it was established that as a way of maximizing the effectiveness of our patient safety program such as the implementation of high fall incidences prevention strategies, we needed to adopt an up to date standard security problem. This would involve a multi-level approach under which the facility management could take responsibility to encourage all the stakeholders to take responsibility for their actions (UNW, 2009). For example our organization did not just try to implement standard intervention programs for reduction of fall incidents but rather adopted a comprehensive program that was aimed at fostering a culture of promoting a long-term accountability, general safety awareness as well as uncalculating spirit of teamwork through an interdisciplinary team.
The steps taken to address the problem of patient high incident falls in a health facility
Our research and assessment indicated that the application of a fall risk tool alone or the implementation of a fall prevention protocol on its own could not have an effective impact on the rates of severe fall that resulted in injury (UNW, 2009). As a result, our organization decided to give a greater priority to injury prevention through a well-publicized organizational program that involved all the disciplines, teams as well as departments as the best methodology for achieving the desired results. This entailed the involvement of as well as seeking and enlisting the support of all the medical staff within the ultimately health care organization more that it had ever been done before. This was made to allow or enable the organization to achieve best results in through a significant organizational support that allows for the reduction of the high incident rates of patient fall across all the departments and disciplines.
Valid methods adopted by other facilities to address the same problem
First, our organization has in place an interdisciplinary team for the sole purposes of overseeing the strategic plan through the patient high fall incident would be prevented. Under this strategy, the multidisciplinary team was charged with the duty of reviewing as well as updating the patient falls prevention program periodically all the year round. In addition, to this, our health facility adopted the use of a “unit based champion” approach towards the prevention of patient falls. Under this approach, our facility was able to achieve a hospital-wide champion approach to the problem since it is a small plant.
Our organization also devised a patient fall prevention strategy and policies as well as other procedures that were designed to create differential interventions that were based on specific populations, as well as the different units in the facility. For instance, our organization supports all the recommendations that are made by the patient fall prevention interdisciplinary team especially about equipment, as well as environmental safety. As a result, the organization now has a monthly falls review undertaken by each functional unit staff and leadership. In addition, our organization has developed a post falls assessment process under which it has become possible to identify patient fall trends and opportunities early enough thus be in a better position to implement intervention programs as well as other strategies that can led to an improvement in the overall safety of the organization.
Organization has also adopted an awareness education over patient falls reduction policed and procedures to the staff, in addition to the patients themselves. Through this approach or policy, our organization has been able to make both the clinical as well as the non-clinical staff to understand the different facility policies and procedures that have been putting in place in order to help in the prevention of falls. This has led to greater results in the overall addressing of the high patient fall reduction incidents., for example, different staff members have been educated in the various applicable programs for patient fall prevention, indicators as well as another relevant post falls protocols that are particular to our organization (UCUW, 2014). This was established to be important in the prevention of the patient fall as it prepares the staff to be aware of their environmental indicators to potential hazards to patient safety especially concerning falls. Thus, the organization is still running education that is expected to lead or help the staff to understand the different patient fall or safety assessment tools as well as their implications and their impact on other patient fall prevention strategies.
Our organization has also established an evaluation process for the facility patient on admission for risk of falling. Under this strategy, all the staff members such as nurses, physicians nursing assistant, support staff as well as the transport aides assessing a patient ask the question would “this patient fall?” in finding the answer to this question, current literature suggests that the organization staff members can condense the patient fall risk prediction to three elemental questions
A. Has the patient had a fall over the last year?
B. Does the patient carry any extra risk factors that puts him or are at a greater risk for injurious fall?
C. Does the patient exhibit any detectable clinical abnormality such as gait or asymmetrical balance that predisposes him or her to an injurious fall?
Under this approach or strategy, our organization has been able to achieve a systematic review for the prediction of fall for all the people living in our community especially the elderly (UCUW, 2014). For instance, our research indicated that this particular segment of the community has the most consistent predictors for high patient fall incident based on several factors such as the individual fall history for the last 12 months, clinically detectable balance as well as gait abnormality in addition to other factors such as visual impairment, variation of medication, reduced or impaired cognitions well as due to other daily activates that lead to living deficits that are con consistent with fall prediction amongst the elderly community.
Our organization has also developed a standardized patient fall assessment tool. However, even though this has been validated by the organization, it is important to note that, the standardized patient fall assessment tool does not on its own prevent patient falls but rather helps in predicting them. In addition, this approach also puts a strain on the resources especially the nurses as it may take up to five or seven minutes to complete by the patient (Waleed, 2006). In addition, in using this approach, if the risk factor score is used, a further assessment may be needed in order to identify as well as treat the modifiable patient risk factors. However, in other cases, this approach includes the an easy assessment of the patient mobility, naming of modifiable risk factors as well as the direct links to them to interventions or over a set of strict fall-risk precautions. Under this system, a score of over 5 is held as a high fall risk factor.
Other factors that our organizational patient fall reduction strategy takes into consignation include the environmental factors within the organization such as physical hazards, which may cause a potential (Knott, 2014). Thus, our team has prepared an environmental assessment checklist in order to identify as well as modify any physical risk factor to patient falls such as floor mats, poorly anchored rugs or clutter, poor bathroom handrails among others.
Our organization patient fall reduction strategy has also incorporated communication risk factors to inpatient falls (Carol, 2010). As a result, the organization has a adapted a greater visual communication strategy through which potential patient risk factors are identified through different visual identifier signs on strategic places such as room, bathrooms buttons, use of buttons, posters chart identifiers among others. In addition, both the patients as well as the staff members have been trained in the recognition of such cues.
Conclusion
Our organization has undertaken an increased focus on the reduction of the high incident of patient falls through different methods aims at assessing the patient’s risk of injury in addition to the patient’s risk of falling. This has been made necessary by the realization that certain populations would be at a greater risk for injury if they fell in the course of their treatment at in our facility. In assessing as well as determining the patient fall risk, several factors have been used among them age. This has been critical especially for the patient segment aged 85 years and above. For this patient segment, their bone characteristics such as osteoporosis and other conditions to their bones such as metastases puts them at a higher risk, coagulation or their anticoagulation therapy as well as other different bleeding disorders puts them at a greater fall risk. In addition to this our organization has also determined that another category for high patient fall incident includes the major surgery patients. This is because the surgical would have a potential to dehisce with a fall.
The best approach to reducing or controlling the incidents of patient falls is one that is designed inclusively i.e.everyone has a role to play. Such may include hourly rounds by the nurses, as well as the nursing aids, making or training everyone to be responsible to call bells, creating different initiatives under which volunteer staff can be available to help in answering the call signals, assigning the appropriate staff with a proper or adequate awareness of the ASAP principles of safety especially regarding time recording as well as adopting a management or operational system under which the different function areas managers can go round to each patient in bed such as in the morning and making attempts before leaving their days work as a way of ensuring that the needs of the patients were met in addition to ascertaining how much time it took for their needs to be met. This would help in minimizing the need for the patients to move up and about in the health facility trying to get their needs addressed.
References
Carol, H, E. (2010). Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-based Handbook for Nurses. Retrieved 17 April 2015 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2631/
Waleed, A. (2006). Falls Prevention for Older Persons. Retrieved 17 April 2015 from https://www.who.int/ageing/projects/EMRO.pdf
UNW. (2009). Safety Assessment and Planning. Retrieved 17 April 2015 from https://www.endvawnow.org/en/articles/669-safety-assessment-and-planning.html
UCUW. (2014). Work, Health, and Safety Policy. Retrieved 17 April 2015 from https://unicentre.uow.edu.au/content/groups/public/@web/@unic/@mrkt/documents/doc/uow146333.pdf
Knott.L. (2014). Prevention of falls in the Elderly. Retrieved 17 April 2015 from https://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/prevention-of-falls-in-the-elderly-pro
