DEFINING AND REFINING THE PROBLEM
You have now spent 3 full weeks working on an identified practice problem. You have spent time with your team and preceptor at your practicum site, and you have begun to evaluate the scope of the problem and need for change. Based on your experiences in these first 4 weeks, what is working? What is not working? What has or has not worked in the past?
For this Discussion, you will consider your identified practice problem to help define and refine the work that you have done thus far. Consider what is working, what is not working, your stakeholders, and what has worked and has not worked in the past. Review the evidence gathered to determine how you might need to refine your identified practice problem.
RESOURCES
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
WEEKLY RESOURCES
TO PREPARE
Review the Learning Resources that address problem identification.
Analyze the work done thus far on your identified practice problem, specifically analyzing what management has done to date with the problem.
Review your practice focused question, meetings with your team and preceptor, and your identification of stakeholders.
BY DAY 3 OF WEEK 4
Post a response discussing your selected practice problem. After meeting with your team, describe the following:
What is currently working?
What has not worked?
What changes might you implement?
What changes might you consider in addressing the problem?
Are these changes supported by evidence?
In your response, share what you have been working on throughout the first 4 weeks of the course, focusing specifically on defining your practice focused question, meeting with your team, and identifying stakeholders. Be specific. What leadership strategies might you use to support the problem you have identified? Explain whether you have refined your practice focused question and why.
BY DAY 6 OF WEEK 4
Read a selection of your colleagues’ blog posts and respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by supporting or expanding on their work thus far with their practice focused question. Work to share additional perspectives on the issue described by your colleague.
ORDER A CUSTOM-WRITTEN PAPER HERE
Defining and Refining The Problem
The healthcare sector is ever-changing to accommodate new care practices, technological advancement, nurse and other healthcare professionals shortage, and changing population demographics. According to Miake-Lye et al. (2020), successful care organizations have been deemed ready for change and effectively adopt and assimilate change into their operations. Readiness for change in the dynamic and evolving healthcare industry has become critical regarding remaining effective in care delivery. Machitidze (2022) defined that an organization’s preparedness and capacity to implement change help to remain effective in its operations and performance. Nurse shortage has become a severe concern in the healthcare sector today. The challenge has been linked to adverse impacts on care delivery and patient outcomes. A nursing shortage is when the number of nurses is insufficient to meet patient care demands. The shortage can result from different factors, including growth in population, an aging nurse workforce, and challenges in recruitment and retention.
It is significant to remember that the severity and impact of nursing shortages might differ from healthcare institution to healthcare facility (Ghafoor et al., 2021). Healthcare businesses frequently adopt tactics like signing incentives, flexible staffing arrangements, and funding for nurse education and training to lessen the consequences of shortages. Politicians and healthcare executives are also continuously addressing the root reasons of nurse shortages to guarantee that patient care is not jeopardized. This paper focuses on the nursing shortage to define and refine the problem.
What is Currently Working
The need for change remains inevitable to address the identified problem. According to (Machitidze, 2022), due to the magnitude and diversity of the impact related to the nurse shortage problem, there has been a need for a multifaceted approach to address the issue. While the issue is complex, different practices and strategies have been adopted and implemented to mitigate the impact while ensuring the nursing sector remains effective in care delivery. Currently, collaborative care and working in shifts have seemed to work, ensuring the minimal nurse workforce is evenly distributed according to patient care demand while giving them enough rest. Finally, the organization utilizes teamwork and related changes to accommodate the available nursing team.
What has not Worked
However, despite the shortage of nursing workforce, the demand for nursing care and related services continues to be experienced daily. With limited financial resources, hiring additional nurses to support the current workforce has not worked to the level needed. This has partially been due to limited financial resources and limited qualified nurses.
What changes might you implement?
Addressing the nursing shortage issue demands a multifaceted approach comprising diverse stakeholders’ input, including the administration, leaders and managers, and nurse professionals (Machitidze, 2022). At the organizational level, the most likely changes to implement include improving nurses’ welfare and working environment while providing relevant resources to empower available nurses. Other changes would include providing flexible scheduling and work-life balance, competitive compensation, motivating the available team of nurses, and reducing the turnover rate significantly. According to Miake-Lye et al. (2020), organization-based measures provide the first intervention or change to address the identified problem. The changes would improve nurse well-being, recruitment and retention, teamwork, and collaboration. Improving the workplace environment works as a moral imperative and a strategic necessity for healthcare organizations. The change implemented benefits the organizations, patients, and the nursing workforce.
What Changes Might You Consider in Addressing The Problem?
While the changes implemented may provide a short-term remedy to the problem identified, other changes may be considered to answer the nurse shortage issue. The proposed considerations involve external stakeholders such as government agencies, education institutions, and professional nursing bodies (Marć et al., 2019). With increasing demand for quality, evidence-based, and patient-based care, the changes would focus on improving or increasing nursing education capacity, providing financial incentives and scholarships, and using telehealth tools. Other considerations include patient load management, streamlined licensing, and community partnerships.
According to Machitidze (2022), implementing the proposed changes would result in a revolutionized healthcare industry, meaning more patients would be served, and quality care would be delivered while advocating for patient-based care interventions. Over the years, different research has been undertaken on effective probable measures to address the nurse shortage problem linked to adverse patient care outcomes, such as causing a delay in patient treatment and services. Other vices related to nurse shortage include burnout, high turnover rate, unattended patients, missed appointments, increased errors, and compromised patient safety.
For effective change implementation, there is a need to identify and formulate the relevant stakeholders who would make up the change management team. These include the nurses, leaders, managers, administration, and patients. Other who may be involved include the nurse informaticists. Ghafoor et al. (2021) identified that leaders ad leadership practices play a critical role in change implementation within the organization as it helps navigate complexities associated with change. Effective leadership during change helps set a clear change vision, change communication, resource allocation, and empowering teams. A transformational leadership model would be ideal to support the change practices to address the problem in focus. Leadership is instrumental in driving change implementation within organizations. Influential leaders provide direction, motivation, and support to navigate the challenges and complexities associated with change, ultimately leading to successful outcomes and organizational growth.
References
Ghafoor, Y., Yaqoob, A., & Awais Bilal, M. (2021). Impact of Nurse Shortage on Patient Care. Saudi J Nurs Health Care, 4(4), 114–119. https://doi.org/10.36348/sjnhc.2021.v04i04.003
Machitidze, M. (2022). Impact of The Nurses Education and Shortage on The Patients Care Outcomes-Literature Review. American Journal of Biomedical Science & Research, 15(4), 441–443. https://doi.org/10.34297/ajbsr.2022.15.002135
Marć, M., Bartosiewicz, A., Burzyńska, J., Chmiel, Z., & Januszewicz, P. (2019). A nursing shortage – a prospect of global and local policies. International Nursing Review, 66(1), 9–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.12473
Miake-Lye, I. M., Delevan, D. M., Ganz, D. A., Mittman, B. S., & Finley, E. P. (2020). Unpacking organizational readiness for change: an updated systematic review and content analysis of assessments. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-4926-z
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