NHS-FPX6004 Assessment 4 Training Session for Policy Implementation
NHS-FPX6004 Assessment 4 Training Session for Policy Implementation
Develop a 2-5-page training strategies summary and annotated agenda for a training session that will prepare a role group to succeed in implementing your proposed organizational policy and practice guidelines.
INTRODUCTION
Training and educating those within an organization who are responsible for implementing and working with changes in organizational policy is a critical step in ensuring that prescribed changes have their intended benefit. A leader in a health care profession must be able to apply effective leadership, management, and educational strategies to ensure that colleagues and subordinates will be prepared to do the work that is asked of them.
As a master’s-level health care practitioner, you may be asked to design training sessions to help ensure the smooth implementation of any number of initiatives in your health care setting. The ability to create an agenda that will ensure your training goals will be met, and will fit into the allotted time, is a valuable skill for preparing colleagues to be successful in their practice.
Note: Remember that you can submit all, or a portion of, your draft strategy summary and annotated training agenda to Smarthinking for feedback, before you submit the final version for this assessment. If you plan on using this free service, be mindful of the turnaround time of 24–48 hours for receiving feedback.
To help ensure a smooth rollout and implementation of your proposed policy and practice guidelines, design a training session for one of the role groups in the organization that will be responsible for implementation.
- Write a brief summary of your strategies for working with your chosen role group.
- Explain how this training session will help prepare the group to succeed in implementing your proposed policy and practice guidelines, and why you chose this group to pilot your proposal.
- Prepare an annotated agenda for a two-hour training session.
During this training session, you will want to ensure that the individuals you are training understand the new policy and practice guidelines. You will need them to buy into the importance of the policy in improving the quality of care or outcomes and their key role in successful policy implementation. You must help them acquire the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in implementing the policy and practice guidelines.
As outcomes of this training session, participants are expected to:
- Understand the organizational policy and practice guidelines to be implemented.
- Understand the importance of the policy to improving quality or outcomes.
- Understand that, as a group, they are key to successful implementation.
- Possess the necessary knowledge and skills for successful implementation.
REQUIREMENTS
The strategy summary and annotated training agenda requirements outlined below correspond to the scoring guide criteria, so be sure to address each main point. Read the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed. In addition, be sure to note the requirements for document format and length and for supporting evidence.
- Summarize evidence-based strategies for working with the role group to obtain their buy-in and prepare them to implement the new policy and apply the associated practice guidelines to their work.
- Why will these strategies be effective?
- What measures might provide early indications of success?
- Explain the impact of the new policy and practice guidelines.
- How they will be implemented?
- How will they affect the daily work routines and responsibilities of the role group?
- Justify the importance of the new policy and practice guidelines with regard to improving the quality of care or outcomes related to the role group’s work.
- How will the policy and guidelines help improve the quality of care or outcomes?
- Explain the role group’s importance in implementing the new policy and practice guidelines.
- Why is the work and buy-in of the role group important for successful implementation?
- How could you help the group feel empowered by their involvement during implementation?
- Determine appropriate and effective instructional content, learning activities, and materials for the training session.
- How will each proposed activity on your agenda support learning and skill development?
- Can you complete the training within the allotted two hours?
- Organize content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions.
- Proofread your strategy summary and training agenda, before you submit it, to minimize errors that could distract readers and make it more difficult for them to focus on the substance of your strategies.
- Support main points, assertions, arguments, conclusions, or recommendations with relevant and credible evidence.
- Be sure to apply correct APA formatting to source citations and references.
Example Assessment: You may use the following to give you an idea of what a Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like:
Strategy Summary and Training Agenda Format and Length
Format your document using APA style.
- Use the APA Style Paper Template [DOCX]. An APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX] is also provided to help you in writing and formatting your strategy summary and agenda. Be sure to include:
- A title page and references page. An abstract is not required.
- A running head on all pages.
- Appropriate section headings.
- Be sure your strategy summary and agenda is 2–5 pages in length, not including the title page and references page.
Supporting Evidence
Cite 2–4 external sources to support your strategies for working with the group you have identified and generating their buy-in, as well as for your approach to the training session, activities, and materials.
Note: Faculty may use the Writing Feedback Tool when grading this assessment. The Writing Feedback Tool is designed to provide you with guidance and resources to develop your writing based on five core skills. You will find writing feedback in the Scoring Guide for the assessment, once your work has been evaluated.
Portfolio Prompt: You may choose to save your strategy summary and agenda to your ePortfolio.
COMPETENCIES MEASURED
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:
- Competency 1: Analyze relevant health care laws, policies, and regulations; their application; and their effects on organizations, interprofessional teams, and professional practice.
- Explain the impact of new policy and practice guidelines.
- Competency 2: Lead the development and implementation of ethical and culturally sensitive policies that improve health outcomes for individuals, organizations, and populations.
- Justify the importance of a new policy and practice guidelines with regard to improving the quality of care or outcomes related to a selected role group’s work.
- Determine appropriate and effective instructional content, learning activities, and materials for a training session.
- Competency 4: Develop strategies to work collaboratively with policy makers, stakeholders, and colleagues to address environmental (governmental and regulatory) forces.
- Summarize evidence-based strategies for working with a selected role group to promote their buy-in and prepare them to implement a new policy and apply associated practice guidelines to their work.
- Explain a selected role group’s importance in implementing a new policy and practice guidelines.
- Competency 5: Produce clear, coherent, and professional written work, in accordance with Capella’s writing standards.
- Organize content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions.
- Support main points, assertions, arguments, conclusions, or recommendations with relevant and credible evidence.
NHS-FPX6004 Assessment 4 Training Session for Policy Implementation Sample Approach
Sound policy and practice guidelines for managing medication errors are critical for a premier medical center such as Mercy Medical Center. To successfully implement the policy on managing medication errors, members of the nursing staff at the medical center responsible for enacting the policy must thoroughly understand the strategies prescribed by the policy. A training program designed for staff members will ensure effective dissemination of the knowledge and skills required to implement the policy guidelines. The training program outlined in this paper will be conducted for a pilot group of 20 nursing staff members from the pediatric medical center’s pediatric division.
Policy on Management of Medication Errors Policy Guidelines and Strategies
The policy on managing medication errors states the procedure that must be followed in case of a medication error. The scope of the policy extends to the nursing, emergency care, and medical staff employed at Mercy Medical Center (Black County Partnership, 2015). The policy requires that the medical center form a multidisciplinary committee. This committee will assess potential discrepancies and address shortfalls in medication processes (Weant et al., 2014).
The strategies to be implemented at the medical center include installing automated dispensing cabinets and setting up a standardized medication error analysis system. To set up a standardized medication error analysis system, the multidisciplinary committee should classify, prioritize, and regularize the process of reporting medication errors. Understanding the causes of medication errors through medication error analysis becomes simpler with the availability of accurate data.
Automated dispensing cabinets are computerized systems for medication management and are installed in healthcare units. These cabinets are used to manage errors that occur when dispensing medication. The cabinets store and dispense medication and electronically track drug inventory (Weant et al., 2014).
Significance of the Policy
Medication errors are indicative of poor-quality healthcare services in a medical center. The proposed policy can prevent medication errors, ensure patient safety, help the medical center avoid litigation for medical negligence, prevent harm to the medical center’s reputation, and reduce unnecessary expenses (Black County Partnership, 2015). This will increase the efficiency of the nursing staff, thereby decreasing the effort and time spent on medication procedures. Less time spent and more efficiency would increase the job satisfaction of the members of the nursing staff.
Early Indicators of Success
Three types of indicators can project the success of the policy at an early stage: structural indicators, process indicators, and outcome indicators. Structural indicators emphasize the quality of organizational aspects, for example, the availability and effective functioning of equipment such as automated dispensing cabinets. Process indicators focus on the process of care delivery. Efficiency in prescription management and diagnosis management are two process indicators that measure the effectiveness of the policy. Outcome indicators are result oriented.
Reduction in readmission rates, reduction in postsurgical wound infection rates, and patient experience are a few outcome indicators that can measure the success of the policy (Grol et al., 2013).
Concerns Over the Policy
The pilot group selected will be trained on the two strategies: installation and use of automated dispensing cabinets and standardized medication error analysis. Staff members could be apprehensive about reporting errors considering the degree of fatality of the error and the disciplinary action as a consequence of underreporting (Chu, 2016). Such apprehension may cause the nursing staff to object to the establishment of a standardized system for medication error analysis. Implementing the second strategy, the installation of automated dispensing cabinets would be beneficial for medication management and prevention of errors; however, automated dispensing cabinets can potentially cause errors in medication retrieval in case of mismanagement of medical inventory (Weant et al., 2014). This could be a potential concern for the nursing staff.
Nursing Staff and Management of Medication Errors Role of Nursing Staff in Policy Implementation
Nursing staff plays an essential role in the implementation of a medication error management policy because of their proximity to patients and medication processes. A nurse is the last person involved in the administering of drugs. A nurse is responsible for physically administering the right drug to a patient and can, therefore, easily identify and correct any error in the medication process (Ofusu & Jarrett, 2015). In order to ensure that the policy on managing medication errors is implemented efficiently, the nursing staff must focus on maintaining accuracy and regularity in reporting medication errors.
The nursing staff can prevent errors in drug administration by practicing the five rights: right dose, right patient, right time, right drug, and right route. The nursing staff can ensure that there are no medication errors while administering medication. Some ways the nursing staff can contribute positively toward policy implementation include calculating the amount of drugs accurately, reducing distractions while administering medication, informing patients about a drug’s effects, and continuously revising pharmacological knowledge (Chu, 2016).
Importance of Training Nursing Staff on the Policy
Nursing staff is involved in medication processes such as prescription and administration of medication. During drug administration, a nurse is the last person who may be able to rectify errors. While patient safety is a priority for nursing staff, they cause most medication errors because of constant distractions and interruptions in their work routine (Ofusu & Jarrett, 2015). It is crucial to train the nursing staff on the guidelines of the policy, as inexperienced and untrained staff may not be able to anticipate or identify a medication error. The policy on managing medication errors requires that automated dispensing cabinets be set up, and medication error analysis be performed.
For the successful implementation of automated dispensing cabinets, it is crucial that the nursing staff be trained on the safe use of these devices. While automated dispensing cabinets are introduced to reduce errors, their incorrect usage can create problems in dispensing medication (Hamilton-Griffin, 2016). To implement the second strategy, namely medication error analysis, nursing staff must be trained on new procedures that will enable them to accurately and regularly report medication errors. Reinforcing the importance of reporting during training will encourage nurses to adopt the medication error reporting procedures, ensuring the availability of adequate data to perform a medication error analysis.
Training Process
A 2-hour workshop will be conducted to train the nursing staff on using automated dispensing cabinets and medication error analysis. A questionnaire will be circulated to the pilot group a day before the training to assess their understanding of the two strategies. This workshop will be divided into two sessions of an hour each. The first session will be conducted by local opinion leaders, who are individuals recognized as clinical experts in a specific field of medication. The opinion leaders will discuss the technical know-how required to operate automated dispensing cabinets and the steps that must be followed for medication error analysis. This session by local opinion leaders would have an influential impact on the nursing staff because of the presence of a familiar figure whose credentials are known.
The second session will involve simulation-based training. Here, the staff will participate in situations in which they have to operate automated dispensing cabinets and perform a mock medication error analysis. This session will give the staff real-world experience and provide insights into potential complexities they may encounter while using the automated dispensing cabinets or conducting a medication error analysis (Grol et al., 2013).
Training Material for Skill Development
Each participant will be given a handout containing the policy guidelines, a document listing the steps to follow while conducting a medication error analysis, and a user manual for the use of automated dispensing cabinets. In addition, a printed version of the content covered by the opinion leader will also be provided to the staff for future reference. In order to ensure continuous learning, the nursing staff will be given access to a virtual classroom using a log-in ID and password to access lectures and self-learning exercises (Grol et al., 2013). The handouts and the virtual learning material will be designed to help the staff members develop skills such as critical thinking and attention to detail and the confidence required to implement the strategies of the policy.
Interpreting the Policy for Nursing Staff
One of the complexities of implementing the strategies of the policy is deciding to report an event as a medication error. The lack of standard definitions for medication errors leads to unidentified errors because there is uncertainty around whether an error needs to be reported.
The implementation of a standardized system for medication error analysis would require that medication errors be clearly defined. This would help nurses accurately identify and report medication errors (Chu, 2016).
The number of medication errors in Mercy Medical Centre’s medical and surgical units increased by 50% from 2015 to 2016. Most medication errors occur during medication administration by nursing staff (Ofusu & Jarrett, 2015). Therefore, the training program on policy implementation intends to familiarize the nursing staff with complex sections of the policy, such as the repercussions of negligence and the protocol to be followed while addressing medication errors. The nursing staff will also be clearly informed of the chain of command to report errors.
Conclusion
The leadership of Mercy Medical Center proposed the policy on the management of medication errors to reduce and prevent the occurrence of medication errors. For the successful implementation of the policy, it is essential to design a training program for the hospital staff on the various strategies of the policy. The program will help staff members understand the importance of managing medication errors, thereby improving patient safety, the medical center’s reputation, and the staff’s job satisfaction.
References
Black County Partnership, NHS Foundation Trust. (2015). Medication error policy. Retrieved from https://www.bcpft.nhs.uk/documents/policies/m/973-medication-errors/file
Chu, R. Z. (2016). Simple steps to reduce medication errors. Nursing 2016, 46(8), 63–65. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.nurse.0000484977.05034.9c
Grol, R., Wensing, M., Eccles, M., & Davis, D. (2013). Improving patient care: The implementation of change in health care. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest- com.library.capella.edu/lib/capella/reader.action?docID=1153537
Hamilton-Griffin, K. (2016). Developing improvement strategies for using automated dispensing cabinets to reduce medication errors in a hospital setting (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest. (Order No. 10127834)
Ofusu, R., & Jarrett, P. (2015). Reducing nurse medicine administration errors. Nursing Times, 111(20), 12–14. Retrieved from https://www.nursingtimes.net/Journals/2015/05/10/t/l/q/130515_Reducing-nurse- medicine-administration-errors.pdf
Weant, K. A., Bailey, A. M., & Baker, S. N. (2014). Strategies for reducing medication errors in the emergency department. Open Access Emergency Medicine, 6, 45–55. https://doi.org/10.2147/OAEM.S64174
