NURS FPX4010 Assessment 3 Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal
Context
Assessment 3: Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal
Student Name
FPX4010
Capella University
Prof Name
Month Date, Year
Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal
Healthcare settings have been facing the challenges to attain quality care services for patients which increases the damage to healthcare organizations’ reputation, lack of resources, lack of interaction among department facilities, shortage of nursing staff, and lack of emergency resources to be provided to patients (Demarquet et al. 2021). The goal of the proposal is to introduce the interdisciplinary approaches in the healthcare setting that will improve nursing performance in terms of coordination with other staff/patients and enhance the healthcare quality as well as the availability of healthcare in the Vila healthcare organization. This plan will be interdisciplinary in nature as pharmacists, lab technicians, physicians as well as physiotherapists, all will play their role to reduce the workload burden on emergency department nurses. It will help overcome the overcrowding issues in the emergency departments and to reduce the unwanted length of stay of patients in the hospital due to overload of work on nursing staff
Objective
The plan is to implement the primary objective by using Lewin’s three-stage theory of change and transformational leadership style (McCartney et al., 2021). The objectives include reducing the burden on nurses and the length of stay of patients in the hospital. Increasing the worktime of clinical experts by making a precise schedule. Increasing the educational concept of staff about emergency preparedness and promoting interdisciplinary collaborations to maintain the resources in emergency departments as well as prohibit the congested Eds (Baehr et al., 2020). Kenny et al. (2020) state the role of interdisciplinary collaborations as a successful implementation in the healthcare settings. Arranging the additional meetings to discuss and suggest changes among the interdisciplinary team to improve the patient outcomes in emergency departments. The interdisciplinary team will include all the clinical professionals, nursing staff, therapists, and supporting staff. The main objective was to increase the capacity of emergency departments and to take measures so that enough resources (patient beds, first aid supplies) will be available in case of emergency and overcrowding issue can be resolved (Demarquet et al., 2021). Success of the interdisciplinary collaboration will be measured using questionnaires and surveys. Moreover, as a result of successful implementation of plan, ED overcrowding will lessen and healthcare quality will be increased overall.
Questions and Predictions
- How patient-centered care will be implemented?
By patient-centered care means making sure that all the healthcare professionals and nursing staff only focus on the patient’s concerns (Mijares & Radovich, 2020). Through the plan of this proposal, responsibilities will be assigned to experts in terms of improving the quality of care for patients, especially in emergency departments (Demarquet et al., 2021).
2. How much time will be consumed in the implementation of the plan?
Things can never be changed overnight, especially the complications relating to healthcare settings. The project has targeted goals that will be analyzed every 3 months. Each healthcare facility will be provided with its achievement record according to its reputation and level of patient satisfaction (Kenny et al., 2020). The questionnaire will be circulated among the admitted patients to know their experience during the treatment process.
3. How many resources are needed in the implementation of the process?
Minimum resources will be required to implement the plan as the nursing staff in the hospital will be taking the initiative to support the challenges (Mijares & Radovich, 2020). The nursing and other clinical staff will be assigned the relevant duties by extending their duty hours, especially in emergency departments, and maintaining stock availability. In case the staff refuses to work during extended hours, the staff should be assigned the duties in shifts, making sure the availability of staff in case of emergency. A slight increase in payrolls and allowances will also boost the confidence of staff. Other members of interdisciplinary team will lessen the workload by helping nursing staff. For example, a permanent lab technician from radiology department can assist in quick lab report readings. Nursing informaticist will assist through technological assistance using electronic medical record (EMR) and other technologies.
Change Theories and Leadership Strategies
The outcome of implementing the plan will help overcome the overcrowding issues in the emergency departments and to reduce the unwanted length of stay of patients in the hospital. To implement the project, Lewin’s theory of change and transformational leadership is to be followed (McCartney et al., 2021). At the initial step of unfreezing, the administration must argue about the deficiencies being noticed in routine procedures of the organization as well as will assign the duty to staff to report about the deficiencies they notice around the organization’s premises while working all day. Jessica reported in the interview about congested emergency departments and the non-availability of immediate experts to entertain the emergency cases which cause the unwanted prolonged stay of patients in the emergency department resulting in overcrowded ED (Baehr et al., 2020). This step will help increase the efficiency of staff and to know about the causes of mishandling in emergency departments.
The second step of Lewin’s change theory suggests the guidance of leadership roles to the other clinical professionals like nurses and doctors (McFarlan et al., 2019). This can be done through interdisciplinary teamwork and meetings where the strengths of each staff member will be noticed and a beneficial interaction among the staff will be made. The collaborative work by the interdisciplinary teams will help to communicate better in the emergency rooms to immediately assist all the patients by coordinating with each other and discharge the patients on priority as soon as they get better instead of making prolonged stays of patients due to delay in service providing (Buttigieg et al., 2018). Engaging the employees in their job roles is itself a very effective strategy.
Then comes the final stage of Lewin’s theory which is refreezing, which means transformational leadership roles should motivate the staff and help them boost by announcing rewards for better performance and punishment in case of any violation in their job roles (McFarlan et al., 2019). The theory will help integrate a collaborative system in the healthcare organization to establish an improved patient care routine, especially in emergency departments (McCartney et al., 2021). Lewin’s theory of change will help to overcome the overcrowding issues in the emergency departments as well as will help reduce the unwanted length of stay of patients in the hospital. According to Buttigieg et al. (2018), Lewin’s theory of change is helpful to boost the interdisciplinary plan as it guides the leadership roles and promotes effective collaborations among the interdisciplinary teams.
Team Collaboration Strategy
A leadership role or a senior manager who will have command over the nursing staff and doctors will be responsible for the implementation of the plan. The collaborative team will mainly include the HR, administration, pharmacist, nursing informaticist, nursing staff and lab technician. HR will facilitate the employees in every possible manner and administration will assign the relevant duties of employees in the emergency department according to their expertise. The pharmacist will hold on to the records as well as will maintain the EMR and medication records which will help to check the medicine availability and maintain the stock for emergency use (Chava et al., 2019). Moreover, they will assist in reduction of medication errors as well. A permanent lab technician from radiology department will help to quickly analyse the reports of emergency cases so the patients will be discharged timely to avoid overcrowding. First, he must organize a team of specialists that must include the trained nursing staff and other clinical staff (surgeons, medical specialists, therapists). Nursing informaticist will assist through technological assistance using electronic medical record (EMR) and other technologies. A leadership role such as nursing manager or supervisor must encourage the staff and assign their relevant duties. Leaders must evaluate the performance of each employee and implement plans to improve their performance in their job roles. All the relevant staff for the emergency department should be appointed only for EDs and they should be strictly monitored as emergency cases are the most critical whereas the best possible services in EDs will decrease the mortality and morbidity rates as well (Kenny et al., 2020).
Enhancing the collaborative work strategies and exchange of useful knowledge in the organization will help in the growth of the team in an organization. Taking the reviews of patients about their experiences will also help to improve the healthcare quality system. Maintaining quality compliance, especially in terms of resources in the emergency departments is the first duty of managers and administration of the hospital. The overall objective of this plan is the up gradation of emergency departments by maintaining the resources supply and reducing the overcrowded situations in emergency departments due to long or unwanted lengths of stay of patients due to delays in treatment. The objectives can be achieved by following the strategies and evaluating the progress every 3 months. Dahlke et al. (2020) stated the outcomes of their research which show that professionals’ collaboration is effectively providing patient-centered care according to their survey-based analysis. Staff identified daily rounds with interprofessional teams as supportive of interprofessional collaboration and patient-centered care. The interdisciplinary plan implementation process is facilitated by leaders who may introduce some rewards for the active participation of staff to achieve better outcomes. The concept of Lewin’s theory of change will help to maintain and increase the capacity of emergency departments and take measures so that enough resources (patient beds, first aid supplies) will be available in case of an emergency.
Required Organizational Resources
The budget for implementation of the plan includes
Area | Details | Budget ($)/day |
Human Resources | Nursing staff | 200 |
Nursing Informaticist | 400 | |
Pharmacist | 250 | |
Resources | Stationary and other material | 150 |
Staff reward | Bonus (extra hours) | 400 |
In case of the failure of a plan, the financial loss will be considered. The failure of the plan will increase the medication errors and will decrease the organization’s strength in other clinical practices. The budget should be divided into human resources, staff rewards, and other materialistic resources for the implementation of the plan. According to Bazzoli (2021), financial resources in the healthcare organization have a great impact on the growth of the organization in terms of patient care. The organizational resources that are needed for successful implementation of the plan are less as the experts already have worked to overcome the concerns but in an improper way. A survey-based study should be performed about the experience of patients during treatment or emergency cases in the healthcare organization and improvements should be made according to their concerns. The data will be analyzed, and meetings will be conducted with the overall staff of the healthcare organization. Additional cost required is increased pay for roles of nurses and other clinical experts as their duty hours will be extended in the emergency department (Niskala et al., 2020). If a clinical professional is taking $800 monthly, he must be given an additional $40 per day for extended duty hours. Thus, a team of 10 specialists only for emergency departments will need $400 for each specialist per day which is a very small cost to successfully implement the plan. Pharmacists will be given an extra $200 for maintaining the medication records. Meetings should be conducted for enhancing the knowledge of staff about educational advancements being implemented in the healthcare setting. The above-mentioned budget will be helpful to overcome the emergency department capacity and maintenance issues. If the plan is implemented successfully, it will also help to increase the patient’s satisfaction with the organization which will influence on more profit in terms of finances to the hospital. The meeting rooms need to have a projector, presentation monitors, pointers, efficient internet connection, and whiteboards, to better present the ideas to increase the knowledge of the staff. It will impact positively on the staff by sitting in an environment where all the facilities are available to enhance their abilities.
The collaborative approaches must be followed by the leadership roles to make the communication among staff better. In case of failure of the plan, maybe due to negligence of staff and improper monitoring of staff duties will cause damage to patients as well as wastage of extra $400 employee compensation each day and most importantly it will make the bad reviews of patients about the healthcare organization. The satisfaction level of people living in the community will be reduced and they will prefer to get treatment from another well-reputed healthcare organization which is a great loss for a Vila healthcare organization. Therefore, it is necessary to make sure this plan is implemented in such a way that all the relevant personnel follow each rule accordingly and the progress should be evaluated periodically.
References
Baehr, A., Ledbetter, C., Bookman, K. J., Wang, Y., Ginde, A. A., & Wiler, J. L. (2020). Characteristics and operational performance of hospital-affiliated freestanding emergency departments. Medical Care, 58(3), 234–240. https://doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0000000000001266
Bazzoli G. J. (2021). Hospital risk-based payments and physician employment: Impact on financial performance. Health Care Management Review, 46(1), 86–95. https://doi.org/10.1097/HMR.0000000000000245
Buttigieg, S. C., Abela, L., & Pace, A. (2018). Variables affecting hospital length of stay: a scoping review. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 32(3), 463–493. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-10-2017-0275
Chava, R., Karki, N., Ketlogetswe, K., & Ayala, T. (2019). Multidisciplinary rounds in the prevention of 30-day readmissions and decreasing length of stay in heart failure patients: A community hospital-based retrospective study. Medicine, 98(27), e16233. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000016233
Dahlke, S., Hunter, K. F., Reshef Kalogirou, M., Negrin, K., Fox, M., & Wagg, A. (2020). Perspectives about interprofessional collaboration and patient-centred care. Canadian Journal on Aging – La Revue Canadienne Du Vieillissement, 39(3), 443–455. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0714980819000539
Demarquet, M., Fraticelli, L., Freyssenge, J., Claustre, C., Martinez, M., Duchenne, J., El Khoury, C., Redjaline, A., & Tazarourte, K. (2021). Discovering the underlying typology of emergency departments. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 21(1), 116. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-021-01305-x
Kenny, J. F., Chang, B. C., & Hemmert, K. C. (2020). Factors affecting emergency department crowding. Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America, 38(3), 573–587. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emc.2020.04.001
McCartney, G., Dickie, E., Escobar, O., & Collins, C. (2021). Health inequalities, fundamental causes, and power: towards the practice of good theory. Sociology of Health & Illness, 43(1), 20–39. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.13181
McFarlan, S., O’Brien, D., & Simmons, E. (2019). Nurse-leader collaborative improvement project: improving patient experience in the emergency department. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 45(2), 137–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2018.11.007
Mijares, A. H., & Radovich, P. (2020). Structured mentorship and the nursing clinical ladder. Clinical Nurse Specialist CNS, 34(6), 276–281. https://doi.org/10.1097/NUR.0000000000000558
Niskala, J., Kanste, O., Tomietto, M., Miettunen, J., Tuomikoski, A. M., Kyngäs, H., & Mikkonen, K. (2020). Interventions to improve nurses’ job satisfaction: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 76(7), 1498–1508. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.14342