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IDS 400 The Four General Education Lenses
Each time we approach a question or project, we are informed by certain perspectives, or “lenses.” At any given time, we are looking through multiple lenses, but often, one may be more dominant than the others. Throughout your academic journey, these lenses coincide with disciplines or fields of study. IDS 400 The Four General Education Lenses
Here at SNHU, we’ve prioritized four of these lenses:
Professionals in these fields all ask questions in order to gain information, but they may ask them in different ways that will help them examine different aspects of a topic. We can think of these as four different telescopes, and each lens has different characteristics. IDS 400 The Four General Education Lenses
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Thus, depending on the lens we are looking through, the cultural artifacts we encounter—the constructed items that convey the benchmarks of a particular culture or social group—will tell a different story.
At the core of the humanities is human creativity, and they explore the things that humanity creates and how they offer insight into the way people experienced their present, interacted with their culture, and comprehended abstract concepts and big questions about humanity’s place in the universe.
The humanities broaden perspectives and promote an understanding of multiple experiences, cultures, and values through various mediums of creative human expression—such as literature, fine art, dance, photography, philosophy and religion, film and television, music, even the internet, and social media— many of which are taught as separate academic disciplines. IDS 400 The Four General Education Lenses
Within the humanities, both the artist’s (or creator’s) intent and the audience’s reception of a creative artifact are considered to help understand cultural values and why they matter. They celebrate cultural diversity while also highlighting cultural similarities. IDS 400 The Four General Education Lenses
View these brief videos for more on the lens of the humanities:
Many of us are familiar with history as being a list of dates, events, and people to memorize, but history is so much more than simply dates and memorizing facts. Your primary exposure to history could have been in grade school required classes or in documentaries about subjects you find interesting. There is so much more to history, however. IDS 400 The Four General Education Lenses
History tells the stories of our past to help us better understand how we got to the present. In addition to dates, events, and people, history encompasses first-hand accounts of experiences that include artifacts from an era (tools, clothes, toys, etc.), letters or diaries from people who lived during a certain time, documents from a time period, photographs, and, when possible, interviews with people who lived through the events that historians study. IDS 400 The Four General Education Lenses
Together, these historical remnants help write a story of a particular time, which is then folded into the stories of history we are living and making today. View these brief videos for more on the lens of history:
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The natural and applied sciences study the physical world to help us better understand ourselves and our place in nature, and nature’s role in shaping us. The natural sciences include fields such as biology, chemistry, and physics, while the applied sciences include STEM-related fields such as mathematics and technology.
Together these fields explore the questions and curiosities humans have been pondering for ages, and scientists often develop questions and use a scientific process—the scientific method—to describe, predict, and observe the natural world. IDS 400 The Four General Education Lenses
This method of developing and researching hypotheses can also be applied to the other lenses as a way to organize the questions one might ask to gain a deeper understanding of our world and experiences. View these brief videos for more on the natural and applied sciences:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytR3wxwVBd0&feature=youtu.behttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytR3wxwVBd0&feature=youtu.behttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9imTDR_dUkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIdMgO-tfyE&feature=youtu.behttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIdMgO-tfyE&feature=youtu.behttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLE-5ElGlPMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSJLmWnxrPg
As people are social beings, social science is the study of society and the relationships between people. Subjects included in this lens are psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, economics, and geography. This study of human behavior and interaction can sometimes overlap with the humanities lens, which also studies different cultures. IDS 400 The Four General Education Lenses
Studying society, culture, and human relationships will lead us to an understanding of how people live and how to improve our lives. Social scientists use a variety of methods to arrive at conclusions within this lens, such as interviews, participant-observation, and primary and secondary sources. The social sciences can also intersect with the other lenses. IDS 400 The Four General Education Lenses
For instance, like for the history lens, social scientists may look at the past to gain an understanding of the social relationships that took place. How do we interact? How do we work together? Asking questions similar to these has given us the opportunity to evaluate causes and effects related to people in our society. IDS 400 The Four General Education Lenses IDS 400 The Four General Education Lenses
Consider how the social science lens helps us interact with the world around us and uses cultural artifacts to make changes in our lives to promote better living or promote interactions we normally would not have with others. View these brief videos for more on social science:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9sKe-UGIKchttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BfkVnSYiAchttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEkE7C-gU40https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEkE7C-gU40https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSIdaTSG2Gghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSIdaTSG2Gghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUApnFN2vGkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DTRjAqC61sRead Also:
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POST HSV 400 discussions
iHuman interaction needs to be completed and the H&P which a template is attached. I will provide login info when needed for iHuman. Instructions below…
The next case is Jacqueline Russell. This is a learning mode case (0% or 100%) and is graded and required. I will move the due date for this case to 9/16/2020.
We will adjust the date on the next case next week as needed.
Here are the important things with iHuman:
To prepare:
Tension-type headache (TTH): Tension-type headache is identified by a consistent sensation of pressure that usually starts at the forehead, temples, or the base of the neck, according to Smeltzer et al. (2019). This type of headache is often described as a tight band or a heavy weight pressing on top of the head. TTH is the most common type of headache, often usually bilateral and non-radiating, and can be triggered by stress and anxiety. TTH can be chronic, and its intensity can gradually increase throughout the day. The patient’s stress level and recent traumatic experience with her boyfriend are potential risk factors for TTH.
Migraine without aura: Migraine headaches are characterized by throbbing pain, usually on one side of the head, nausea, and light sensitivity. However, some people experience migraines without aura, which can present with symptoms similar to tension-type headaches, such as the patient’s symptoms of a dull, pressure-tight cap around the head (Smeltzer et al., 2019). Additionally, post-traumatic headache can also be a differential diagnosis. The patient’s recent history of wrist trauma after being pushed by her boyfriend, coupled with bruises on her left arm and breast, could suggest a possibility of post-traumatic headache. This type of headache can occur after a head injury or trauma and may not present immediately after the incident. In this case, the headache may have started after the wrist injury and gradually worsened.
Depression: The patient’s current social situation, with an abusive boyfriend and being disowned by her mother, can indicate a possibility of an underlying depressive disorder. Chronic stress and anxiety, which are often associated with depression, can also trigger headaches (Fava, 2021). Depression can present with physical symptoms, including headaches, fatigue, and body aches (Varcarolis & Dixon, 2020). The patient’s withdrawal and edgy behavior could be related to depression. It’s important to note that these are just potential differential diagnoses and a thorough medical evaluation by a psychiatric mental health nurse is needed to confirm a diagnosis and develop an appropriate treatment plan. Additionally, it is important to address the patient’s safety concerns and potential abuse by her boyfriend.
Cosci F., & Fava, G. A. (2021). When anxiety and depression coexist: the role of differential diagnosis using clinimetric criteria. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 90(5), 308-317.
Smeltzer, S. C., Bare, B. G., Hinkle, J. L., & Cheever, K. H. (2019). Brunner and Suddarth’s textbook of medical surgical nursing: In one volume (12th ed.). Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
Varcarolis, & Dixon. (2020). Essentials of psychiatric mental health nursing – Elsevier eBook on vitalsource (retail access card): A communication AP (4th ed.). Elsevier Science Publishing. https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1131694358645353473
Characterizing the recent evolution in healthcare has been the sustained integration of technological innovations into healthcare practice. These advancements have had the sole aim of improving patient diagnostics, management and follow-up, as well as creating a platform for integrated patient care hence improving the overall quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction in care delivery (Evans, 2016). EHR represents one such fundamental transformation of the healthcare sector that has seen the consolidation of patient information and provided the platform for continued and integrated patient care.
EHR has improved decision-making capabilities of healthcare workers. Arguably, healthcare has morphed into an increasingly convoluted concept affected by multiple patient, social, political and environmental factors (Evans, 2016). For this reason, arriving at appropriate decisions requires extensive considerations of varied issues, a process that has been made easier with the availability of decision support systems (DSS) within most EHRs. DSS are special software that employs specific algorithms to derive best-case scenarios for patients and enhance favorable outcomes (Kuo et al., 2018). Decisions on billing, consultation, insurance payment and referrals often need DSS input.
An overarching impact of EHR involves the enabling prompt and efficient communication among healthcare workers, hence fostering collaboration. Supporting the need for effective intervention are the increasing incidence of chronic illnesses that require long-term follow-up and multidisciplinary care (Evans, 2016; Ramya et al., 2018) alongside the enduring concept of holistic patient management and evidence-based nursing practice. These two factors have meant that an improved collaboration in the healthcare sector could not have been more timely, important or beneficial (Vos et al., 2020). EHR has therefore granted many people the opportunity to receive collaborative healthcare, anywhere, anytime and at an affordable cost.
Crucially, EHR has enhanced the security of patient information. Coupled with cybersecurity laws such as the 1996 HIPAA Act, it is possible to safely store patient data for posterity, hence reducing the need for bulky and risky paper-based systems (Ramya et al., 2018). Since online systems are not immune to unauthorized access, special access protocols, as well as privileges of the users, are used to control entry. Being a central repository of patient information, safe storage translates to adequate synchrony, faster access and hence the enhanced efficiency of service provision (Carlson & Laryea, 2019). The robustness of the EHR system has also made it a fertile ground for research-related ventures, hence the use and examination of patient data for improving service delivery and expanding the knowledge base.
The computerized physician order entry (CPOE) is another remarkable advantage of the EHR. CPOE confers to the physician the ability to enter instructions on specific tests or treatment procedures on a computer directly without needing paper (Wiegel et al., 2019). That has enhanced the promptness of information exchange amongst various departments as well as reduced significant medication and prescription errors. Importantly, the platform has also diminished the time nurses or other professionals seek clarification due to incomplete or illegible instructions, with the overall result being improved patient care.
Despite many hospitals currently using EHR systems, the aspect of setting up and maintaining it remains a daunting prospect for most. First, as with comprehensive online systems, a significant financial outlay is required to drive the purchase and installation of such a project (Ramya et al., 2018). That tends to be difficult for most facilities which operate at narrow profit margins hence the vital role of sponsors and state actors in ensuring such projects come to fruition. Also, maintenance costs are significant in the whole endeavor as software are subject to continual improvement through regular updates and servicing to ensure maximal patient benefit (Alafaireet & Hicks, 2017). Such costs are often prohibitory and may discourage some facilities from establishing a functioning HER system.
EHRs are fairly novel entrants into the basic healthcare service provision arena and are an affirmation of the growing role of technology in improving healthcare delivery. Therefore, to enhance its usage proficiency and acceptability among healthcare workers, requisite training and education is needed before installation and continually throughout its usage to enable the realization of expected outcomes (Longhurst et al., 2019). The training may be costly cumulatively and workers may just turn-down or sabotage the prospect owing to change resistance and poor attitude. These may be addressed through cost-sharing and incentivization as well as improving the human-computer interface through standardization of EHR to enhance its understanding by users (Alafaireet & Hicks, 2017). It is also important to enhance the portability of the EHR.
EHRs are also susceptible to data management malpractices and unauthorized entry practices. Such include data mining, phishing and third-party viewership and represent a constant threat in an ever evolving cybersphere (Osop & Sahama, 2016). Patient data is extremely personal and a massively intimate piece of information that in the wrong hands can be used for endless nefarious intentions. Accordingly, facilities invest in security measures to avert potential attacks and keep their space safe (Osop & Sahama, 2016). That is in addition to employing technicians who constantly monitor the system operability and try to prevent such occurrences by sealing technological loopholes.
In sum, the entry of the EHR into the healthcare corridors has helped, over time, improve the efficiency and quality of healthcare service delivery. Continual research and innovation keep unravelling ways of enhancing the current systems through heightened security, improved connectivity and enhanced usability. Nevertheless, it is the ultimate consideration of all core elements of the system, that is patients, caregivers and the core platform itself, that will spur the next generation of healthcare improvement tools.
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral disease that has caused a pandemic with significant impacts in all sectors. Most affected are the health and education sectors. The disease has been wide-spreading and has greatly affected the educational and health sectors that heavily relied on face-face learning methods and clinical skills acquisition. Given the need to ensure the safety of both learners and instructors, most learning institutions were forced to suspend operations, with some opting to move learning to online platform.
The closure and change of learning techniques has had extensive impacts on the students, teachers, instructors, and learning institutions. The impacts of COVID-19 on education has been mostly negative, though with some positive aspects. The current discussion focusses on the impacts of COVID-19 on the education sectors with more emphasis on nursing education.
Nursing education requires theoretical and practical or bedside aspects to provide learners with the necessary skills for practice. As reported by the World Health Organization, the disease is lethal to all people, regardless of gender, race, or age. Therefore, schools and other learning institutions have made the tough decision of suspending their operations indefinitely. In some countries, the closure was ordered by their respective government (Fogg et al., 2020). The suspension of leaning means that students cannot acquire the skills and knowledge required to complete their courses on time.
For those who have managed to use non-physical learning methods, there have been obstacles and challenges. The different learning domains, including the knowledge, skills, and attitude, have been significantly affected by the schools attempting non-physical learning. By September 2020, most schools, including universities, had been closed in South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia (Fogg et al., 2020). In the united states and Canada, however, most institutions only closed partially.
In some colleges in the United Kingdom, examinations were canceled or moved to online platforms. Cancellations of examinations have subjected the learners to anxiety and prolongation time or restudying the same concepts while preparing for online exams (O’Flynn-Magee et al., 2020). This disruption has extensively affected students’ learning outcomes, especially in science-based courses that require physical learning and practice. The disruption has interfered with the continuity and momentum already gained by learners, and now they have to readjust to cope with online learning and its associated limitations.
To acquire clinical skills of nursing and other health-related courses, learners in many parts of the world have been commuting from their residences to the learning facilities. Various governments have formulated new rules and regulations designed to minimize the spread of this disease. Regulations and rules such as partial or full lockdowns either countrywide or in urban areas limited students’ travel to their learning institutions before the closure of schools and universities. This, alongside directives discouraging gatherings such as those in physical classroom settings, meant that students had to halt their learning.
As mentioned earlier, most institutions have adapted virtual learning strategies to provide learners with knowledge and skills. However, the main virtual method that has been leveraged by most institutions is the internet-based learning that involves using computers and websites whose navigation requires training. For students to successfully navigate these platforms, they need to first acquire digital literacy skills. The use of examination applications in learning has also required prior orientation to the students (O’Flynn-Magee et al., 2020). Arguably, the pandemic has forced learning institutions to explore alternative options to learning, most of which are time-consuming. Many institutions that had not integrated e-learning into their systems have had to spend more time orientating their users, including instructors and students, on this new learning methodology.
Various institutions have adopted online learning technologies which can be an expensive method of learning for students. The use of e-learning to cover up for the time lost during the lockdown has brought challenges to the students who cannot afford to acquire the necessary gadgets and know-how required for internet-based learning. With unequal access to internet-based learning, it is likely that online education has resulted in unequal access to learning resources (Baticulon et al., 2020). Internet-based learning involves the sharing of files and learning materials via online platforms. Some of these materials are copyrighted by the intellectual property laws that prohibit their unauthorized sharing. Thus, for students who are unable to acquire the requisite learning materials to avoid infringing on copyright laws, the new model of learning has been anything but smooth.
Adopting internet-based learning, especially for a nurse, has not been as effective as physical face-to-face learning strategies. Specifically, internet-based education does not deliver fully for enhanced psychomotor domain of learning given the limited access to actual patients. Even though simulation, animations, and videos have also enhanced psychomotor skill development among nursing students, its efficacy cannot be compared to physical learning. Further, while assessment of the students’ understanding of the taught concepts has been through online platform, their integrity has not been studied in comparison to physical exams. Moreover, this kind of examination is prone to questionable exam integrity. Even with restricted browsers, verifying that the actual student is doing the exam has been difficult.
With suspension of learning in most institutions following full or partial closures, some institutions have had to refund the students their education. Additionally, the cost of internet-based education can be high, forcing some learners to defer their studies indefinitely. When combined, these factors create an environment in which institutions have low student number, jeopardizing their sustainability goals (Dewart et al., 2020). While some institutions may resort to charging more fees for the existing students, this is a short-term intervention that has been associated with increased student dropout rates in colleges.
COVID-19 has caused various emotional responses from nursing students and their nurse educators. For nurse students, just as is the case with the general population, the pandemic has caused major psychological issues. The associated psychological stress, according to Huang et al. (2020), has affected learners’ ability to grasp the necessary skills and knowledge. According to Bloom’s learning domains, the affective domain is essential in the overall outcome of student learning. The learning environment for nursing students and the work environment for nurse practitioners is the same, which means that they are subjected to almost similar stressing factors.
The disease has impacted the psychological and mental health of nurse educators. More importantly, since people are generally required to self-isolate whenever they contract the virus, nurse educators who fall sick are forced to suspend learning, much to the students’ disadvantage (Huang et al., 2020). In the process, the nursing students in the practicum must survive with reduced numbers of educators and instructors (Chen et al., 2020). This has negatively impacted the quality of education that they get (Al Thobaity & Alshammari, 2020).
The pandemic has forced distant learning on health institutions. Therefore, the mechanisms of communication have switched to email and learning portals as opposed to face-to-face and memos that were initially utilized. Proper communication is key to effective learning. Instructors communicating through learning portals are more likely to miss the attention of the audience, the learners. This has impacted the efficiency of distant online learning (Baticulon et al., 2020). Among other barriers to learning reported by Baticulon et al. (2020) include poor communication.
Learners pursuing distant learning involving e-learning have had a rough time balancing between domestic activities and academic work. There has been limited attention to academic assignments and learning. This has made it difficult to implement student-based interventions in promoting student learning (Dewart et al., 2020) an aspect that further complicates the distant learning process
Despite the extensive negative impacts the pandemic has had on different sectors, is not devoid of positive implications for the field of education and health. There are few subspecialties in the field of education where COVID-19 has promoted a positive situation. The need for digitalization of learning and the provision of remote healthcare services has resulted in expanded technology adoption.
Most learning institutions across the world have adopted online learning. Online learning has digitized requirements that have to put in place before learning starts. Digitized learning has provided numerous advantages in places where the learning institution ensured efficient and successful establishment of the required resources to both students and the educators. Further, online learning makes it easy for students and educators to share resources, a factor that can potentially widen a learner’s scope of knowledge. Further, to support online learning, new tools and software applications have emerged that promote teleconferencing, thereby ensuring effective distant learning. Software applications such as Zoom and Google Meet have promoted online learning by enabling real-time learning sessions.
Additionally, in a bid to control the spread of the disease, most governments across the globe focused on enhancing public awareness by promoting patient education through public health teaching. The media teachings about hygiene and proper disease prevention, particularly regarding how the virus spreads, has added to the existing public knowledge on disease management and prevention. These teachings have enlightened patients about health components that nursing and medical students would have spent educating the patients about.
COVID-19 has provided a fertile ground for research on viral communicable respiratory diseases. Various health and educational resources have been published about this pandemic that can widen the learner’s knowledge of this disease. Arguably, research studies done by learners and corporate organizations concerning this novel virus have promoted a better understanding of the trends and strategies of preventing the disease.
In sum, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has negatively affected students, educators, and institutions. In fact, the pandemic has exposed the extent to which most governments across the world have defunded the health and education sectors, setting them up for failure should similar disruptions emerge. For novel diseases for which there are no vaccines and effective treatments, the best management tools tends to entail containment measures such as through physical and social distancing, an aspect that has resulted in extensive change in how schools are managed. Nonetheless, while disruptions to learning has had profound effects on student progress, the pandemic has also highlighted the need for technology adoption and integration in learning.
Create a 500?750-word comprehensive outline that communicates the following about your chosen topic:
Introduction: Identify the risk management topic you have chosen to address and why it is important within your health care sector.
Rationale: Illustrate how this risk management strategy is lacking within your selected organization’s current risk management plan and explain how its implementation will better meet local, state, and federal compliance standards.
Support: Provide data that indicate the need for this proposed risk management initiative and demonstrate how it falls under the organization’s legal responsibility to provide a safe health care facility and work environment.
Implementation: Describe the steps to implement the proposed strategy in your selected health care organization.
Challenges: Predict obstacles the health care organization may face in executing this risk management strategy and propose solutions to navigate or preempt these potentially difficult outcomes.
Evaluation: Outline your plan to evaluate the success of the proposed risk management program and how well it meets the organization’s short-term, long-term, and end goals.
Opportunities: Recommend additional risk management improvements in adjacent areas of influence that the organization could or should address moving forward.
You are required to incorporate all instructor feedback from this assignment into Educational Program on Risk Management Part Two ? Slide Presentation assignment in Topic 5.
To save time later in the course, consider addressing any feedback soon after this assignment has been graded and returned to you. It may be helpful to preview the requirements for the Topic 5 assignment to ensure that your outline addresses all required elements for submission of the final presentation.
You are required to support your statements with a minimum of six citations from appropriate credible sources.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to the LopesWrite Technical Support articles for assistance.
Domestic violence and its effects are one of the major problems facing health care delivery today. By being among the frontline workers, nurses constantly face domestic violence victims requiring both physical and psychological care. A nurse’s previous experience with abuse has both positive and negative effects on his/her clinical decisions when dealing with domestic violence victims. One of the positive impacts is that the experience acts as an important reference in understanding the current situation (Alaseeri, Rajab, & Banakhar, 2019). In this case, a nurse relates his/her experience with that of the victim and thus can have a clear understanding of what transpired. Secondly, having gone through the same ordeal and successfully came out of it, a nurse can prescribe the best treatment model based on firsthand experience. Also, a nurse’s past experience can help develop a relationship with the patient after sharing his/her experience which earns trust from the patient (Alaseeri et al., 2019). Notably, establishing a trusting relationship between a patient and a healthcare provider has been shown to significantly improve health outcomes.
Apart from the positive impacts, past experience with abuse can have negative effects on nurses especially those who are still in the healing process. Çelik and Aydin (2019) note that after a traumatic experience, most victims suffer from flashbacks which are quite detrimental to the healing process. Dealing with a domestic violence victim for such a nurse might thus be a source of flashbacks. This may make a nurse unable to focus fully on such patients as dealing with them brings back dreaded memories. Secondly, having had a similar experience in the past might impair a nurse’s decision as they may want to force their circumstances to fit that of the patient. For this reason, nurses need to understand that there are many facets of domestic abuse which need to be dealt with differently (Çelik & Aydin, 2019). Forcing a patient to undertake certain treatment methods just because it worked on a different case is a wrong clinical decision based on assumptions.
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Winter Elementary school has a total of 600 students in the K-5 grade, 40% of who are English language learners (ELL). The school relies on three-tier model of reading, mathematics, behavior, attendance and writing. In 2019-2020, 75% of the third-grade learners met or exceeded the state-defined standard of reading part of the text, while 73% passed the state-defined standard on math. Other important demographics of Winder Elementary school is that 38% of the students receive free or reduced-price lunch, while 10% of the students serve in special education. Lastly, 3.8% of the students identify as those with learning disabilities.
The proposed strategic plan seeks to eliminate infidelity among the teachers and help them become more faithful to the Response to Intervention (RTI) framework. the strategic plan should yield into a road map for training the teachers and helping them understand the documentation process together with its importance in the implementation of RTI framework.
With a basic understanding of why the RTI needs to be effectively implemented, the Winter Elementary school executive director and the entire leadership have shown support and commitment to see the project through to the end. The planning process will take a top-down process whereby those in the highest level of the organization are perceived to be the thinkers of what is best for the school (Alahmari, 2019).
However, a major disadvantage of this approach that the planning team will experience is getting the lower level staff to understand and embrace the plan. As such, the planning committee will take all the necessary steps to involve the staffs in the planning process. Considering the experiences from the previous planning process, involving the staffs makes them feel part of the proposed changes, and are therefore more likely to accepts the changes that the plan proposes to bring.
The other pitfall that must be avoided is too much rigidity and formality of the planning process. Considering that Winter Elementary school is a highly bureaucratic institution, being too rigid with the planning process may curtail creativity and slow down the planning process (Bartholomew & De Jong, 2017).
The main participants in the planning process will be the executive director, board of directors, staffs and an outside consultant. The executive director will be the chief planner, who will lead the strategic planning process from beginning to end. The school board of directors will ensure that the strategic plan aligns with the school mission, vision and values. A few staffs will be part of the planning committee, including the special education teacher and reading specialists.
Their main role will be to shape the relevance and workability of the plan to ensure buy-in to the school’s strategies and goals with regards to RTI. Lastly, consultant’s main role will be to bring and independent perspective to the strategic planning process (Kressler & Cavendish, 2020).
Historically, Winter Elementary school has used RTI for a different purpose. Earlier on, the school implemented RTI as a formality and a means of assessing student’s eligibility for special education. As such, the school implemented RTI in line with its formal and legal definition; as means of determining students with learning disabilities in case they do not make enough progress in the context of scientifically based intervention and instruction.
However, the proposed strategic plan should help the school to use RTI as an instructional framework that is informed by individual student need based on their performance through an easily implemented progress-monitoring criteria. As such, students who fail to adequately respond learning will receive an increasingly intense instruction within a tiered model of learning resource allocation. Therefore, the teachers needed professional training on the new use of RTI to understand how to implement it and measure outcomes.
Some of the key information needed for the planning process are the key trends in the RTI program environment, attitudes and plans of teachers, demographic changes within the student fraternity and the regulatory changes that have occurred since the RTI framework was first implemented (Alahmari, 2019).
Furthermore, the planning committee will need student information about the students’ performance to evaluate the RTI program, data trends for the past three years, changes in the student mix based on teacher observation, quality indicators and changes in the RTI program base in the past three years. Lastly, the planning committee will need the financial implications of the RTI framework over the past three years for conducting a cost-benefit analysis.
Winter Elementary school generally serves elementary grade students. All the teaching services are delivered within the school compound that has all the teaching resources and infrastructure. The RTI framework implementation would fit within the school’s daily activities that are supported by various revenue streams as highlighted in the table below.
The RTI presents as the program with the most mission impact because it monitors and improves student’s general academic performance. It is also the most attractive financially because parents and other donors pay for the student’s academic excellence. As such, implementing the RTI would be profitable in that sense that it attracts enough financial support to fully cover its costs. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that the 80% of the budget goes to staffing costs. Appendix 1 contains Winter Elementary school’s revenue and expenses involved in running the RTI program.
The adoption of value-based care calls for continuous quality improvement. An improvement plan toolkit aims to eliminate inefficient or ineffective systems in health care with the view of patient outcomes, health experiences and the quality of care. Some of the unique qualities of an improvement plan include; guarantee of quality, improving patient outcomes, and improving safety by eliminating errors, injuries, and harm to patients. Below are the sources used to explain the concept of improvement plan toolkit.
In this article, authors Mojtaba Vaismoradi, Susanna Tella, Patricia A. Logan, Jayden Khakurel, and Flores Vizcaya-Moreno assert that prevention of practice-errors and the improvement of patient safety depend on nurses’ ability to adhere to patient safety principles. The authors point out that patient harm is one of the leading concerns for the healthcare sector because it is ranked among the top ten leading causes of disability and death to patients (Vaismoradi et al., 2020). Besides, the authors continue to assert that losses associated with practice errors amount to several trillion dollars every year-something adversely affects the provision of quality care to patients.
Snezana Kusljic and Angela Wu in this article look at the importance of reducing medication errors by using different interventions such to curb prescription, dispensing, and administration medication errors. The authors assert that a combination of effective intervention methods such as prescriber education, computerized medication, patient education, using trained medication experts, and using automated drug distributors are some of the most effective methods to control medication errors.
In this article, Albert Wu and Isolde Busch assert that the lack of patient safety in many healthcare facilities is caused by lack the right training and attitude on patient safety for healthcare professionals. The authors assert that bulk of the practice-errors committed by nurses and other caregivers can be traced to the lack of schools in the health profession to offer any or adequate training on patient safety. Wu and Busch maintain that training on patient safety must be introduced early at the college/university level for nurses and the training must continue beyond postgraduate level.
Carayon, Wooldridge, Hose, Salwei, & Benneyan assert that human factors and system engineering-HF/SE are some of the emerging solutions to understanding and improving safer care for patients. According to the authors, HF/SE can help healthcare facilities to curb most of the safety issues leading to improved patient safety. The authors assert that HS/SE contains numerous principles, methods, and approaches that improve and optimize patient safety. They give the example of effective systems as a contributor to patient safety.
In this article, the authors assert that nurses with training on patient safety early in their education approach the issue with the seriousness it deserves and avoid making mistakes/errors leading to patient safety. Slawomirski, Auraaen, and Klazinga refer to a study by the World Health Organization-WHO that cites preventable harm as the world’s twentieth-most cause of morbidity and mortality (Slawomirski, 2017). To prevent the increasing cases of preventable harm, the authors assert that there is evidence that education and training through safety curricula helps to improve the quality of care while boosting patient safety.
Amr Hossein Khoshakhlagh, Elham Khatooni, Isa Akbarzadeh, Saeid Yazdanirad and Ali Sheidaei conducted a cross-sectional study to analyze the impact of patient safety culture as one of the critical components to achieving quality health and patient safety. The objective of this study was to analyze the factors that affect patient safety in private and public healthcare facilities. A sample of 1203 caregivers in three private and three public facilities participated in the study using a stratified random sampling.
In this article, Sloane, Smith, McHugh, & Aiken assert that the behaviour of healthcare workers is directed by a positive patient safety culture. The authors assert that shared cultural perceptions, teamwork, continuous training and learning, communication, problem-solving skills, and personal responsibility are some of the factors that contribute to a positive culture in healthcare sector. The authors assert that a positive patient safety culture is the first step to eliminating errors, reducing patient harm, and improving patient outcomes (Sloane et al., 2018). To this end, the authors assert that before implementing structural interventions, it is critical for healthcare facilities to first instill a patient-safety culture.
In this article, the singles out burnout as one of the leading causes of patient harm leading to compromised patient safety. The authors base their argument on Roteinstein’s study that found out that up to 80% of nurses in America suffer from burnout (Garcia et al., 2019). The authors assert that at least one-in- three nurses have either professional achievement, depersonalization, or emotional exhaustion at any given time. The authors show that there is a link between nurse burnout and patient safety.
In this article, Satorre examines the prevalence of medical errors as one of the leading causes of patient harm. He asserts that medication errors is one of the factors that contribute to high level of patient comorbidity and mortality. Satorre discusses some of the effective ways of managing medication errors. To curb medication errors, Satorre asserts that only qualified personnel must be used in dispensing medication to avoid errors.
Jamileh Farokhzadian, Nahid Dehghan Nayeri and Fariba Borhani provide that safety culture is a recent discovery that has the potential to contain patient harm while improving patient safety and outcomes. The authors assert that the experiences, skills, and knowledge of nurses can facilitate the creation of better strategies to improve patient safety. They assert that healthcare facilities can avert preventable harm by “designing and planning safety processes and techniques” (Farokhzadian et al., 2018). The authors conclude that preventing harm in healthcare facilities require the implementation of safety improvement programs that lead to improved patient safety.
Levine, Carmody, and Silk (2020) argue that the culture of remaining silent when medical errors occur is a huge contributor to lack of patient safety. The authors assert that it is critical for nurses and other healthcare workers to report incidences of errors so that appropriate action can be taken. Besides, the authors assert that reporting medical errors help healthcare facilities to avoid similar errors in future by putting in place measures to prevent them. In their conclusion, the authors assert that organizations with a culture of reporting events and incidences record fewer errors if any.
In this article, the authors assert that there as link between the physical and mental health, self-reported errors, and work environment with patient safety. Regarding physical and mental health, the authors assert that nurses in poor physical and mental health committed more medical errors. Melnyk, et al. (2021) assert that nurses with better mental and physical health committed little or no errors. To improve patient safety in hospitals, the authors assert that it is critical for such facilities to ensure a conducive work place devoid of too much stress and pressure. This will ensure that employees are of good mental and physical health.
This improvement plan tool kit aims to enable nurses to implement and sustain safety improvement measures in health care settings in a geropsychiatric unit. The tool kit has been organized into four categories with three annotated sources each. The categories are as follows: general organizational safety and quality best practices, environmental safety and quality risks, staff-led preventive strategies, and best practices for reporting and improving environmental safety issues.
Sherwood, G., & Horton-Deutsch, S. (2015). Reflective organizations: On the front lines of QSEN and reflective practice implementation. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral- proquest-com.library.capella.edu/lib/capella/detail.action?docID=3440207#
This e-book presents the paradigm shift required for organizations to provide QSEN (quality and safety education to nurses). It provides readers with the innovative pedagogical approaches required to change traditional content-based health care education methods to interactive methods that engage learners.
These approaches include facilitative teaching, visual thinking strategies, creating a presence that is authentic, and meaningful learning through debriefing. Concrete examples in the resource demonstrate the application of reflective learning. Additionally, the reflective questions in the resource guide readers to evaluate their own practice, either independently or in groups, to implement formal education programs with a focus on self-improvement. The resource prepares nursing students for advanced competency, which will help them adopt reflective thinking, develop a safety culture, and therefore qualitatively improve practices in critical health units such as geropsychiatry units.
Fleiszer, A. R., Semenic, S. E., Ritchie, J. A., Richer, M.-C., & Denis, J.-L. (2016). A unit-level perspective on the long-term sustainability of a nursing best practice guidelines program: An embedded multiple case study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 53, 204–218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2015.09.004
This article helps analyze the sustainability of a best practice guidelines program implemented in acute health care settings. The sustainability of the program was characterized by the following: benefits for patients as the rate of incidence of falls reduced; routinization of best practices as the team’s adherence to guidelines improved; and, in the long term, the development of the team’s adaptability to changes in circumstances that threatened the program.
Seven key factors that accounted for the sustainability of the program were also identified. The source explains how relationships between the characteristics of sustainability (benefits, routinization, and development) and the seven key factors contributed toward the sustainability of the improvement program. This source is valuable for nursing students as it helps them understand how safety programs can be sustained to ensure the long-term reduction of the incidence of sentinel events in geropsychiatric units.
Kossaify, A., Hleihel, W., & Lahoud, J.-C. (2017). Team-based efforts to improve quality of care, the fundamental role of ethics, and the responsibility of health managers: Monitoring and management strategies to enhance teamwork. Public Health, 153, 91–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2017.08.007
This paper discusses the benefits of teamwork in improving the quality of health care. It presents a review of 33 papers identified after performing a search on PubMed. The paper discusses the important ingredients of efficient teamwork such as self-awareness and the individual behavior of team members, the ethical climate within the team, the work environment and institutional infrastructure, positive moderation from leadership, and communication and coordination among team members.
Effective teamwork can help reduce the incidence of sentinel events that result from preventable medical errors, which are often caused by dysfunctional communication among team members. Teamwork is more reliable and efficient than individual work in high-risk environments such as a geropsychiatry unit. Although the specific contexts of readers’ practices may be different, this resource is valuable for nursing administrators and professionals as it discusses the implementation of values needed for positive teamwork as well as the monitoring and management of teamwork.
Powell-Cope, G., Quigley, P., Besterman-Dahan, K., Smith, M., Stewart, J., Melillo, C., Friedman, Y. (2014). A qualitative understanding of patient falls in inpatient mental health units. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 20(5), 328–339. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078390314553269
This source mentions a study conducted to analyze falls in geropsychiatric patients. The study also focused on selling falls prevention in psychiatric units. The risk factors that lead to the falls were identified by a focus group. The focus group formulated an improvement plan to reduce the number of falls, and it was found that implementing infrastructural changes such as the use of geriatric-friendly sanitary ware such as raised toilet seats helped reduce the rate of incidence of falls. Although all the changes may not be feasible in a given setup, many of the strategies mentioned in this study could serve as a starting point for the prevention of falls. The article helps nursing students understand the challenges that occur in an adult mental health unit and the quality improvement measures taken to resolve these challenges.
Wong Shee, A., Phillips, B., Hill, K., & Dodd, K. (2014). Feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of an electronic sensor bed/chair alarm in reducing falls in patients with cognitive impairment in a subacute ward. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 29(3), 253– 262. https://doi.org/10.1097/NCQ.0000000000000054
This source is a preliminary study conducted to determine the effectiveness of electronic sensor bed/chair alarms to reduce the occurrence of falls in patients with cognitive impairment. These alarms can be attached to the patient’s body or to the bed/chair the patient uses to alert the nursing staff every time the patients move or leave their seat. Nurses were educated about the alarms and asked to document their observations and provide feedback.
Although effective at preventing falls in patients with cognitive impairment, the electronic sensors needed improvements such as the elimination of cords that may be hazardous to patients and the additional provision of alerting nurses through pagers. This source helps nursing students understand both the effectiveness and the limitations of electronic sensor alarms in reducing the occurrence of falls.
Chari, S. R., Smith, S., Mudge, A., Black, A. A., Figueiro, M., Ahmed, M., . . . Haines, T. P. (2016). Feasibility of a stepped wedge cluster RCT and concurrent observational sub-study to evaluate the effects of modified ward night lighting on inpatient fall rates and sleep quality: A protocol for a pilot trial. Pilot and Feasibility Studies, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-015-0043-x
Inadequate lighting at night in geropsychiatric wards is one of the important causes of falls in geropsychiatric units. Psychotropic medications can cause cognitive impairments and blurring of vision, which can be aggravated by dim lighting in the units. The article presents a trial pilot study conducted to evaluate the effects of the use of modified night lighting in inpatient wards to prevent falls. LED lights were installed in the vicinity of the beds and the toilets, where falls were likely to occur.
The study provides valuable insights that could inform design and refurbishment efforts at geropsychiatric units. An important limitation of the study is that a stepped wedge, cluster randomized controlled trial has not yet been applied to test environmental modifications in any setting. However, the modifications discussed could still be implemented as an important intervention strategy for preventing falls in older adults with cognitive impairment.
Morgan, L., Flynn, L., Robertson, E., New, S., Forde?Johnston, C., & McCulloch, P. (2016). Intentional rounding: A staff?led quality improvement intervention in the prevention of patient falls. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 26(1–2), 115–124. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.13401
This article highlights an intervention strategy called intentional rounding to reduce the occurrence of inpatient falls. Intentional rounding is a specific strategy in which nurses conduct a routine check on patients at certain time intervals based on the needs of the patient. The rounding was implemented through effective communication and teamwork among the nursing staff and iterations of plan-do-check-act measures. This proactive staff-led strategy helped reduce the rate of falls by 50%.
This study achieved success through the combined efforts of the research team that conducted the analysis of the system to design the rounding format and the frontline nursing staff who conducted the intentional rounds. Although its sample size was small and not entirely representative, the study does establish intentional rounding as an effective falls-prevention strategy, which when implemented with adequate staff engagement and support from leadership definitively reduces the occurrence of falls.
Moncada, L. V. V., & Mire, G. L. (2017). Preventing falls in older persons. Am Fam Physician, 96(4), 240–247. Retrieved from https://www.aafp.org/afp/2017/0815/p240.pdf
The article posits that a history of falls in older persons is associated with an increased risk of a future fall. The American Geriatrics Society recommends that older adults aged 65 and above should undergo annual screening for balance impairment and a history of falls as a preliminary intervention for the prevention of falls. The article also highlights an algorithm developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The algorithm suggests assessment and multifactorial interventions to prevent falls in patients who have had more than two falls and more than one fall-related injury. The multifactorial interventions include exercise routines that include balance and gait training, the use of vitamin D supplements with or without calcium based on the community in which the patients dwell, and the management of psychotropic medication.
These interventions have been known to cause a significant decrease in the rate of falls and can be implemented across all geropsychiatric wards to prevent sentinel events. The source is authentic and hence can be referred to by nursing students to understand multifactorial interventions in the prevention of falls.
Isaac, L. M., Buggy, E., Sharma, A., Karberis, A., Maddock, K. M., & Weston, K. M. (2018). Enhancing hospital care of patients with cognitive impairment. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 31(2), 173–186. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-11- 2016-0173
This paper evaluates the TOP5 intervention strategy of improving patient care. The strategy involves engaging with carers of geriatric patients (individuals who are family members or friends of the patients) to collect characteristic non-clinical information about patients to personalize care and reduce falls. The carers of patients narrated to the nursing staff five important and distinct characteristic details such as the patients’ needs and past emotional experiences. The nursing staff then prepared a customized plan of care for each patient based on this information. This study reported a significant reduction in falls and qualitatively improved care. The study enables nursing students to meaningfully involve the carers of cognitively impaired patients and reduce the incidence of falls.
Tan, A. K. (2015). Emphasizing caring components in nurse-patient-nurse bedside reporting. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 8(1), 188–193. Retrieved from https://library.capella.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.proquest.com%2Fdocview%2F1648623547%3Faccountid=27965
This source provides a review of strategies that improve bedside reporting and transfer of duties after a change of shift among nursing staff. The source also emphasizes team engagement that can help reduce the incidence of sentinel events, especially in health care units such as geropsychiatry units. Bedside reporting is a vital concern in geropsychiatric units as patients are prone to behavioral changes and unpredictable behavior may affect other patients in the unit. During a shift change, the nursing staff can alert the incoming staff about the condition of such patients to proactively prepare the staff to address any forthcoming issue.
Barriers to bedside reporting were also analyzed, and barriers perceived by patients and those perceived by nurses were identified. These barriers can be eliminated through open communication and by educating the nursing staff. The article provides a valuable discussion of factors that influence bedside reporting such as patient-centered care philosophy, guidelines of the Joint Commission Institute, demand for patient participation in making health care decisions, and the shortcomings of traditional handover practices.
Stergiopoulos, S., Brown, C. A., Felix, T., Grampp, G., & Getz, K. A. (2016). A survey of adverse event reporting practices among US healthcare professionals. Drug Safety, 39(11), 1117–1127. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40264-016-0455-4
This article highlights the severity of underreporting of adverse drug events. An adverse drug event is defined by the World Health Organization as “a response to a medicine which is noxious and unintended, and which occurs at doses normally used in man.” Adverse drug events are estimated to cause 7,000 deaths across health care settings in the United States each year. It is also said that half of these adverse drug events result from preventable medication errors. The article also identifies factors that lead to the underreporting of the adverse drug events such as lack of training among health care professionals and standardized reporting processes.
Underreporting of adverse drug events can be a critical problem, especially in health care units such as geropsychiatry units. Individual patients may react differently to psychotropic drugs; reactions may include overdoses or allergic reactions. These reactions need to be monitored closely and reported efficiently to avoid complications including falls. Nursing students can understand the importance of reporting adverse drug events through this source.
Lozito, M., Whiteman, K., Swanson-Biearman, B., Barkhymer, M., & Stephens, K. (2018). Good catch campaign: Improving the perioperative culture of safety. AORN Journal, 107(6), 705–714. https://doi.org/10.1002/aorn.12148
This article provides evidence-based results to show that the culture of safety in a perioperative unit was improved after implementing the good catch campaign. Good catch is the ability of nursing staff to point out mistakes and report them to avoid sentinel events. The campaign described in the article involves implementing a standardized electronic reporting system and debriefing process.
The nursing staff discusses the plan of care for each patient at the end of the day during debriefing. This helps the nursing staff note characteristic risks involved with each patient and provide better care. Training nursing staff to implement the good catch campaign in health care units such as geropsychiatry units should enable the effective reporting of factors that could cause falls with a view to avoid them. This source enables nursing students to implement electronic reporting systems to report good catches and thereby reduce falls.
Chari, S. R., Smith, S., Mudge, A., Black, A. A., Figueiro, M., Ahmed, M., . . . Haines, T. P. (2016). Feasibility of a stepped wedge cluster RCT and concurrent observational sub- study to evaluate the effects of modified ward night lighting on inpatient fall rates and sleep quality: A protocol for a pilot trial. Pilot and Feasibility Studies, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-015-0043-x
Fleiszer, A. R., Semenic, S. E., Ritchie, J. A., Richer, M.-C., & Denis, J.-L. (2016). A unit-level perspective on the long-term sustainability of a nursing best practice guidelines program: An embedded multiple case study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 53, 204– 218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2015.09.004
Isaac, L. M., Buggy, E., Sharma, A., Karberis, A., Maddock, K. M., & Weston, K. M. (2018). Enhancing hospital care of patients with cognitive impairment. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 31(2), 173–186. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-11- 2016-0173
Kossaify, A., Hleihel, W., & Lahoud, J.-C. (2017). Team-based efforts to improve quality of care, the fundamental role of ethics, and the responsibility of health managers: Monitoring and management strategies to enhance teamwork. Public Health, 153, 91–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2017.08.007
Lozito, M., Whiteman, K., Swanson-Biearman, B., Barkhymer, M., & Stephens, K. (2018). Good catch campaign: Improving the perioperative culture of safety. AORN Journal, 107(6), 705–714. https://doi.org/10.1002/aorn.12148
Moncada, L. V. V., & Mire, G. L. (2017). Preventing falls in older persons. Am Fam Physician, 96(4), 240–247. Retrieved from https://www.aafp.org/afp/2017/0815/p240.pdf
Morgan, L., Flynn, L., Robertson, E., New, S., Forde?Johnston, C., & McCulloch, P. (2016). Intentional rounding: A staff?led quality improvement intervention in the prevention of patient falls. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 26(1–2), 115–124. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.13401
Powell-Cope, G., Quigley, P., Besterman-Dahan, K., Smith, M., Stewart, J., Melillo, C., Friedman, Y. (2014). A qualitative understanding of patient falls in inpatient mental health units. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 20(5), 328–339. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078390314553269
Sherwood, G., & Horton-Deutsch, S. (2015). Reflective organizations: On the front lines of QSEN and reflective practice implementation. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral- proquest-com.library.capella.edu/lib/capella/detail.action?docID=3440207#
Stergiopoulos, S., Brown, C. A., Felix, T., Grampp, G., & Getz, K. A. (2016). A survey of adverse event reporting practices among US healthcare professionals. Drug Safety, 39(11), 1117–1127. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40264-016-0455-4
Tan, A. K. (2015). Emphasizing caring components in nurse-patient-nurse bedside reporting. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 8(1), 188–193. Retrieved from https://library.capella.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.proquest.com%2Fdocvie w%2F1648623547%3Faccountid=27965
Wong Shee, A., Phillips, B., Hill, K., & Dodd, K. (2014). Feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of an electronic sensor bed/chair alarm in reducing falls in patients with cognitive impairment in a subacute ward. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 29(3), 253– 262. https://doi.org/10.1097/NCQ.0000000000000054