Planned Change

 

Inefficiency in the unit

In the medical inpatient unit, there is the presence of poor communication between the nurses and the physicians. These problems have aroused because the nurse and the physicians do not record at certain times what they have done to the patient. There is also miscommunication on the patient condition, and the failure of the care providers to read the patient medical records before they provide care to the clients which have resulted in harm to the health of the patient, and also prolonged patient stay in the hospital.

Planned changes to be made

 It is, therefore, necessary to make sure every care provider who will be involved in taking care of the patient, has the right information of the patient. This can be done through the encouragement of the care providers to participate in the multidisciplinary ward rounds, this will enable them to discuss clearly on the patient plan of care, setting up of the daily goals and know any plans that might be done to the patients such as the discharge or even transfers to other facilities. Attendance of the multidisciplinary round fosters patient-centered care.

            Introduction of team huddles will also be appropriate. This is brief interdisciplinary meeting at the beginning of shift, and the members are involved in the discussion of a patient who might need complex care like those with urinary catheters, the members also will discuss issues that may affect the functioning of the unit such as the functioning of equipment and those that require maintenance. The members can also exchange information on patients who will be discharged or transferred to other units and other issues that will affect good performance (Johnson, 2018). For example, common errors in charting during documentation and also the staff can get general information which might have come from the hospital or the nursing administration.

             Implementation of the situational briefing is also essential to give a solution to poor communication. It will help the care providers to discuss patient health and the developments that will require attention this is done through, for example, understanding the situation by knowing the current clinical status of the client, taking proper history of the event, analyzing the assessment with understanding of the current diagnosis and lastly giving recommendation on the treatment (St et al., 2016). This ensures that all the team members have the same information concerning the patient and will follow the same approach when offering treatment to the patient.

Effects of change on hospital mission, values, and professional standards

            The changes will offer a lot of benefits to the patients, the nurses and also other staff members, working in this kind of collaborative environments will help in setting up of goals which are beneficial to the patient and also reduces the stress that may occur when providing care to the client. It also inspires the members of the team to work in collaboration to come up with interventions which will suit the patient and care delivery.

            Through making the changes the unit will be able to provide quality care to the patient which will then reduce the length of patient stay in the hospital, this helps the hospital to achieve its mission of provision of quality care to all its customers as well as cost-effectively giving this care. The service to meet the community needs through the provision of care as need by the members of the community will also be achieved. It will also foster the trust between the members of the public and the hospital in that, the better the quality of care provided through the development of patient-centered care, resulting from quality communication, gives quality outcomes appreciated by the public.

            Furthermore, care providers will deliver professionalism to the client. The members can meet the expectations of the client and on the other hand preserve the dignity of the individual. The changes will improve the professional standards of provision of quality care and promoting patient safety. It will also result in quality improvement in care delivery to the clients and will result in the prioritization of patient care as well as professional collaboration and respecting the professional contribution of each in the team

The change model

            This is a planned incremental change, and therefore it requires collaboration from the members of the unit, and on the other hand, it works for the betterment of service delivery to the patients in the unit. Lewin’s phases of planned change are simplistic, and it gives a right direction on how change can be implemented in the hospital which is first unfreezing then moving and the last one being refreezing (Hayes, 2018). This is a three-step which, during the first step the individuals who will be affected by the change are prepared. In the moving phase the changes are introduced and the third, these changes are cemented and stabilized. Effecting changes are dynamic and so the model which makes this appropriate for this.

Steps in implementing the change

            The changes are communicated to all the nurses, physicians, and other staff members, and this makes sure that all the individuals who will be affected by the change are aware that a planned change is coming (Hayes, 2018). Teaching the health care staff on the importance of the change and how it will result in better clinical outcomes and promote the satisfaction of all the patients in the unit as well as the providers themselves. They are also informed on how the change aligns with the health care mission and values which they all need the organization to achieve at all levels during their services. The best motivation should be obtained to improve the need for change by the members and thus through proper explanation and provision of necessary information they may need is a good strategy.

            After the need for change has been created and embraced by the staff, the changes are introduced into the unit. The changes are presented in a slow phase one after the other, and training is administered to promote understanding and how it will be done. All the staff members are informed about the information they will have received during all the changes that have been introduced (Scott et al., 2018). All the three proposals are implemented, and any resistance to change must be dealt with immediately to facilitate the change implementation process.

            The last phase is cementing this changes that have already been introduced to the unit, and thus stabilization of these changes is appropriate. Proper coaching will make the changes acceptable to all the staff members and will make them be taken as the new norms in the unit. The providers will be comfortable when the amendments have been adopted and will make routines to meet the change needs.

Change facilitation

            The nurse manager will be involved in the introduction of the change and its implementation in the unit. The nurse manager should provide the necessary education and proper communication concerning the change including the time and the areas where the change will occur and also allows for participation to encourage total cooperation, and this will reduce the chances of resistance (Kumah, Ankomah & Antwi, 2016). The manager also should provide enough resources and conducive environment to implement the change; this is to make the process of implementation easy to all the care providers

            Since there must be resistance to change from the nature of human beings, the nurse manager can employ the use of force to implement the change needed to improve service delivery. Use of manipulation and co-optation might also be necessary to facilitate the change implementation.

References

Johnson, I. (2018). Communication Huddles: The Secret of Team Success. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 49(10), 451-453.

Hayes, J. (2018). The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave.

Kumah, E., Ankomah, S. E., & Antwi, F. (2016). The role of first-line managers in healthcare change management: a Ghanaian context. International Journal of Biosciences, Healthcare Technology and Management, 6(3), 20.

Pucher, P. H., & Aggarwal, R. (2016). Improving Ward-based Patient Care: Prioritizing the Ward Round in Training and Practice. Annals of surgery, 263(6), 1075-1076.

St, M. P., Breuer, G., Strembski, D., Schmitt, C., & Lütcke, B. (2016). Briefing improves the management of a difficult mask ventilation in infants: Simulator study using Web-based decision support. Der Anaesthesist, 65(9), 681-689.

Scott, T., Mannion, R., Davies, H., & Marshall, M. (2018). Healthcare performance and organisational culture. CRC Press.