Discussion: Leadership Skills and Planning
My practice problem is based on the project title “The Effectiveness of an Assisted Living Facility – Acquired Pressure Ulcer Prevention Workshop on Pressure Ulcer Knowledge and Awareness.” The project’s purpose would be to implement an educational intervention focused on increasing knowledge and awareness of pressure ulcer prevention among nurses in your facility. In implementing the proposed solution, the design approach that would be appropriate is the waterfall method. By description, Waterfall is a linear and sequential design approach to a project in which progress flows downwards in one direction. The main steps include determining the requirement, analyzing the identified requirements, implementing the solution, testing, deployment, and maintenance phase (Thesing, Feldmann & Burchardt, 2021).
The project’s focus would be to examine a hospital-acquired pressure ulcer (HAPU) prevention program in Quality Spring Assisted living, train healthcare professionals on how to implement various interventions to reduce pressure ulcers, and enhance collaboration programs among healthcare team members to implement various intervention to prevent HAPUs. The project will be implemented in Quality Spring Assisted living, an organization located in Silver Spring, Montgomery County. The organization’s goal is to provide a quality and safe home-like environment for older people while encouraging independence, dignity, respect, and socialization.
One of the project’s goals is to enhance the collaboration program among healthcare team members to implement various interventions to prevent HAPUs. Therefore, the most appropriate leadership style for the proposed practice change is the collaborative leadership style. The collaborative leadership approach is a powerful management practice that can bring together teams and inspire innovation within the team. Through collaborative leadership, it would be possible to build relationships and share control to support the project goal. Authors such as Markle-Reid et al. (2017) agree that collaborative leadership is the best approach to effectively address complex issues that require ownership, synergy, and a sense of trust to generate communal benefits. Based on the SWOT analysis of the organization- Quality Spring Assisted living; there are potential facilitators and barriers to making a proposed practice change. These facilitators include the presence of a culture of collaboration and a supportive environment in the organization, a multidisciplinary team of nurses, the presence of a skin and wound assessment team, and approval of the project by the nurse manager. However, there are a few potential barriers, such as a lack of standard competency for pressure ulcer prevention programs in the organization and staff who are not adequately educated on prevention. Other possible barriers include staff resistance to education and lack of buy-in from the key stakeholders such as nurse managers and senior leadership.
Having worked in various leadership positions, I believe that my leadership style and skills can help me use the available facilitators
Discussion Leadership Skills and Planning
for the proposed change while eliminating the barriers. I can utilize my relationship-building skills as a leader to build and maintain a solid and collaborative team needed to support the proposed interventions (Markle-Reid et al., 2017). I will also use my strengths, such as effective communication and conflict resolution skills, to enhance the team’s effectiveness. While there is a lack of standard competency for pressure ulcer prevention programs, I can use my problem-solving skills to identify a step-by-step solution while engaging the nurses to develop acceptable and easy-to-follow pressure ulcer prevention programs in the organization. I can also use a collaborative leadership approach such as open communication and persuasion skills to buy in from the key stakeholders (Maalouf, 2019).
Reference
Benson, L. A. (Ed.). (2021). The DNP professional: Translating value from classroom to practice. Slack Incorporated.
Maalouf, G. Y. (2019). Effects of collaborative leadership on organizational performance. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development, 6, 1, 138-144.
Markle-Reid, M., Ploeg, J., Kelly, S. C., Dykeman, C., Andrews, A., Bonomo, S., Orr-Shaw, S., … Salker, N. (2017). Collaborative leadership and the implementation of community-based fall prevention initiatives: a multiple case study of public health practice within community groups. Bmc Health Services Research, 17, 1.
Thesing, T., Feldmann, C., & Burchardt, M. (2021). Agile versus Waterfall Project Management: Decision Model for Selecting the Appropriate Approach to a Project. Procedia Computer Science, 181, 746-756.
Hi Thickness,
Nice post about the prevention of pressure ulcers through education and awareness. Pressure injuries are areas of localized damage to the skin and underlying tissue (Lavallée, Gray, Dumville, & Cullum, 2019). They are caused by prolonged, or short but intense, periods of pressure or pressure and shear (Lavallée, Gray, Dumville, & Cullum, 2019). A pressure injury can lead to severe pain and distress, poor health-related quality of life, and serious complications such as gangrene and mortality Pressure injuries in healthcare organizations remain a consistent problem (Lee, Kwon, & Chang, 2022). Unfortunately, despite the variety of pressure injury education offered in healthcare organizations, the knowledge learned cannot be applied in practice, and as a result, the prevalence and incidence of such injuries are consistently high (Lee, Kwon, & Chang, 2022).
Therefore, this study developed a customized education framework and pilot tested it to translate nurses’ knowledge of caring for pressure injuries at nursing homes into performance (Lee, Kwon, & Chang, 2022). Proper education on pressure injury management for institutions can lead to the improved practical performance of nurses in elderly nursing homes (Lee, Kwon, & Chang, 2022). Furthermore, it will improve the quality of pressure injury management practice and the overall quality of nursing care for the elderly living in such facilities (Lee, Kwon, & Chang, 2022).
References
Lee, Y. N., Kwon, D. Y., & Chang, S. O. (2022). Bridging the Knowledge Gap for Pressure Injury Management in Nursing Homes. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(3), 1400. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031400
Lavallée, J. F., Gray, T. A., Dumville, J. C., & Cullum, N. (2019). Preventing pressure injury in nursing homes: developing a care bundle using the Behaviour Change Wheel. BMJ Open, 9(6), e026639. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-02663
RE: Initial Discussion – Week 7
Research Design
This study will use a survey to examine whether an expert panel will approve CPG to promote the use of benzodiazepine in mental health outpatient settings. Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARIHS) conceptual framework will guide the development of this survey. The expert panel will comprise some of the best primary care (PC) and Mental Health (MH) prescribers at UMass Memorial Health Care in Massachusetts, United States. The survey will consist of 30 items examining various issues related to benzodiazepines, including benefits, risks, patient preferences, and availability of treatment alternatives, to mention but a few. Most of the questions will be assessed based on a 5-point Likert scale, although some questions will be open to enhance the flexibility of answering the questions. Pilot testing is important to determine the efficiency of the study design. Two PC and MH prescribers will be selected to pilot-test the survey for wording, clarity, content, and efficiency.
Focus and Setting
This study will be conducted at UMass Memorial Health Care in Massachusetts, United States. The primary objective will be to gather views from some of the best PC and MH prescribers in the facility regarding the efficacy of the drug and their thoughts on promoting the use of benzodiazepines as first-class medications in the treatment of mental disorders in outpatient settings. After analyzing the results of the study, a conference call will be held with a conference call with the preceptor and chief medical operator (CMO) to discuss the significance of the findings in the facility and some of the quality improvement initiatives needed to improve the knowledge of healthcare practitioners in the facility relating to safe use and prescription of benzodiazepines for mental health patients.
Leadership Styles
This is a quality improvement initiative that seeks to examine the pros and cons of promoting the use of benzodiazepines in mental health outpatient settings. In this case, transformational leadership is the most effective leadership style because of its capacity to motivate and inspire a team toward accomplishing a particular goal. This leadership style is flexible and accommodates ideas and inclusivity. When used effectively at UMass Memorial Health Care Center to examine the effect of increasing the prescription of benzodiazepines as first-line medications for the treatment of anxiety disorders, the leadership style would help promote communication and increase the productivity of the healthcare professionals.
Facilitators and Barriers
Implementing a change in healthcare is one of the most complicated things due to various factors that come into interplay. Some of the barriers to implementing changes relating to prescription practices of benzodiazepines in mental health settings include resistance from some stakeholders, scarcity of resources, and competing demands. Identification of change champions is one of the most effective ways of overcoming this resistance. Therefore, some facilitators include the persistence and focus demonstrated by change champions, effective staff training, and organization-wide involvement.
How Transformational Leadership Matches with the Facilitators and Barriers
It is normal for some workers to resist a change. A study by Faupel and Süß (2019) established that transformational leadership is effective in such scenarios because it increases the engagement of the workers and changes the perceptions of resisting workers by highlighting the attractiveness of the proposed changes. In so doing, transformational leaders can evoke the behavior of resisting workers in support of the proposed changes. For the change champions and staff training, transformational leaders are fundamental in improving the motivation and boosting the morale to soldier forward even when things become tough. Therefore, transformational leadership is one of the most favorable leadership styles for implementing a change. References
Faupel, S., & Süß, S. (2019). The effect of transformational leadership on employees during organizational change–an empirical analysis. Journal of Change Management, 19(3), 145-166.
