NURS 6421: Supporting Workflow in Healthcare Systems | Week 8

Would a school nurse converting vaccination records to a digital format use the same implementation strategy as a hospital integrating a multimillion dollar electronic health record (EHR) system? It is highly improbable. Implementing a workflow redesign project is not a one-size-fits-all process. There are many elements that nurse informaticists should consider when selecting an implementation strategy, from the nature, scope, and scale of the project to various organizational factors that affect implementation.

This week, you evaluate the appropriateness of workflow redesign implementation strategies within a health care setting. Additionally, you analyze the benefits and challenges of implementation strategies.

 

Learning Objectives – NURS 6421: Week 8: Implementation Planning Nursing Paper

Students will:

• Evaluate the appropriateness of workflow redesign implementation strategies within a health care setting

Learning Resources

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Required Readings

Dennis, A., Wixom, B. H., & Roth, R. M. (2015). Systems analysis and design (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

• Chapter 12, “Moving Into Implementation” (pp. 377–397)In this chapter, the authors explore the process of assigning, initializing, and completing tasks during the information system development phases. They also clarify what occurs in this phase of the process and how to insure the best results.
• Chapter 13, “Transition to the New System” (pp. 400–424)The focus of this chapter is on the process of transitioning from one method of collecting and storing information to a new information system. It explores the immediate effect of those changes and how to prepare your organization to profit from the improvements.

Gagnon, M.-P., Ouiment, M., Godin, G., Rousseau, M., Labrecque, M., Leduc, Y., & Abdeljelil, A. B. (2010). Multi-level analysis of electronic health record adoption by health care professionals: A study protocol. Implementation Science, 5, 30–39.

In this article, the authors seek to determine the best method for ensuring the adoption of electronic health records (EHR). They review a number of different theoretical frameworks for facilitating the adoption process and then outline a research study to determine which model is most relevant.

Ludwick, D. A., & Doucette, J. (2009). Adopting electronic medical records in primary care: Lessons learned from health information systems implementation experience in seven countries. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 78(1), 22–31.

The authors of this study conducted a systematic literature review to examine current research on the implementation and use of electronic health records. Their review indicated that some of the key factors in determining the success of an implementation were the design of the interface, project management, and functionality. Data security was also a concern.

van Achterberg, T., Schoonhoven, L., & Grol, R. (2008). Nursing implementation science: How evidence-based nursing requires evidence-based implementation. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 40(4), 302–310.

This article examines the reasons behind persisting ineffective practices in nursing. The authors review relevant strategies for successfully changing behavior and implementing new products.

Discussion: Implementation Strategies

Throughout this course, you have been developing a workflow redesign that could be applied in a health care practice setting. However, determining an appropriate workflow redesign is only part of the process. It is much easier to design something on paper than it is to actually make it work effectively within an organization. Nurse informaticists must consider how the workflow redesign can be implemented in a real-world organization. Attention needs to be focused on understanding organizational risks, organizational culture, and the needs of the end user. Implementing a new project may be disruptive. The key is to plan in such a way as to minimize this disruption as much as possible.

In this Discussion, you consider possible implementation strategies for the workflow redesign measure that you selected for your Course Project.

To prepare:

• Review the articles in this week’s Learning Resources and reflect on the insights they provide on implementing a workflow redesign project within a health care setting. Also reflect on your past experience with workflow redesign and technology integration. What implementation strategies were applied?
• Review pages 402–406 in the Dennis text. Identify a specific implementation or conversion strategy that would be appropriate for the workflow redesign you selected for your Course Project. For example, will it be a phased implementation? If so, which applications will be launched first, and why?
• Consider why the strategy you selected would be appropriate for the scope of your workflow redesign project and your practice setting. Reflect on how it will support the needs of end users.
• Consider the benefits and drawbacks of applying the implementation strategy you selected. What would the positive outcomes be? What potential challenges or barriers might you encounter?

With these thoughts in mind:

By Day 3 NURS 6421: Week 8: Implementation Planning Nursing Paper

Post a summary of the workflow redesign measure you plan to use for Part 3 of your Course Project. Describe the implementation (or conversion) strategy you would recommend, and justify why it would be appropriate in your practice setting and for the scope of your workflow redesign. Explain the potential outcomes of this strategy, including benefits and potential obstacles.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

By Day 6

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days. Critique your colleagues’ implementation strategies as well as the benefits and obstacles they identified. NURS 6421: Week 8: Implementation Planning Nursing Paper.

 

 

ADDITIONAL INFO 

Implementation Planning in Nursing

Introduction

Implementation planning is a useful tool for improving nursing practices. It involves identifying what actions will be taken to improve your current practice or policy and developing a plan to accomplish these goals. This process can help you identify areas where you need improvement and how best to address them. Implementation planning works best when it is done in conjunction with other staff members who share the same vision for the future of nursing care at your institution, such as nurses, social workers, patient-care coordinators, executives/administrators, etc.

Select a system for evaluating outcomes

A system for evaluating outcomes should be reliable, valid and feasible.

To select the best system for evaluating outcomes for your situation:

• Identify the best system for evaluating outcomes based on your situation. The more time you have to spend with patients and their families, the better choice this will be. For example, if it’s difficult to schedule appointments with older adults due to their mobility issues or cognitive impairment then using an interview-based assessment may not be appropriate because of its length (an hour). However if there is no other option but an observation-based evaluation which takes only 10 minutes then it might work well here too!

• Choose a system that makes sense within your context–don’t choose something just because it sounds good in theory but doesn’t work as well when put into practice in reality.”

Implementation is the act of putting an idea or plan into place.

Implementing an idea or plan means putting it into action. Implementation is the act of putting an idea or plan into place, so it’s important to make sure that you can implement what you want before starting work on your project.

In order to implement something, there are three steps:

• Assess your situation and determine what you need to do next; 2) Plan out how you will get there (that means thinking about all the different ways that could happen); 3) Put everything together so that when people come together for the real thing, everything works smoothly

The first step in the process is selecting an existing practice or policy that needs improvement.

The first step in the process is selecting an existing practice or policy that needs improvement. For example, you may want to improve the way your team communicates with each other. Or maybe you’ve heard about a new technology that could help improve patient care by making it easier for caregivers to provide better care and access information more quickly.

In any case, before diving into implementation planning, it’s important to identify what problem needs fixing. This can be difficult because there are usually multiple problems at play—but don’t worry! You’ll be able to identify them later on once we get started with our plan (more on this later).

Here are some common problems nurses face:

Developing a solution to address your problem statement involves identifying a specific set of actions that will lead to success.

Here’s how to develop a solution:

• Identify the problem. You should know what you’re trying to solve and why it matters, as well as what your current situation is like.

• Define the problem. If a situation doesn’t exist yet, define it by describing what would be improved by solving this issue or finding a solution for it. For example, let’s say you want more patients to follow their treatment plans when they visit their doctor for an appointment at the end of each month (a problem statement). To define this issue better and get started on developing solutions, think about how often people don’t follow through with their own health care goals in general—and then ask yourself whether there are any reasons why that might happen with yours specifically? Think about whether there are ways in which doctors could help patients stay on track if they have trouble doing so themselves (for example: maybe patients need reminders via text messages).

• Develop solutions for addressing each aspect of your problem statement individually; then combine them into one overarching plan before moving onto implementation planning steps 3-7 below!

Analyze and interpret data related to your identified practice or policy

• Analyze and interpret data related to your identified practice or policy.

• Use this information to identify the problem and determine what the solution might be, if any.

• Use this information to make adjustments in your plan if necessary, such as adding more staff or working with other health systems with similar goals.

Collect baseline data related to your identified practice or policy and problem statement

Collect baseline data related to your identified practice or policy and problem statement.

Baseline data is information that can be used to compare the current situation against some kind of reference point, such as a goal or target. For example, if you want to improve patient satisfaction scores in your department, it is helpful to collect data from before any changes were made so you can see how well things are doing now compared with how they were at one point in time (the baseline).

The purpose of collecting baseline data is twofold: firstly, it allows for comparison between different points in time; secondly, it gives insight into whether there has been any change since those previous measurements were taken. In other words: when was the last time we met our goal? What happened after that meeting?

Prioritize/select interventions to implement based on what you determine will be most effective and feasible based on your findings from steps 5 and 6

To determine which interventions are most effective and feasible, you will need to consider the findings from steps 5 and 6.

• Prioritize interventions based on what you determine will be most effective and feasible based on your findings from steps 5 and 6. The following questions may help guide this process:

• What is the urgency of this situation? How long has it been going on? What resources have been used so far (e.g., personnel time, equipment usage)? Do any other factors come into play such as patient status or location within an organization or community context that could affect implementation success rates for each intervention type (e.g., patient acuity level)?

• Which specific aspects of health care delivery require attention now (e.g., identifying opportunities for improvement), while others can wait until later when resources become available again (e

Implementation planning is a useful tool for improving nursing practices.

Implementation planning is a useful tool for improving nursing practices. It allows you to identify gaps in your practice, anticipate problems and solutions, and document your progress over time. Implementation planning can help with:

• Improving patient care by identifying deficiencies in the current system and developing solutions that address those shortcomings before they become serious problems (and thus more difficult or impossible to fix).

• Improving staff satisfaction by ensuring that all stakeholders are included in the process at each step of implementation so that everyone understands why changes are needed and what they mean for themselves or their work environment (or both).

Conclusion

Implementation planning can be used to identify and evaluate many different nursing practices. It is a valuable tool for improving the care of patients, improving quality of care and patient satisfaction, as well as decreasing costs associated with healthcare delivery. Implementation planning should be done before implementing any new policies or practices because it allows you to collect data on how effective they are before actually implementing them into practice settings. This will allow you to make informed decisions about what interventions would work best in order for your patients to receive optimal outcomes from procedures such as surgeries or other types of treatments.