Posted: May 8th, 2015

Improving Patient Safety with medication Bar-Coded, to avoid medication error.

This assignment represents the culmination of knowledge of advanced leadership and management. You are asked to design an new initiative in a healthcare setting that can be a patient/staff safety project, a new service,  a new management initiative, or an institutional change management strategy. You are required to ensure the following is cogently argued:

-The evidence-base for the change

-Its link with current best practice

-A change management plan

-A business plan (budget) for the project

-A risk management assessment

-A strategy for evaluating its effectiveness

-The mechanism or forum for disseminating the information on the new project.

Think about structuring your essay around the following headings to answer the Q.

1. Introduction
2. Identification and substantiation of need and aim of change/innovation. This has 2 parts, evidence of the need for the change/innovation and evidence that the change/innovation planned meets this need.
3. Change strategy in relation to best practice – you need to draw on the leadership and management literature to support the way in which you plan to implement the change, eg why are the strategies for implementation that you identify important re achieving outcomes etc. So substantiate why & how you have planned the progression of your change strategy with literature. Students have found using a framework here useful eg Kotter’s 8 areas for successful change, Lewin’s change theory etc.
4. Business plan – incorporate such things as

• Detail tasks to be carried out, whose responsibility they are, and their priorities and deadlines
• Detail control mechanisms that will alert you to difficulties in achieving the plan
• Consider any transitional arrangements if applicable
• Resources & Costs
• Risks –you really need only briefly outline the process of risk assessment/management here
• Evaluation of the change/initiative – how will you know success, when, who responsible, what measures etc
• Dissemination of plan to others throughout and following the completion of the project

You might find this site useful

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_PPM.htm

Some examples from previous students.

• Nurse led Minor Injury/Illness Assessment Unit in an ED
• Workplace strategies to combat the effects of sleep deprivation for night shift workers
• Induction of a computerised rostering system “Rosterpro”
• Indigenous Immunization program
• Introduction of a falls risk assessment
• Introduction of a computerised physician order entry system to reduce medication errors
• Change in handover process to reduce misinformation