Assessment 3- Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal

Assessment 3- Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal

Introduction

In today’s healthcare systems, refining patient outcomes while attaining corporate goals remains a top priority. Nurses, as key stakeholders, can promote revolutionary changes in healthcare settings. Nurses can actively take part in organizational activities by developing an interdisciplinary partnership and common vision. This essay offers a detailed proposal for reducing medical errors related to miscommunication inside a healthcare organization, leveraging interdisciplinary collaboration, change theory, leadership methods, and the required organizational resources.

Objectives

The objective of this proposal is to reduce medical errors by addressing miscommunication within healthcare organizations (Gibbs, 2021). This will be achieved through interdisciplinary collaboration, change theory, leadership methods, and allocating necessary organizational resources. By doing so, the proposal aims to improve patient outcomes and align corporate goals with organizational activities.

Questions and Predictions

1. How will communication improvement techniques impact workflow efficiency?
   Initially, healthcare personnel may see a modest drop in efficiency as they adjust to new communication procedures. In the long run, smoother communication processes should increase workflow efficiency.
2. Will healthcare staff be resistant to adopting new communication practices?
   Some early opposition is to be expected, particularly from those who are accustomed to using traditional communication channels. However, with good leadership support and a clear explanation of the benefits, opposition should fade with time.
3. How can improved communication affect patient outcomes?
   Improved communication is expected to lead to better care coordination, lower medical errors, and, eventually, better patient outcomes through fewer medical errors and adverse events.
4. What role will leadership support play in creating a culture of communication and collaboration?
   Strong leadership support will be critical in fostering a culture of communication and collaboration by establishing clear expectations, providing resources, and modeling desired behaviors, thereby motivating healthcare workers to actively participate in improving communication practices.
5. What challenges might develop during the implementation of communication improvement projects, and how can they be overcome?
   Resistance to change, time restrictions, and cultural differences may all develop during the implementation process. These can be handled by implementing effective change management techniques, thorough training programs, and ongoing leadership support to ensure initiative buy-in and sustainability.

Change Theories and Leadership Strategies

Roger’s Theory of Innovation emphasizes compatibility and relative advantage in the acceptance of new ideas, which is critical in interdisciplinary cooperation (LaMorte, 2022). Therefore, based on Roger’s Theory of Innovation, leadership management should emphasize the need for compatibility and relative advantage when implementing new communication techniques, as well as the need for interdisciplinary collaboration to maximize the likelihood of success.

The Transitional Change Model, established by Prochaska and DiClemente, offers valuable insights into healthcare professionals’ readiness to collaborate across disciplines. Prochaska and DiClemente’s Stages of Change Model provides a clearer view of healthcare professionals’ readiness for communication enhancement. Recognizing that people can be at various phases of preparedness, from pre-contemplation to maintenance, enables interdisciplinary teams to modify their methods accordingly. For example, people in the pre-contemplation stage may need additional knowledge and awareness-building, whereas those in the preparation or action stages may benefit from hands-on training and support.

Kurt Lewin’s Structured Framework for the Unfreeze-Change-Refreeze Model can help interdisciplinary teams navigate the complexity of healthcare transformation. Based on LaMorte (2022a), the Unfreeze-Change-Refreeze framework offers a systematic way to overcome communication hurdles and accelerate transformation. Interdisciplinary teams can establish a sense of urgency and readiness for improvement by first unfreezing existing communication norms and being aware of their flaws and the need for change. Teams can effectively implement new communication procedures by working together on training sessions, role-playing exercises, and feedback methods. Finally, by reinforcing these new behaviors in the company culture, interdisciplinary teams assure long-term viability (LaMorte, 2022b).

Transformational leadership emphasizes the necessity of leadership support and open communication in promoting the adoption of new communication techniques. Transformational leadership tactics will be used to inspire and motivate healthcare staff to embrace change while establishing an environment of open communication and collaboration. According to Rogers (2023), good leadership is critical in the diffusion process, affecting people’s readiness to adopt new ideas.

Team Collaboration Strategy

The team collaboration strategy entails appointing communication leaders within each hospital department to oversee the implementation of new communication practices. These leaders are trained in effective communication tactics and serve as mentors to their colleagues (Primeast, 2020). Regular interdisciplinary meetings will promote collaboration and feedback, ensuring that communication techniques are adapted to departmental needs. This strategy also promotes open communication and collaboration among healthcare professionals, which is in line with the ideas of Roger’s Theory of Innovation and Prochaska and DiClemente’s Stages of Change Model. Also, the interdisciplinary team can effectively solve communication concerns by working collaboratively, decreasing medical errors, and improving patient safety.

Required Organizational Resources

The allocation of resources is critical in addressing communication issues within healthcare organizations to reduce medical errors and improve patient safety. To maximize communication efficacy, essential areas are prioritized when allocating the approximately $5000 budget. A large chunk of the $200 is set aside for comprehensive communication training for the healthcare team, ensuring they have the skills needed to support effective communication within their departments. Furthermore, $1500 is set aside for the purchase or upgrade of communication technologies to facilitate seamless interdepartmental communication and data exchange. Furthermore, $500 is set aside for the hiring of communication support personnel, with another $500 set aside for infrastructure and access improvements. Finally, a $500 contingency reserve provides flexibility for unexpected needs. Failure to resolve communication concerns could result in repeated medical blunders, jeopardizing patient safety and potentially incurring legal ramifications for the institution.

References

Page, A. (2019). Transformational leadership and evidence-based management. Nih.gov; National Academies Press (US). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK216194/

Primeast. (2020, March 29). 7 strategies for overcoming resistance to change in the workplace. Primeast.com. https://primeast.com/us/insights/leadership-development/7-strategies-for-overcoming-resistance-to-change-in-the-workplace

Gibbs, N. (2021, June 10). 4 ways to overcome change management communication challenges. Beehive. https://beehivepr.biz/4-ways-to-overcome-change-management-communication-challenges

LaMorte, W. (2022a, November 3). Diffusion of innovation theory. Boston University School of Public Health. https://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/SB/BehavioralChangeTheories/BehavioralChangeTheories4.html

LaMorte, W. (2022b, November 3). The transtheoretical model (stages of change). Boston University School of Public Health. https://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/SB/BehavioralChangeTheories/

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Write a brief introduction (2 to 3 sentences) to your proposal that outlines the issue you are attempting to solve, the part of the organization in which the plan would be carried out, and the desired outcome. This will set the stage for the sections below.

Assessment 3- Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal

Objective

Describe what your plan will do and what you hope it will accomplish in one or two succinct sentences. Also, comment on how the objective, if achieved, will improve organizational or patient outcomes. For example:

Test a double-loop feedback model for evaluating new product risk with a small group of project managers with the goal of reducing the number of new products that fail to launch. This objective is aligned to the broader organizational goal of becoming more efficient in taking products to market and, if successful, should improve outcomes by reducing waste.

Questions and Predictions

For this section ask yourself 3 to 5 questions about your objective and your overall plan. Make a prediction for each question by answering the question you posed. This helps you to define the important aspects of your plan as well as limit the scope and check its ability to be implemented.

For example:

1. How much time will using a double-loop feedback model add to a project manager’s workload?
   1. At first, it will likely increase their workloads by 5 to 10 percent. However, as the process is refined and project managers become more familiar and efficient, that percentage will decrease.

Change Theories and Leadership Strategies

For this section, you may wish to draw upon the research you did regarding change theories and leadership for the Interview and Interdisciplinary Issue Identification assessment. The focus of this section is how those best practices will create buy-in for the project from an interdisciplinary team, improve their collaboration, and/or foster the team’s ability to implement the plan. Be sure that you include at least one change theory and at least one leadership strategy in your explanation. Always remember to cite your sources; direct quotes require quotation marks and a page or paragraph number to be included in the citation.

Another way to approach your explanations in this section is to think through the following:

• What is the theory or strategy?
• How will it likely help an interdisciplinary team to collaborate, implement, and/or buy into the project plan?
  • Make sure to frame this explanation within the organizational context of the proposed plan, that is, your interviewee’s organization.

Team Collaboration Strategy

This section begins by further defining the responsibilities and actions that represent the implementation of the plan. One strategy for defining this is to take a “who, what, where, and when” approach for each team member.

For example:

• Project Manager A will apply the double-loop feedback model on one new product project for a single quarter.
• Project Manager B will apply the double-loop feedback model on all new product projects for a quarter.

Vice President A will review the workloads of project managers using the double-loop feedback model every Thursday for one quarter.

After you have roughly outlined the roles and responsibilities of team members, you will explain one or more collaborative approaches that will enable the team to work efficiently to achieve the plan’s objective. As with the change theories and leadership strategies, you may draw on the research you conducted for the Interview and Interdisciplinary Issue Identification assessment. However, you are being asked to give a more in-depth explanation of the collaboration approaches and look at how they will help the theoretical interdisciplinary team in your plan proposal.

Another way to approach your explanations in this section is to think through the following:

• What is the collaboration approach?
• What types of collaboration and teamwork will best help the interdisciplinary team be successful?
• How is the collaboration approach relevant to the team’s needs and will it help drive success?
  • Make sure to frame this explanation in terms of the subject of the plan proposal; that is, your interviewee’s organization.