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Running head: IMPACT REPORT TO SENIOR LEADERSHIP Impact Report to Senior Leadership Learner’s Full Name Capella University Organizational and Systems Management for Quality Outcomes Impact Report to Senior Leadership May, 2017 Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document are prohibited. 1
IMPACT REPORT TO SENIOR LEADERSHIP 2 Impact Report to Senior Leadership Nurse leaders play an important role in guiding nursing professionals to achieve a health care organization’s quality and safety standards—standards that should help patients receive high-quality care without negative outcomes on their health. Despite efforts to maintain these standards, health care organizations across the United States of America have witnessed an increase in the number of poor patient outcomes (that stem from unsafe care. According to the Quality Interagency Coordination Task Force, the consequences of quality and safety issues in patients have amounted to an annual loss of $29 billion (Huber, 2017).
The importance of maintaining patient safety standards in health care will be explored based on the challenges faced by a well-known nursing facility in the United States of America. Located in a major city, the facility provides 24-hour residential care to the elderly and people with special needs who require customized care. The facility has been facing patient safety issues connected to how its nursing professionals administer treatment and monitor patients. Patient Safety as a Nursing Challenge in the Nursing Facility Nursing professionals are the primary caregivers in any health care setting; they spend the most time with patients as they administer treatment, detect signs of deterioration in patients, and build caring relationships with them. Therefore, safety issues that cause any negative outcomes in their patients can affect nursing professionals emotionally and hinder their career development (Lawton, Carruthers, Gardner, Wright, & McEachan, 2012; Huber, 2017).
The nursing facility encountered safety issues caused by nurses when administering medicines, patients falling or injuring themselves because of nursing negligence. These issues Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document are prohibited. Comment [A1]: Nice job identifying the challenge of providing patient safety care measures. Good inclusion of how unsafe practices leads to emotional and decreased career development in nurses as well as the impact of sentinel events for the organization. You stated that patients are negatively impacted and could further explain what is meant by that.
IMPACT REPORT TO SENIOR LEADERSHIP 3 are called adverse events because they occur in clinical practice and affect patients directly (U.S. Food & Drug Administration, n.d.). Following the perspectives of systems theory, which explain how smaller parts of an organization affect the whole, the safety issues caused by errors in nursing practice can impact the organization and its achievement of health care goals on a larger scale. In fact, adverse events in nursing may have multiple consequences across the entire organization as different parts interact symbiotically. For example, the safety issues have made the facility vulnerable to sentinel events, which are patient-related events that result in death, permanent harm, or grievous injury (The Joint Commission, 2017). Finding solutions to such challenges in nursing practice requires nurses to grow into genuine systems leaders who can safeguard the goals of the organization and nurture similar commitment in other nursing professionals (Senge, Hamilton, & Kania, 2015). Comment [A2]: Excellent point and nicely The Impact of Safety Issues on the Organization Comment [A3]: Excellent work explaining how unsafe practice issues conflict with the organization’s mission and vision of improving lives. Nice incorporation of systems theory. Since its inception, the nursing facility has always prided itself as a premier health care organization that offers specialized physical, occupational, and rehabilitative therapies, aside from medical services to the elderly and people with special needs. Through its mission, vision, and core value statements, the facility has made a commitment to improve people’s lives, abide by health care ethics, adhere to local and national health care standards, and provide affordable services. The facility depends on skilled staff, nurses included, to carry out the goals mentioned in its mission, vision, and core value statements. However, the adverse events taking place in the facility and among its nursing professionals are contradicting the mission, vision, and core value statements.. Systems theory Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document are prohibited. Comment [A4]: Very true! IMPACT REPORT TO SENIOR LEADERSHIP 4 states that organizations have inherent weaknesses—latent failures—that can cause adverse events in patient care (Lawton et al., 2012; Huber, 2017). Nurse leaders can ensure there is a culture of safety and quality through implementation of continuous quality improvement and safety management initiatives. Organizational change guided by systems theory plays a major role when introducing any quality improvement and safety management initiatives. An effective safety culture in health care acknowledges change as a common element in health care and can pre-emptively reduce the probability of adverse events (Huber, 2017).
The culture of safety incorporates systems thinking into patient-related decisionmaking made by nurse leaders, which allows them and nursing professionals to consider how actions can affect an organization as a whole. Comment [A5]: SWOT Analysis of Organizational Factors Comment [A6]: Nice work identifying the factors that impact the situation using a SWOT analysis, such as budget cuts and the lack of resources available to nursing leaders. The nursing facility had experienced a number of changes that affected the nurses’ ability to deliver safe care. The SWOT analysis helps the facility to focus on the changes that have had the greatest impact on health care quality and patient safety. Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document are prohibited.
IMPACT REPORT TO SENIOR LEADERSHIP 5 Table 1 SWOT Analysis of Organizational Factors Strengths Specialized geriatric care and therapy for people with special needs Strong market presence State-of-the-art infrastructure and technology Commitment to ethical standards Affordable and fair treatment for patients Weaknesses Budget cuts faced by the nursing department Low number of experienced nursing professionals Absence of organizational planning on continuous quality improvement and safety management initiatives Vulnerability to sentinel events Poor allocation of nursing professionals across departments and gaps in staff scheduling Lack of communication between nursing teams Opportunities Creation of a new nursing leadership position to oversee patient safety and quality care Efforts to become a Magnet hospital Increased public awareness about geriatric care and therapy for people with special needs Expansion and revision of nursing competencies by national nursing agencies Threats Inadequate financial resources because of federal budget cuts to health care programs Increased competition from other health care organizations Effective nursing leadership is crucial for the SWOT opportunities to be translated into actions that facilitate organizational change. Leaders are change agents as they transform plans into actions, motivate staff to align with the goals of the organization, and communicate details of the change process to all stakeholders. Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document are prohibited. Comment [A7]: Lots of great information here. Nicely written and well organized. IMPACT REPORT TO SENIOR LEADERSHIP 6 Defining the New Leadership Position at the Nursing Facility The new leadership position that will be created is the chief nursing officer (CNO). The CNO will be responsible for planning, executing, and evaluating the strategies to improve safety issues. The CNO will also be a part of the facility’s shared governance council and will head a Comment [A8]: Good identification of the skills required of a nursing leader which should consist of knowledge, leadership skills, and attitude. Nice explanation of how the nurse leader should approach change to allow for success by understanding systems theory and the organization’s dynamics as this will provide the nurse leader with the power to implement the change effectively. team that will analyze the organization for latent failures. Certain key competencies— knowledge, skills, and attitudes—will define the broad nature of the CNO’s role and influence in the organization. Key Competencies for the Nursing Leadership Position The American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE, 2015) details five professional leadership competencies that can help the chief nursing officer. The five competencies are communication and relationship-building, professionalism, leadership skills, business skills, and knowledge of the health care environment (AONE, 2015).
By developing these competencies, the CNO will gain (a) knowledge about global trends in nursing and health care; (b) expert problem-solving and critical-thinking skills for making decisions; (c) an understanding of patient safety and quality care; (d) an understanding of organizational politics, authority, and power dynamics; (e) relationship-building and teambuilding skills; (f) knowledge of systems theory and systems thinking; and (g) the trust of health care professionals in the organization and the skills to adapt to organizational change. Influence of Leadership Power in Patient Outcomes Demonstrating appropriate power and authority is a prerequisite for productive nursing leadership. Having this authority allows nurse leaders to recruit and retain a highly skilled nursing workforce, which is a critical indicator of patient safety. They can also maintain the Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document are prohibited. Comment [A9]: Great assessment of how the nurse leader position will have the power to positively impact patient outcomes and stabilize the organization financially. IMPACT REPORT TO SENIOR LEADERSHIP 7 productivity of nursing professionals by allocating training resources without management interference. These empowered roles help stabilize an organization’s financial performance, thereby impacting the delivery of cost-effective and quality care to patients (Australian College Comment [A10]: Great job! of Nursing, 2015).
Conclusion Successful health care organizations are those that understand the role of nursing professionals in patient outcomes and involve the workforce in addressing safety and quality concerns. Such organizations demonstrate effective management that identifies latent organizational factors behind adverse events and implements solutions accordingly. Nurse leaders are crucial to this system as they communicate organizational and nursing goals to other health care professionals in the organization. Acknowledging these nursing roles and incorporating them into an organization’s strategic planning help health care professionals adapt to sudden environmental changes that affect safety and quality (Salmela, Eriksson, & Fagerström, 2013). Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document are prohibited. Comment [A11]: Very nice summary of what was discussed in the paper. IMPACT REPORT TO SENIOR LEADERSHIP
8 References American Organization of Nurse Executives. (2015). AONE Nurse Executive Competencies. Retrieved from http://aone.org/resources/nec.pdf Australian College of Nursing. (2015). Nurse leadership [White paper]. Canberra: American College of Nursing. Retrieved from https://acn.edu.au/sites/default/files/leadership/ACN_Nurse_Leadership_White_Paper_FI NAL.pdf Huber, D. L. (2017). Leadership and nursing care management (6th ed.). Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders. http://dx.doi.org/10.7748/nm.21.6.13.s14 Lawton, R., Carruthers, S., Gardner, P., Wright, J., & McEachan, R. R. C. (2012). Identifying the latent failures underpinning medication administration errors: An exploratory study. Health Services Research, 47(4), 1437–1459. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.14756773.2012.01390.x Salmela, S., Eriksson, K., & Fagerström, L. (2013). Nurse leaders’ perceptions of an approaching organizational change. Qualitative Health Research, 23(5), 689–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1049732313481501 Senge, P., Hamilton, H., & Kania, J. (2015). The dawn of system leadership. Stanford Social Innovation Review, 13, 27–33. Retrieved from https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_dawn_of_system_leadership# The Joint Commission. (2017). Sentinel event policy and procedures. Retrieved from https:// jointcommission.org/sentinel_event_policy_and_procedures/ Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document are prohibited. IMPACT REPORT TO SENIOR LEADERSHIP 9 U. S. Food & Drug Administration. (n.d.). What is a serious adverse event? Retrieved from https:// fda.gov/safety/medwatch/howtoreport/ucm053087.htm Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document are prohibited. Comment [A12]: APA references looks great! …