An interdisciplinary plan entails a series of activities created by a team of professionals from various fields, such as doctors, nurses, nutritionists, and informaticists. Healthcare institutions face problems that affect these professionals.
These include medical errors, staff shortages, the inadequacy of resources, and poor working conditions. These problems affect productivity issues, patient safety, and quality care delivery and can ruin an organization’s reputation hence the need for their management.
Interdisciplinary teams can help discuss and develop solutions to such problems. This essay evaluates an interdisciplinary plan that can help solve the staff shortage problem, and change theory, a leadership strategy, and a collaboration strategy can support the plan’s success.
The interdisciplinary plan aims to reduce the consequences of staff shortages. Another objective is to balance the number of staff in the organization with the department’s needs to prevent overload in some departments and deficiency in others.
An essential objective of the interdisciplinary team is to reduce the consequences of staff shortage. According to Patel et al. (2021), staff shortage leads to an overload of the existing staff, decreased motivation and productivity, and increased nurses’ burnout and turnover.
Staff shortage is inversely proportional to patient safety and care quality. The organization may be forced to employ underqualified staff to manage the shortage, compromising care quality and patient safety. The interdisciplinary plan proposed is cross-training of healthcare professionals.
Impacting new skills will enhance diversity and increase the productivity of these healthcare professionals (Patel et al., 2021). Departments will then easily balance the nurses without significant changes in care quality and patient safety. The primary goal is to improve care quality, patient safety, and organizational performance.
The best change theory to apply is Kurt Lewin’s theory. The theory entails three comprehensive stages. The first stage, unfreezing, entails defining the problem, identifying causes, explaining the need for change, and mapping the change process (Tran & Gandolfi, 2019).
The stage includes other aspects such as budgeting and resource allocation/planning. The stage entails staff support to implement the change. In this case, offering to pay for staff cross-training programs or sponsoring them halfway will help produce better outcomes.
The second stage, moving, will entail implementing the change (Hussain et al., 2018). People change their way of doing things, attitudes, and feelings. The stage will entail actual staff training, the assumption of new roles, and access to the accrued benefits of completing the program.
The last stage, refreezing, entails activities that will ensure the permanency of the change to ensure it becomes the new practice standard. Revising the organizational policy to include a clause legitimizing and favoring cross-training will be integral in this case.
Staff support/empowerment is the chosen leadership strategy that is highly likely to help improve the plan’s buy-in and implementation. Professional empowerment is done through increasing access to resources and information.
Tran and Gandolfi (2019) note that an organization that supports its staff increases productivity and retention. Sponsoring their education in various fields-cross training and providing post-training benefits such as an increase in salary or promotion will help manage the change.
Cross-training is rigorous because professionals take up intensive training while still working. The organization should put up interventions such as giving them more free time to attend lessons and physical training and studying while working is difficult hence the need for support.
Professionals try hard to balance work, studies, and family; without adequate support, they may neglect one aspect, leading to poor family relations, decreased productivity, or poor performance (Tran & Gandolfi, 2019). Thus, staff support/empowerment is the collaborative strategy of choice in this interdisciplinary plan.
Shared decision-making is the collaboration intervention of choice. Without interprofessional collaboration, conflicts arise, and the organization’s daily activities are stalled, leading to poor performance. Shared decision-making is an intervention that incorporates interprofessional perspectives in making decisions (Jeanne et al., 2019).
The decisions made are fair and acceptable to all involved professionals leading to better quality decisions and patient outcomes. Professionals also feel valued when involved in decision-making. Representatives from professional teams also help increase buy-in from professionals.
They will help present the interests of the professional team to the executive team hence inclusivity. Professionals will share responsibilities matching their qualifications and experience, and disruptive innovations will be easily leveraged after the professions engage in shared decision-making.
The hospital will begin by cross-training doctors and nurses, the healthcare professionals with the worse shortage. Training a nurse or a doctor is too expensive, and cross-training costs are significantly lower than training and hiring a new professional.
These professionals are also scarce. The hospital will liaise with a local nursing college to provide the training because running the training in an institution will be more expensive in the long run. The hospital will train 100 of the 300 nurses and 40 of the 120 physicians yearly.
The intention is to ensure optimum training and to prevent overwhelming the organization with the training needs. The hospital will invest in lecturers from various schools to teach online classes. There will also be physical lessons for clinical teaching and skills impaction.
The cost of training one nurse is estimated at $4000 and a physician $6000, an estimated total of $1.92 million for the three years. The hospital will liaise with a local university to ensure it delivers the best training accredited by institutions to the staff.
Cross-training staff is expensive but increases the organization’s efficiency despite the staff shortage. Cross-training also increases the professionals’ value hence a decreased need for hiring specialists, which is an expensive affair, and the specialists are scarce.
The plan will also reduce medical errors, staff turnover, and burnout related to shortages and work overload. The plan will take three years to help maintain the training costs and prevent them from overburdening the organization. The plan will lead to a better organization and will thus solve the problems arising from staff shortages.
For this assessment, you will create a 2-4 page plan proposal for an interprofessional team to collaborate and work toward driving improvements in the organizational issue you identified in the second assessment.
For this assessment, use the context of the organization where you conducted your interview to develop a viable plan for an interdisciplinary team to address the issue you identified. Define a specific patient or organizational outcome or objective based on the information gathered in your interview.
The goal of this assessment is to clearly lay out the improvement objective for your planned interdisciplinary intervention of the issue you identified. Additionally, be sure to further build on the leadership, change, and collaboration research you completed in the previous assessment. Look for specific, real-world ways in which those strategies and best practices could be applied to encourage buy-in for the plan or facilitate the implementation of the plan for the best possible outcome.
Additionally, be sure that your plan addresses the following, corresponding to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. Please study the scoring guide carefully so you understand what is needed for a distinguished score.
Describe an objective and predictions for an evidence-based interdisciplinary plan to achieve a specific goal of improving patient or organizational outcomes.
Explain a change theory and a leadership strategy supported by relevant evidence that will most likely help an interdisciplinary team succeed in collaborating and implementing, or creating buy-in for, the project plan.
Explain the collaboration an interdisciplinary team needs to improve the likelihood of achieving the plan’s objective. Include best practices of multidisciplinary collaboration from the literature.
Explain organizational resources, including a financial budget, needed for the plan to succeed and the impacts on those resources if the improvements described in the plan are not made.
Communicate the interdisciplinary plan, with clear, logically organized, and professional writing, with correct grammar and spelling, using the current APA style.
See Also:
NURS-FPX4010 Assessment 4 Stakeholder Presentation.
Interviews provide vital information that helps plan and implement care interventions. After an interview with Mrs. Judy, a Nurse practitioner and the charge nurse in the ICU, the issues identified were medication errors and hospital-acquired infections. The issue selected is catheter-acquired urinary tract infections. The desired outcome is the eradication of CAUTIs in the intensive care unit of MedStar Union Hospital. This proposal focuses on developing an interdisciplinary intervention plan to address CAUTIs.
The objective is to engage an interprofessional team in creating a care bundle to prevent catheter-acquired urinary tract infections. The objective aligns with the directional organizational strategies to ensure a healthier population free of preventable disease and reduce the costs, safety issues, morbidity, and mortality associated with CAUTIs.
The resources required are rather few and will facilitate stakeholder communication. Each team member discussing the change intervention will receive an appreciation token of $1000 after the care bundle is ready to be implemented. Costs of the care bundle will be determined as the team discussions continue and the specific care interventions are agreed upon. Other resources include utilities such as electricity, snacks and electric gadgets to facilitate the meetings.
The plan will affect processes in catheter insertion, care, and removal. It will streamline the processes to increase accountability, quality, and safety measures to ensure quality patient outcomes.
The proposed plan will significantly increase the workload of the professionals involved (in the interprofessional team). The plan will increase their workload by over 15% during the preparation phase, but most duties will be delegated during implementation, thus sharing the workload. They will be required to spare time from their busy schedule and during their free time to brainstorm ideas and evaluate research and available resources to develop recommendations for CAUTI management. Incentives and rewards for their time and hard work are thus necessary.
The theory of interest is Kurt Lewin’s 3 stage theory. The theory will facilitate the change process. The first stage, unfreezing, will help prepare to gain buy-in for the project by showcasing the significance of the new interventions and the effects of remaining and the current state. The second stage, moving, will help support the care providers and other stakeholders in the implementation process to implement change (Saleem et al., 2019). The third stage, refreezing, will entail cementing the change into the organizational culture. The theory will provide a framework and rationale for interventions, from plan development to policy development. It will also help plan activities in the plan and systematically organize them for quality outcomes.
The leadership strategy of interest is developing and sharing the strategic vision, goals, and objectives. The strategy can be ignored or implemented without the attention it requires. According to Fixen et al. (2020), sharing the strategic vision, goals, and objectives helps gather professionals with the same ideas and desires. The vision, goals, and objectives also guide all the activities in the plan and will help gather the relevant resources and avoid confusion and conflicts that arise during project implementation processes.
The team members for the interdisciplinary plan proposal will include the nurse manager, the infection control professional, the health informaticist, the physician in the ICU, and the charge nurse. Through healthcare facility data analysis, the health informaticist will lead the root cause analysis process to determine the major causes of the rising CAUTI burden. The charge nurse will evaluate care delivery to determine gaps and the reasons for the failure of previously implemented interventions toward CAUTI management.
The physician will provide vital information and expert opinion and help gain buy-in from other professionals. The infection control nurse will lead the team in research to determine the best evidence-based interventions to manage the problem. The nurse manager will review the plan developed by the team members and make approval decisions and release funds. She will also represent the project’s interests to the executive management team. The team members are leaders in their units and will lead the activities, help diffuse the innovation and gain buy-in from professionals in their specific areas of jurisdiction.
The team collaboration strategy is clear team member role communication. Each team member must understand their role to prevent confusion and reluctance to implementing activities. The lack of clear-cut roles often leaves the team members to guess facts due to a lack of understanding or agreement. Fox et al. (2021) note that role sharing and communication enhance participation, as each member feels significant to the team. It also pushes them to perfect their work to produce quality outcomes, unlike when a group approach to roles is used. Individuals can tend to be reluctant or inactive, leaving the burden to fall on others instead of implementing them.
Shared-decision making will also help promote collaboration in this project. According to Michalsen et al. (2019), shared decision-making makes team members feel important. It also stimulates their participation as they participate in every step of the project’s implementation. The team must agree on the best interventions to include in the care bundle and resources to utilize in implementation. Agreed-upon decisions are thus significant to the success of the interprofessional team in addressing the issue at hand. These two strategies will guide team collaboration. In this team, the members will decide on the best interventions to implement among the available options, such as checklists, clinician education, patient education, audits, and healthcare dashboard utilization for better patient outcomes (Hernandez et al., 2019).
The proposed plan is to create a care bundle for CAUTIs. The plan is to reorganize activities such as indication, insertion, care, and removal to improve efficiency and outcomes (Hernandez et al., 2019). The needed resources include standardized terminologies for indications and checklist tools to ensure the recommendations by the team are implemented without fail. The organization has a robust health information system, which is one of the requirements of this planning proposal. The intervention will entail process streamlining, hence no additional staff needs. Access to care information and data on CAUTIs to derive causal relationships is necessary. There are no costs incurred because the data is stored in the hospital servers, and the care providers involved have access to the data.
The resources needed for the plan proposal are minimal and include resources required to facilitate professional meetings of an interprofessional team, such as a board room, projector, laptop, and other utilities such as electricity. The cost of facilitating the interprofessional plan proposal is thus $8000, which will cater for the interprofessional team incentives/rewards and other utilities such as electricity required to facilitate the meetings.
Other costs will be incurred in implementing the proposed intervention if the interventions require any purchase. The interprofessional team will create end-products, such as instructions to implement new processes for the nurses and other care providers. Several factors can lead to the interprofessional approach’s failure to manage the problem, such as deviations or misappropriation of the resources. The failure can cost the organization over $8000. Hence, a keen evaluation of the approach before implementation and a possible pilot study is necessary to prevent possible losses and protect the organization’s financial security.
CAUTIs are an issue of interest at MedStar Hospital. An interprofessional approach is necessary to help implement corrective interventions to reduce the CAUTI rates. The interprofessional team consists of various members who will oversee the team activities and change implementation processes. The interprofessional approach is manageable, and Kurt Lewin’s theory, alongside leadership and collaboration strategies, will enhance the intervention’s success. The care bundle will take the perspective of various professionals, resulting in better outcomes.
Fixsen, A., Seers, H., Polley, M., & Robins, J. (2020). Applying critical systems thinking to social prescribing: a relational model of stakeholder “buy-in.” BMC Health Services Research, 20, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05443-8
Fox, S., Gaboury, I., Chiocchio, F., & Vachon, B. (2021). Communication and interprofessional collaboration in primary care: from ideal to reality in practice. Health Communication, 36(2), 125-135. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2019.1666499
Hernandez, M., King, A., & Stewart, L. (2019). Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) prevention and nurses’ checklist documentation of their indwelling catheter management practices. Nursing Praxis in New Zealand, 35(1). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340445613_Catheter-associated_urinary_tract_infection_CAUTI_prevention_and_nurses’_checklist_documentation_of_their_indwelling_catheter_management_practices
Michalsen, A., Long, A. C., Ganz, F. D., White, D. B., Jensen, H. I., Metaxa, V., Christiane, H., Jos, L., Ribert, T., Jozef, K., Anna, M., & Curtis, J. R. (2019). Interprofessional shared decision-making in the ICU: a systematic review and recommendations from an expert panel. Critical Care Medicine, 47(9), 1258-1266. https://doi.org/10.1097/CCM.0000000000003870
Saleem, S., Sehar, S., Afzal, M., Jamil, A., & Gilani, S. A. (2019). Accreditation: application of Kurt Lewin’s theory on private health care organizational change. Saudi Journal of Nursing and Health Care, 2, 12. https://doi.org/10.36348/sjnhc.2019.v02i12.003
For this assessment you will create a 2-4 page plan proposal for an interprofessional team to collaborate and work toward driving improvements in the organizational issue you identified in the second assessment.
The health care industry is always striving to improve patient outcomes and attain organizational goals. Nurses can play a critical role in achieving these goals; one way to encourage nurse participation in larger organizational efforts is to create a shared vision and team goals (Mulvale et al., 2016). Participation in interdisciplinary teams can also offer nurses opportunities to share their expertise and leadership skills, fostering a sense of ownership and collegiality.
You are encouraged to complete the Budgeting for Nurses activity before you develop the plan proposal. The activity consists of seven questions that will allow you the opportunity to check your knowledge of budgeting basics and as well as the value of financial resource management. The information gained from completing this formative will promote success with the Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal. Completing this activity also demonstrates your engagement in the course, requires just a few minutes of your time, and is not graded.
Reference
Mulvale, G., Embrett, M., & Shaghayegh, D. R. (2016). ‘Gearing up’ to improve interprofessional collaboration in primary care: A systematic review and conceptual framework. BMC Family Practice, 17.
This assessment will allow you to describe a plan proposal that includes an analysis of best practices of interprofessional collaboration, change theory, leadership strategies, and organizational resources with a financial budget that can be used to solve the problem identified through the interview you conducted in the prior assessment.
Having reviewed the information gleaned from your professional interview and identified the issue, you will determine and present an objective for an interdisciplinary intervention to address the issue.
Note: You will not be expected to implement the plan during this course. However, the plan should be evidence-based and realistic within the context of the issue and your interviewee’s organization.
Instructions
For this assessment, use the context of the organization where you conducted your interview to develop a viable plan for an interdisciplinary team to address the issue you identified. Define a specific patient or organizational outcome or objective based on the information gathered in your interview.
The goal of this assessment is to clearly lay out the improvement objective for your planned interdisciplinary intervention of the issue you identified. Additionally, be sure to further build on the leadership, change, and collaboration research you completed in the previous assessment. Look for specific, real-world ways in which those strategies and best practices could be applied to encourage buy-in
The roles of nurse informaticists and specialists are virtually applicable in all health practice settings. Their responsibilities encompass collaboration with other professionals, thus requiring appropriate collaborative strategies. Nurse informaticists support information acquisition and clinical information system evaluation and implementation. In so doing, they promote and assist the institution in knowledge management (Nagle et al., 2020).
In my practice setting, patients that do not require emergency care are received and triaged before they are directed to the appropriate specialists. The patients’ data are collected or retrieved at the triaging and reception. At this point, the entry and classification of this information to the appropriate departments require the services of nurse informaticists.
The process of admitting a patient to our institution starts with the registration. The patient’s data is entered in hard copy patient file records and into the electronic health records for easy retrieval. The physical file records are handled only by the clinicians and patients have limited access. The process of patient interview and history taking involves recording the information in the file records and transferring the summarized and organized data into the electronic records.
The results from the lab are produced in hard copy printed papers and filed while a copy is sent to the requesting physician for further interpretation and care. The nurse is responsible for collecting and transferring patient data and transmitting results between different outpatient departments. In the process, the nurse interacts with the physician and technicians on a daily basis and is responsible for the flow of the patient’s information and data throughout until discharge.
Improving the Interactions
The interaction between the nurse informaticists and the physicians is collaborative and interdependent. The process of flow and exchange of information and data between the nurses and the consultants is slower and would be improved through the use of information technology. Using information technology with paper-based methods as backup would speed up these interactions, ensuring faster, specific, patient-centered care (Nelson & Carter-Templeton, 2016).
Information technology, through electronic health records (EHR), would be used to transfer, share and inform other specialists on patient’s data results and details about their care so far. Relaying the patient’s information from the reception and registration to the consultants’ rooms would be done through electronic means to eliminate potential delays. The time the nurses take when consolidating the patient’s data from the lab to consultation rooms and wards can be reduced through electronic data transfer using computer technology. The use of technology also enhances faster and efficient data analysis that would promote effective knowledge management.
Impacts of Evolution of Nursing Informatics
Nursing informatics has evolved over the past decades from informal informatics that involved no profession to the professional learning of the nursing informatics and information technology. The evolution of nursing informatics into a specialty, together with technological advancements, has increased the scope of the application of nursing informatics.
Presently, aspiring nurse informaticists must acquire relevant knowledge of information technology. This knowledge keeps advancing with time and the technologies become more sophisticated and nurse informaticists have to update their skills and capabilities to interpret organizational information flow (Glassman, 2017) adequately.
The advancements would reduce the interaction duration between professionals and improve the quality of interaction due to the unification of interaction by the use of similar and specific technologies (Brixley, 2016). Modest outcomes include reduced documentation, faster patient registration, and reduced admission time. Specific tasks, including nursing data collection and diagnosis, will be semi-automated if not fully automated.
Brixey J. J. (2016). Health Informatics Competencies, Workforce and the DNP: Why Connect These ‘Dots’?. Studies In Health Technology And Informatics, 225, 750–752.
Glassman, K. (2017). Using Data in Nursing Practice. American Nurses Today, 12(11), 45–47. Retrieved 13 December 2020, from https://www.myamericannurse.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/ant11-Data-1030.pdf.
Nagle, L., Sermeus, W., & Junger, A. (2020). Evolving Role of the Nursing Informatics Specialist. Forecasting Informatics Competencies For Nurses In The Future Of Connected Health, pp. 212–222. https://doi.org/10.3233/978-1-61499-738-2-212
Nelson, R., & Carter-Templeton, H. D. (2016). The Nursing Informatician’s Role in Mediating Technology Related Health Literacies. Studies In Health Technology And Informatics, 225, 237–241.
Nature offers many examples of specialization and collaboration. Ant colonies and bee hives are but two examples of nature’s sophisticated organizations. Each thrives because their members specialize by tasks, divide labor, and collaborate to ensure food, safety, and general well-being of the colony or hive.
Of course, humans don’t fare too badly in this regard either. And healthcare is a great example. As specialists in the collection, access, and application of data, nurse informaticists collaborate with specialists on a regular basis to ensure that appropriate data is available to make decisions and take actions to ensure the general well-being of patients.
In this Discussion, you will reflect on your own observations of and/or experiences with informaticist collaboration. You will also propose strategies for how these collaborative experiences might be improved.
To Prepare for Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists NURS 6051 Discussion:
By Day 3 of Week 3
Post a description of experiences or observations about how nurse informaticists and/or data or technology specialists interact with other professionals within your healthcare organization. Suggest at least one strategy on how these interactions might be improved. Be specific and provide examples. Then, explain the impact you believe the continued evolution of nursing informatics as a specialty and/or the continued emergence of new technologies might have on professional interactions.
By Day 6 of Week 3
Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days, offering one or more additional interaction strategies in support of the examples/observations shared or by offering further insight to the thoughts shared about the future of these interactions.
*Note: Throughout this program, your fellow students are referred to as colleagues.
Determining whether a middle-range theory is applicable in research is very significant. Middle-range theories assist nurses in attaining their goals of conducting comprehensive nurse research. Theory evaluation refers to categorizing constituent parts of a hypothesis and their judgment against a set of prearranged principles and standards or criteria.
External and internal criticism evaluates middle-range theories. External criticism deliberates the appropriateness or suitability of the principles external to the hypothesis and the hypothesis. Internal criticism deliberates the criteria about the theory’s inner mechanisms or interior dimensions and how its constituents match each other. This essay describes the internal and external criticism used to evaluate middle-range theories.
Internal criticism evaluates a middle rage theory’s adequacy, clarity, consistency, logical development, and level of theory development. A theory’s adequacy refers to how comprehensively it discourses the subject matter and if it accounts for the topic under deliberation. Clarity confirms if a hypothesis evidently states the key components to be measured and if a reader can effortlessly understand them (Peterson & Bredow, 2019). Consistency measures if a theory has corresponding use of terms, ideologies, techniques, and explanations. Consistency also analysis if a theory’s description preserves the descriptions of the key ideas and concepts.
A logical development examines if the philosophy follows a line of thought based on former pieces of evidence or if its premises and assumptions cannot be evidenced (Peterson & Bredow, 2019). This stage also scrutinizes if its conclusions are rational and if the opinions are supported. The last step of internal criticism, the level of theory development, examines if the theory is compatible with the conceptualization of middle-range philosophy. Significantly, assessing philosophies pertinent to nursing as representations can upsurge their scholarly and clinical practicality (Risjord, 2019). Internal criticism necessitates the assessor to explain if the theory logically follows and if it is rational and congruent with the fundamental assumptions.
External criticism evaluates the theory’s complexity, reality convergence, significance, scope, utility, and discrimination. Utility examines if the philosophy can formulate assumptions researchable by nurses. Significance measures if the theory’s outcomes impact how nurses conduct nursing interventions or it simply defines what they do.
Its significance also describes if it addresses essential subjects to nursing. The scope of a theory analyzes the narrowness or broadness of the assortment of phenomena it covers (Peterson & Bredow, 2019). Reality convergence determines if the hypothesis’s fundamental assumptions are factual, if they epitomize and characterize the actual world and if they mirror the physical world as comprehended by the person who reads (Peterson & Bredow, 2019).
Discrimination evaluates if the philosophy will generate suppositions that will result in unique research outcomes, its distinctiveness to the area of nursing it discusses and if it has clear and detailed boundaries and conclusive parameters of the topic. Lastly, a theory’s complexity assesses the number of concepts included as chief components, its description’s complexity, and if it’s understandable without an extensive clarification and explanation. External criticism necessitates the assessor to explain if the hypothesis’ assumptions are factual and if they mirror the real nursing world.
Summing up, determining if a hypothesis is practical for research practice is imperative. Internal and external criticism evaluate middle-range theories. Internal criticism analyzes the interior structure of how the theory’s components correspond with each other. Contrary, external criticism scrutinizes the philosophy and its connection to health, individuals, and nursing. A theory’s systematic and detailed criticism entails both internal and external criticism.
Also Read:
Criticism of Middle-Range Theories Essay
Peterson, S., & Bredow, T. S. (2019). Middle range theories: Application to nursing research and practice. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. https://dl.uswr.ac.ir/bitstream/Hannan/138864/1/9781608318001.pdf
Risjord, M. (2019). Middle?range theories as models: New criteria for analysis and evaluation. Nursing Philosophy, 20(1), e12225. https://doi.org/10.1111/nup.12225
Making judgement as to whether a theory could be adapted for use in research is very important. Describe the internal and external criticism that is used to evaluate middle range theories.
Protected health Information-PHI is sensitive data belonging to patients that are used to identify them. These are the personal information of patients that contain critical data such as a patient’s medical history, insurance information, and any other critical personal information. The provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-HIPAA stipulates that healthcare providers must protect the health information of their patients.
Healthcare organizations are required by law to protect the privacy of their patients by keeping their personal information away from unauthorized personnel and the public. Confidentiality entails concealing any personal information of patients from the public’s eye. The 2009 amendments to the HIPAA rules recognize sharing photos/pictures belonging to patients as a breach of confidentiality. From the case study provided, the nurse who shared a photo of herself and her patient on social media breached the law on patient privacy and confidentiality. Excellent examples of aspects that entail a breach of privacy and confidentiality in healthcare include; personal space/physical privacy, and personal data.
Public discussion of patients, carelessly leaving patients’ personal information lying on desks, taking photos with patients, and sharing on social media also breach the rule on patient confidentiality (Sipes, 2016). HIPAA requires all healthcare providers to strictly adhere to set rules and regulations about customer privacy and confidentiality. Concerning PHI, all healthcare facilities must protect all identifiable personal health information of patients such as financial information, birth date, name, photo/pictures, and patients’ medical history.
A breach of a patient’s confidentiality is a serious offense that attracts severe punishment by HIPAA. Punishment is meted out on nurses and healthcare givers that breach HIPAA’s privacy and confidentiality rules, even where the intention of the breach is not malicious. In the United States, over 500 professional nurses have been terminated from work for various offenses that fall under breach of confidentiality and privacy (Stevens, 2017). Furthermore, HIPAA is highly unlikely to hire nurses who have been previously terminated for breaching its confidentiality and privacy rules.
There are different categories of punishment by HIPAA depending on the gravity of a violation. Where HIPAA finds that a violation was unintentional, the punishment meted out depends on the seriousness of the violation. For example, posting a patient’s personal health information on social media is a serious violation even if the intention of the nurse is not malicious (Mosier, 2019). From the case study, the intention of the nurse when she posted a photo of herself and her patient is a serious breach of HIPAA rules that warrants termination from work.
Wilful violations of HIPAA rules result not only in dismissal from work but also in criminal charges. Where a nurse was found to wilfully breach PIH, they are terminated from work and criminal proceedings instituted against them (Jabour, 2021). Another sanction that HIPAA uses to sanction violators is to delist violators. This means that a violator is very unlikely to be rehired as a nurse in the future.
Patient privacy and confidentiality is a critical factor in the healthcare sector. Nurses and all health professionals in the U.S. must strictly observe privacy and confidentiality policies created by HIPAA. All personal health information of patients is private information that must be kept out of reach of the public. Violation of HIPAA rules on privacy and confidentiality attracts severe punishment ranging from being delisted as a nurse, criminal prosecution, and termination from duty.
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For this assessment, you will create a 2-4 page report on an interview you have conducted with a health care professional. You will identify an issue from the interview that could be improved with an interdisciplinary approach, and review best practices and evidence to address the issue.
As a baccalaureate-prepared nurse, your participation and leadership in interdisciplinary teams will be vital to the health outcomes for your patients and organization. One way to approach designing an improvement project is to use the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement describes it thus:
The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle is shorthand for testing a change in the real work setting—by planning it, trying it, observing the results, and acting on what is learned. This is the scientific method adapted for action-oriented learning…Essentially, the PDSA cycle helps you test out change ideas on a smaller scale before evaluating the results and making adjustments before potentially launching into a somewhat larger-scale project (n.d.).
You might also recognize that the PDSA cycle resembles the nursing process. The benefit of gaining experience with this model of project design is that it provides nurses with an opportunity to ideate and lead improvements. For this assessment, you will not be implementing all of the PDSA cycle.
Instead, you are being asked to interview a healthcare professional of your choice to determine what kind of interdisciplinary problem he or she is experiencing or has experienced in the workplace. This interview, in Assessment 2, will inform the research that you will conduct to propose a plan for interdisciplinary collaboration in Assessment 3.
It would be an excellent choice to complete the PDSA Cycle activity prior to developing the report. The activity consists of four questions that create the opportunity to check your understanding of best practices related to each stage of the PDSA cycle. The information gained from completing this formative will promote your success with the Interview and Interdisciplinary Issue Identification report. This will take just a few minutes of your time and is not graded.
Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (n.d.). How to improve. http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/HowtoImprove/default.aspx
This assessment will introduce the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) Model to create change in an organization. By interviewing a colleague of your choice, you will begin gathering information about an interprofessional collaboration problem that your colleague is experiencing or has experienced. You will identify a change theory and leadership strategies to help solve this problem.
This assessment is the first of three related assessments in which you will gather interview information (Assessment 2); design a proposal for interdisciplinary problem-solving, (Assessment 3); and report on how an interdisciplinary improvement plan could be implemented in a place of practice (Assessment 4). At the end of the course, your interviewee will have a proposal plan based on the PDSA cycle that he or she could present to stakeholders to address an interdisciplinary problem in the workplace.
For this assessment, you will need to interview a healthcare professional such as a fellow learner, nursing colleague, administrator, business partner, or another appropriate person who could provide you with sufficient information regarding an organizational problem that he or she is experiencing or has experienced, or an area where they are seeking improvements. Consult the Interview Guide [DOCX] for an outline of how to prepare and the types of information you will need to complete this project successfully.
Remember: this is just the first in a series of three assessments.
For this assessment, you will report on the information that you collected in your interview, analyzing the interview data and identifying a past or current issue that would benefit from an interdisciplinary approach. This could be an issue that has not been addressed by an interdisciplinary approach or one that could benefit from improvements related to the interdisciplinary approach currently being used.
You will discuss the interview strategy that you used to collect information. Your interview strategy should be supported by citations from the literature.
Additionally, you will start laying the foundation for your Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal (Assessment 3) by researching potential change theories, leadership strategies, and collaboration approaches that could be relevant to issue you have identified. Please be certain to review the scoring guide to confirm specific required elements of this assessment. Note that there are differences between basic, proficient and distinguished scores.
When submitting your plan, use the Interview and Issue Identification Template [DOCX], which will help you to stay organized and concise. As you complete the template, make sure you use APA format for in-text citations for the evidence and best practices that are informing your plan, as well as for the reference list at the end.
Additionally, be sure to address the following, which corresponds to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. Please study the scoring guide carefully so you understand what is needed for a distinguished score.
The interview was carried out on a nurse colleague using the interview guides provided prior to the interview. The nurse, Ms. Thomas, has been an active nurse for the past five years. In the interview, Nurse Thomas asserted that she has participated in some of the changes occurring in her healthcare facility.
Although Nurse Thomas has not been in employment for long, she has seen some transformative changes in the nursing industry and has also actively participated in instituting some of the changes in her healthcare facility. Based on her five years of experience and the changes she has witnessed, interviewing Ms. Thomas was a worthwhile activity.
During the interview, Nurse Thomas divulged to the interviewer that she had identified numerous healthcare solutions that she felt would revolutionize her healthcare organization through the provision of quality care. The nurse said that some of the changes like technology have transformed the nursing profession to unimaginable levels within the last few years. Ms. Thomas also told the interviewer that in her years of work as a nurse, she has seen some revolutionary innovations within the nursing industry that have transformed the nursing practice from what it was some years back.
Some of the strategies used to enhance the quality of the interview include effective communication such as clarity and using simple language. The interviewer used simple English language throughout the interview to eliminate chances of miscommunication or misunderstandings related to difficult jargon. Besides, the questions asked were straightforward and simple to get as much information as possible.
One of the changes that Nurse Thomas admitted having witnessed over the past five years of her professional life as a nurse is the improvement in patient outcomes and quality care. In particular, the nurse quoted efficiently functioning systems and technology as some of the factors that have led to rapid change in the healthcare industry. In the case of systems, Ms Thomas said she has witnessed many healthcare facilities reforming their organizational structures to adopt management approaches that promote efficiency and the provision of quality care to patients.
On technology, the Interviewee lauded such technological advances as artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, and Electronic Health Records as having brought about fundamental changes to her facility and the industry at large. During the interview, Ms. Thomas gave the example of how EHR technology has made the lives of nurses easy by saving them time and energy.
However, Ms. Thomas also admitted during the interview that even with the advancements brought by technology, there were still some challenges that needed solutions. Ms. Thomas particularly decried the issue of rising costs to patients occasioned by technology. She asserted that some hospitals have had to increase their costs and charges to patients to cater to the costs of purchasing and maintaining nursing technology tools.
Secondly, Ms. Thomas asserted that not only is technology expensive for many hospitals, it is also impossible for healthcare facilities to keep changing their equipment with the arrival of newer technology. For this reason, Ms. Thomas told the interviewer that very many healthcare facilities are still stuck in the old way of doing things.
Technology has been identified as one of the factors contributing to rapid changes in the healthcare sector. Technology in the healthcare industry leads to improved patient outcomes and quality care. Technology has also led to the reduction of medical errors as its precision improves with each new day. However, technology has also brought some challenges such as increased cost of medical care for patients.
Change is inevitable for healthcare facilities because of emerging trends. A simple yet effective change theory that healthcare industry players can utilize to keep up with the current trends is the Kurt Lewin change theory. This theory adopts a three-pronged approach to initiating change. The three stages involved in Kurt Lewin’s change are: unfreezing, changing and refreezing (Deborah, 2018).
Unfreezing is bringing in the desired values, behavior, beliefs, and organizational culture. The changing stage is the stage where people/organizations transition from the old way of doing things to the new way of doing things instituted at the unfreeze stage. The last stage, refreezing is where the new changes are reinforced and solidified as the new way of doing things.
Collaboration is critical in the healthcare industry because it enhances the quality of care for patients. When interprofessionals in healthcare work collaboratively, there is improved healthcare (Carney et al., 2019). Collaboration helps health professionals to become better at what they do through discussions, education, and teaching each other. For patients, collaboration between healthcare professionals leads to improved outcomes and quality care.
To solve the identified problems and other problems bedeviling the healthcare facilities, effective nursing leadership is required. Some of the factors required to demonstrate good nursing leadership include skill-based nursing, effective communication, making proper decisions, and positively influencing all employees to adopt positive behavior, culture, values, and philosophies that positively impact the quality of care provided to patients (Hussain et al., 2018). These factors impact the quality of care to patients as well as improving patient outcomes such as patient satisfaction.
Giving a good introduction speech is an important skill for nurses to master. Whether speaking to colleagues, patients, or the public, how you introduce yourself can make a lasting first impression.
In this article, we’ll look at some great introductory speech ideas for nurses and tips to help you deliver your speech effectively.
An introduction or self-introduction speech provides a brief overview of who you are, your background, and your key traits and experiences.
It allows you to give your listeners a one-point snapshot of the most important things they should know about you. This speech is commonly given at the start of a presentation, meeting, or event.
There are several key reasons why a self-introduction is important:
Overall, an effective self-introduction speech makes you more approachable, builds rapport with the audience, and sets the stage for the rest of your presentation.
Whether you’re giving a self-introduction speech or presenting on an informative topic, careful planning, and preparation is key to being an effective speaker.
When crafting your first speech, start by brainstorming a list of potential topics that highlight your background, interests, experiences, values, or goals. Pick a focused, interesting aspect of your life to develop into a structured, engaging speech.
For example, you could tell the story of how a favorite hobby like skiing or stamp collecting sparked your curiosity and taught you perseverance. Or narrate your cultural background and what traditions are most meaningful to you.
When selecting your speech topic, consider what you want your audience to learn about you and tailor the content appropriately. Know who your listeners are and what message you want to convey through your self-introduction.
After choosing a topic, create an organized outline following a logical sequence. Try a chronological approach describing how an activity or interest first captivated you, the challenges you faced, the skills you gained, and the impact it has on you today. This format tells a mini-story that keeps audiences engaged.
Whether you take a storytelling approach or deliver a quick list of facts, be sure to highlight your defining experiences, accomplishments, values, and personality traits. Share your proudest achievements, describe your inspirations, and explain your goals. This provides insight into what motivates you.
Vivid, well-chosen details make your speech come alive. Transport listeners to your study abroad experience in vivid detail or paint a picture of how performing on stage felt the first time. Sensory details are memorable.
Practice your speech introduction until your delivery feels polished and natural. Memorize key parts so you can confidently maintain eye contact instead of reading off notes. Record yourself to refine your pacing, projection, and gestures.
If time permits, use visual aids like photos or short video clips to supplement your ideas. Visuals make speeches more dynamic. Display images representing your cultural background or show yourself Scuba diving to illustrate a favorite hobby.
With compelling content and skillful delivery, your introduction speech can capture an audience’s interest and leave a powerful impression. Use these tips to approach speech writing strategically and hone your public speaking skills.
When preparing a self-introduction or “about me” speech, you have a diverse range of speech topic ideas to choose from to highlight your background, experiences, interests, values, and personality.
An introduction speech is a valuable opportunity to share who you are and establish rapport with your listeners. By highlighting your qualifications, experiences, values, and personal side appropriately, you can gain respect and find common ground.
While public speaking can be intimidating, following a template, practicing, and focusing on your most relevant qualities will ensure your nursing intro shines. Use the ideas above to craft a speech outline sample and master your introductory speech.
Anemia is defined is defined as hemoglobin levels below two standard deviations for age and gender of the patient. Globally, the common cause of Anemia disease is Iron deficiency anemia (IDA), which is due to deficiency of iron which is an essential component of hemoglobin (Joosten, 2017). Anemia of chronic disease is the second most prevalent cause of anemia after IDA and mostly seen in admitted patients as their current illness elicit an immune or inflammatory response that reduces the uptake of iron at various sites. The above anemias are often confused with each other and they must be distinguished for proper management of the patient (U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2019)
Laboratory evaluation will help distinguish the two types of anemia. Primarily, anemia of chronic disease which is mostly a diagnosis of exclusion. The red blood cell indices in iron deficiency anemia will show reduced mean corpuscular volume (MCV) in relation to severity of anemia, reduced serum iron, reduced serum ferritin, a raised “total iron binding capacity (TIBC), increased soluble transferrin receptor” and an increased serum transferrin level (Joosten, 2017). On other hand, anemia of chronic disease will show a normal MCV initially before reducing in the later stages, reduced serum iron and TIBC, normal or raised serum ferritin, reduced or normal level of serum transferrin and normal levels of soluble transferrin receptor,
Serum ferritin, which is a reliable measure of total iron stores can be misleading in patients with ACD because it is also produced by the liver in copious amounts as a result of inflammation. In such cases, one expects to see elevated levels of such inflammatory markers as erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP). Hepcidin is currently being proposed as the most accurate serological marker for differentiation of IDA from anemia of chronic disease.
The levels are raised in ACD and low in IDA. However, the standard method of differentiation of the two types of anemia is bone marrow aspiration and biopsy with staining for iron. The test shows diminished bone marrow iron stores and erythroblast iron in IDA. For ACD, the test reveals the presence of bone marrow iron stores with absent erythroblast iron.
In my view, the practitioner should not transfuse the patient. This is because the anemia is moderate (hemoglobin 9.5 g/dl) and cardiac decompensation was ruled out during physical examination. Blood transfusion is mostly indicated as a short-term solution for severe anemia (hemoglobin<6.5 g/dl) with cardiac decompensation.
This patient will benefit from intravenous iron replacement therapies including iron sucrose, ferrous gluconate and iron dextran complex and erythropoietin stimulating agents such as epoetin alfa and darbepoetin alfa. This is because the patient has an underlying kidney disease.
It is essential that iron stores are adequate during ESA treatment. This is because iron deficiency results in ESA resistance. Moreover, the clinician should watch out for signs and symptoms of an inflammatory state as it also results in ESA resistance. Long-term treatment with ESAs has been attributed to hypertension and therefore, systemic blood pressure should be monitored (Wici?ski et al., 2020). In addition, hemoglobin levels should be maintained between 11.5g/dl- 13.0g/dl to avoid worsening cardiovascular outcomes (Wici?ski et al., 2020).
The patient requires a close monitoring of her vital signs (pulse, BP, respiratory rate, and level of oxygen saturation), renal function tests including urea and electrolytes and creatinine clearance to check the integrity and function of the kidneys and serial hemoglobin checks to determine the severity of anemia. The patient needs a collaborative referral to improve her health as her condition is multidisciplinary.
The patient’s condition requires integrated services of herself, emergency physician, cardiologist, nephrologist, hematologist, family members and nurses all with the aim of improving her health outcome. All these parties must be organized in such a way that the unmet needs of the client are addressed without losing the client.
To avoid producing a fragmented portrait of the patient or creating frustration and confusion to the client, the involved parties should come up with a plan based on Watson’s theory. The theory advocates for transpersonal caring for better patient outcomes. Further, by establishing the primary care provider for this patient, a caring and trusting relationship will emerge between the patient and the healthcare providers thus ensuring patient’s privacy.
The emergency physician will educate the patient on danger signs and symptoms of her condition and should organize for a follow up with a hematologist for further examination. The family members should be advised on the patient’s condition in order to support and provide a protective environment to the client. The cardiologist will educate the patient on diet modification and importance of avoiding strenuous work. Moreover, the nephrologist should educate the patient on the role of kidney and the signs and symptoms of deranged kidney function which provides a teaching and learning session to the patient.
The nurses are central to the treatment of the patient and part of their education to the patient includes inspiring the patient, instilling hope and honor. In addition, they should express altruistic values such as love and kindness to the client. In the plan also, the patient will be allowed to express her feelings both negative and positive and practice her spiritual life freely. The patient will also be educated on the need to adhere to any medications prescribed.
Is Chegg considered cheating? The answer is yes, in most cases. The line between resourceful studying and academic dishonesty often blurs when utilizing Chegg, especially in college. The platform can transition from a helpful study tool to a form of cheating when students rely on it to complete homework, solve quiz questions, or find answers to exam questions.
This article will explore the complex and often contentious issue of using Chegg in academic settings.
Chegg is an American educational technology company that offers various services tailored for high school and college students, including textbook rentals and sales, detailed homework help, online tutoring, writing assistance, and scholarship and college admission guidance. While it’s designed as a comprehensive educational resource, how students use Chegg, particularly for homework solutions and expert Q&A, has raised questions about its impact on academic integrity.
Chegg is a legally operated and legitimate platform. It conducts business within legal and commercial regulations, offering legitimate services like textbook rentals, course material, homework help, online tutoring, and other educational resources. The company adheres to copyright and intellectual property laws, particularly in its textbook rental and digital resources services.
However, the legality of its use depends on how students utilize these resources. For instance, using Chegg to understand a subject better is generally considered legal and legitimate. In contrast, using it to copy answers for assignments, quizzes, or exams may violate the academic integrity policies of educational institutions, which doesn’t make Chegg illegal but can make such usage of the service unethical or against school rules.
Using Chegg can amount to cheating if it involves copying answers directly for assignments, quizzes, or exams, thereby violating the academic integrity policies of educational institutions. However, using Chegg as a study aid for understanding concepts or clarifying doubts is generally not considered cheating. The distinction lies in the intent and manner of usage – whether for genuine learning or bypassing the effort required in academic tasks.
Using Chegg is not considered cheating when it is employed as a resource for learning and understanding rather than for directly copying answers. Instances where using Chegg does not amount to cheating include:
The use of Chegg becomes problematic when it crosses over into the realm of academic dishonesty. This occurs in specific scenarios where students rely on Chegg not as a learning tool but as a means to bypass the educational process. Using Chegg is equated to cheating in the following scenarios:
College students have found various ways to misuse Chegg, often bending the rules of academic honesty. This section explores five common methods in which students inappropriately use Chegg to gain unfair advantages in their academic endeavors.
When using Chegg, users often encounter restrictions that prevent them from selecting text or copying and pasting homework solutions. However, there are various methods on how to use Chegg without getting caught:
Using unique access codes to view solutions. This can be done in two ways;
Yes, you can get caught cheating on Chegg. Educational institutions often have tools and methods to detect plagiarism and unauthorized assistance in assignments and exams. If a student’s work is suspiciously similar to solutions provided on Chegg, this can raise red flags.
Additionally, some institutions actively monitor online resources like Chegg, especially during exams or assessments. Chegg also complies with educational institutions’ inquiries into academic dishonesty cases, including sharing user information under certain circumstances. Therefore, using Chegg to cheat is a way that violates academic integrity policies and carries a significant risk of detection and subsequent academic consequences.
Chegg’s answers provide a mix of both correct and incorrect results. The platform hosts various solutions and expert answers to various academic questions. While many of these solutions are provided by knowledgeable individuals or experts in their respective fields, the accuracy can vary.
As with any resource, users must evaluate and verify the information critically. Chegg can be a valuable tool for understanding and learning, but students should use it to supplement their studies rather than a definitive source of answers.
Deleting your questions posted on Chegg may remove them from public view, but it doesn’t necessarily erase all traces or evidence. Once a question is posted, there’s a possibility that it has been viewed, shared, or saved by other users. Additionally, Chegg may retain records of user activity and posted content.
In cases of academic integrity investigations, educational institutions may request information from Chegg, which could include previously deleted questions. Therefore, deleting a question does not guarantee the complete removal of its digital footprint or associated evidence.
Whether using Chegg constitutes cheating depends on how and why it is used. It is crucial to differentiate between using Chegg as a study aid for genuine understanding and learning versus using it to bypass academic efforts in assignments and exams.
Students should adhere to their educational institutions’ policies and honor codes while using external resources. The key is to use Chegg responsibly, ensuring it supplements rather than replaces individual academic work and maintaining integrity and ethics in all educational pursuits.
Chegg has faced criticism for potentially enabling academic dishonesty. Some argue it promotes shortcuts rather than genuine learning. The platform’s chegg anti cheating measures are sometimes seen as insufficient, leading to concerns about academic integrity.
Chegg itself is a legal company offering various educational services. However, how students use it can potentially violate academic integrity policies or copyright laws. The legality depends on usage.
Yes, it’s possible to get caught. Many institutions have implemented sophisticated methods to detect unauthorized assistance. Chegg reporting students who misuse their service is also possible, though this typically occurs only when formally requested by an educational institution.
Chegg may cooperate with academic institutions investigating potential cheating cases. It has a policy of reporting students if a school makes an official inquiry about academic misconduct. However, it doesn’t proactively report individual usage to schools.
This depends on how it’s used. Using Chegg to understand concepts or check answers after completing work independently is generally acceptable. However, directly copying solutions or using them during closed-book exams is typically considered cheating. Always consult your institution’s academic integrity policies.
From a data security standpoint, Chegg employs standard safeguards for user information. However, “safety” in terms of academic integrity is less clear. While Chegg has chegg anti cheating policies, using the service inappropriately can put your academic standing at risk.
Improvement in the quality of health is a major concern for healthcare facilities and governments. To provide quality healthcare, healthcare facilities focus on improving service delivery, reducing healthcare costs, and enhancing patient outcomes. To achieve these objectives, healthcare organizations must put in place proper leadership structures, skilled staff, and appropriate tools to create a robust healthcare system. The leadership structure and composition of any health facility are among the key factors that determine how effective the system is. For instance, staff satisfaction and patient outcomes are heavily dependent on effective leadership. Patient outcome is one of the key indicators used for measuring the quality of healthcare. Thus, effective leadership, collaboration, and organizational culture in the healthcare sector are critical for patient satisfaction. Patient experiences are direct to proportionate to the level of staff satisfaction. Quality Improvement is critical in curtailing medical errors.
Healthcare facilities face a major burden from medical errors. One way of addressing this issue is by adopting the Triple Aim concept. This approach integrates the needs of healthcare workers as well as improving quality outcomes for patients. Improving healthcare and patient satisfaction are both critical in attaining the desired health outcomes (Rathert et al., 2018). Other outcomes such as health care policies, functional leadership structures, and a conducive working environment play a pivotal role in ensuring effective service delivery and satisfaction.
Author Patricia Yoder-Wise in her book Leading and Managing in Nursing (2019) asserts that health caregivers especially nurses, play a crucial role in the success of the healthcare system. The book advocates for the adoption of the Triple Aim concept as a method of curbing medical errors (Yoder-wise et al., 2019). According to the author, critical factors in curtailing medical errors include improving access to healthcare, provision of quality services, affordable healthcare services, and considering the work-life of the healthcare providers. To provide satisfactory health care services, it is necessary to adopt an organized structure to govern the operations.
In today’s Healthcare sector, there is an adoption of a strategic management process that helps in coping with the existing dynamics in the sector. Ginter et al (2018) states that embracing strategic management provides effective leadership in the health care sector. Besides, strategic management bring an aspect of safety culture in the article “Keeping Patients Safe in the Healthcare Organization” (Ginter et al., 2018). The structuration theory advocate for the involvement of both the caregivers and the leaders within an organization. The caregivers through the available communication channels share their organizational values with the patient to develop a safety culture system. The structures aim to provide the organizations with a governing guide for the leaders, staff, and patients.
In every organization, there are leadership structures outlined to govern their operations. These structures are a result of identified leadership styles that have been proven effective over the years. The coursebook gives an outline of various leadership theories that can be used to effectively manage healthcare facilities. The first is trait theory that focuses on an individual character to distinguish their strength and weaknesses as a leader (Kingsley & Patel, 2017). The second is situation theory that is characterized by trust relationships, the nature of the task, and power influence. The strategy entails having a particular set of expectations and a reward system to motivate staff.
The adoption of this concept is dependent on job performance. Thirdly, the transformational theory is focused on meeting the needs of members to keep them highly motivated. This concept allows leaders to be role models in being optimistic and encouraging member’s creativity (Cope & Murray, 2017). The strategy intends to boost staff morale and promote development since they are confident of having a supportive leadership structure. The above theories seek to embrace systems that can promote the creativity of the staff, increase productivity and performance, and provide a conducive working environment in efforts to attain a high level of members’ satisfaction and improved health care provision.
Patient outcome is among the key measuring index of the quality of any health care facility. However, satisfactory patient outcomes cannot be achieved without considering the well-being of caregivers. These two factors are directly dependent on each other in that a motivated and satisfied care provider is equivalent to a more satisfying patient outcome (Kingsley & Patel, 2017). The leadership factor is key to the growth of any organization. Therefore, there is a necessity to invest in leadership skills at all levels of the organization since knowledge and skills in leadership influence the level of staff satisfaction and commitment to the organization. The type of leadership Styles in an organization directly affect satisfaction levels with both the patients and the staff. From the analysis of the above leadership theories, transformational leadership theory has proven to embrace satisfactory relationships among patients, staff, and leaders. Adoption of an appropriate leadership style is crucial in achieving satisfactory and delivering quality patient outcomes in the health sector.
Culture is a set of beliefs, norms, practices, and traits of religious, social, and social group. For healthcare organizations, culture is critical because it affects patient outcomes and the delivery of quality health. A just culture in the healthcare industry is critical because it promotes safe behaviors by healthcare workers leading to improved quality care. Health experts assert that a positive culture helps to weed out medical errors by alleviating/human errors. Human errors occur when people do what they should not do. Risky behaviors in the healthcare industry lead to costly mistakes. Similarly, irresponsible behavior by healthcare workers is a big risk to patients and healthcare facilities. Studies conducted in the U.S. reveal that teamwork and improved safety culture help healthcare systems reduce errors that lead to patient harm. Safety culture in healthcare system is the product of attitudes, patterns of behavior, perceptions, values, and beliefs. These parameters determine the quality of health provided to patients in healthcare settings.
One of the critical outcomes expected from healthcare facilities is Interprofessional collaboration. Interprofessional collaboration has emerged as a critical tool in the provision of enhanced quality healthcare for patients. Healthcare system works on collaborative system that allows different healthcare professionals to work collaboratively. These collaborations help to improve the quality of care provided to patients leading to a reduction in medical errors. For example, a nurse work collaboratively with other healthcare professionals the platform to diagnose and create an effective treatment plan (Randhawa, & Ahuja, 2017). Through established patient systems, physicians use the systems to create an effective treatment plan for the patient while a researcher can use the patient system from the platform with the aim of conducting further research on complex cases to provide a solution.
Reduced medical errors have a positive impact on the quality of care for patients, improves patient safety, and helps to improve overall patient care. For hospitals, reduced medical errors mean improved reputation, good customer relations, and reduced cost of operations. For example, medical errors cost hospitals millions of dollars every year, money that would be used on other critical ventures. Nursing informatics allows healthcare facilities to increase the level of quality provision as well as cutting down the costs of operations.
Medication error is a public health concern that burdens the healthcare industry with unnecessary costs. Incidences of medical errors in America have doubled over the last few years causing the industry billions of dollars in damages and related costs. Errors related to dispensing, prescribing, administering, and monitoring are the most common forms of medical errors in healthcare facilities. To reduce medical errors individual healthcare facilities working in collaboration with relevant government agencies have created pharmacovigilance activities to curb medical errors (Tariq et al., 2020).
These pharmacovigilance activities cover all factors critical in risk management through the implementation of specific measures that minimize medical errors such as effective leadership. Many modern healthcare organizations no longer view leadership as merely a function of authority. Instead, many advanced organizations view leadership as an act of social good where everyone benefits from leadership. To prevent medical errors, healthcare organizations formulate SMART goals that lead to streamlining medical operations. Effective leadership and management are critical for the delivery of quality health services. The skills, behaviors, and outlook of leaders are essential for the effective management of healthcare facilities.
As the healthcare system continues to transform, nurses find themselves in situations of changing roles. Owing to the changing health care environment in the country, nurses have to evolve with the changes and must learn the factors influencing such changes. One of the issues which nurses must deal with under the current health care environment is increased quality of care for patients (Loan, et al, 2017). In this regard, nurses must acquire new skills or enhance their skills especially on wellness and care of populations. This, according to Patel and Rushefsky (2019), is because the new reforms lay emphasis on patient-centered care, and quality improvements. For the nursing fraternity, changes will be necessary not only at the individual level but also at the organization level. In terms of wellness, nurses have to shift their focus from illnesses to prioritizing on preventive measures, as well as paying attention on general wellness and education on health.
Improvements in the quality in the healthcare industry promote Interprofessional quality outcomes. Healthcare leadership have come up with Quality Improvement-QI mechanisms to reduce medical errors. QI also entails using evidence-based interventions and changing the existing models to make them more relevant. The second case study involved the Application of the Institute of Healthcare Improvement Models for QI in public health by South Carolina (Rathert et al., 2018). Outcomes from this experience include a recommendation to provide appropriate staff training on the program to ensure they have the needed skills for implementing the program. The experience also stated that staff members require sufficient authority to function independently and make decisions personal decisions whenever there is no substantial evidence to guide them. QI is critical in reducing medical errors.
Quality improvements could be systematically used to improve preparedness and the capacity of healthcare workers to improve service-a parameter useful in improving the overall public health performance (Mannion, & Davies, 2018). Many public health facilities have been struggling with emergency preparedness that has affected their ability to provide quality care. However, implementing this program can help improve the provision and management of emergencies. For example, dealing with emergency cases such as pandemic influenza requires that health facilities perform core functions such as disease surveillance, case investigation, and conducting public education to mobilize and increase community awareness.
The driving forces behind the new healthcare reforms in the United States include concerns for quality and costs. Unlike in the past, today, health outcomes have become an important matter in the country’s health care (Tariq et al., 2017) Demographic changes in chronic diseases and aging population are some of the compelling factors that have necessitated changes in the healthcare sector in America. In turn, the reforms have come with far-reaching consequences to providers, consumers, and the government. For consumers, being able to afford medical care is one of the biggest gains from the reforms. For providers, government funding through policies have given them new sources of income which in turn they use to improve quality of health care.
Medication errors are a big public health concern that adversely impacts key stakeholders such as pharmaceuticals, patients, regulators, insurance companies, and patients. Achieving improved healthcare is critical in attaining the desired health outcomes. Besides other factors such as effective health care policies, functional leadership structures, and a convenient working environment play a great role in ensuring effective service delivery and patient satisfaction.
To attain the desired outcomes, there is a need to invest in caregivers with the necessary skills to help them minimize medical related errors. The acquired skills play a great role in promoting leadership among the staff and advocating for quality service provision to the patients. In addition to skills, also the relationship between the type of leadership structure and the satisfaction of both staff and patients cannot be ignored. The above-discussed leadership theories seek to embrace systems that can promote the creativity of the staff, increase productivity and performance, and provide a favorable working environment in efforts to attain a high level of members’ satisfaction and improved health care provision.