Aligning the Essentials with a Gap in Practice or Practice Change

Aligning the Essentials with a Gap in Practice or Practice Change

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) defines the essentials of nursing practice. As part of quality improvement in healthcare, these essentials guide clinical practice and nurses’ decision-making processes (AACN, 2021). Psychiatric nursing is one area that considerably benefits from the competencies defined by AACN.

The selected clinical area is psychiatric nursing. Consequently, skilled nursing facilities and other mental healthcare facilities are the organizations of choice for scrutinizing a progressive practice change. Psychiatric facilities remain integral to the health preservation of vulnerable populations. They play a role in diagnosing and treating patients with mental health illnesses. Psychiatric nurses assume a central position in providing care to nursing home residents and those with mental health illnesses (Kumar et al., 2020). As healthcare leaders and educators, they help implement and manage meaningful changes in healthcare. Likewise, they can leverage their experiences and knowledge to educate communities on common mental health illnesses. This underlines their significance.

Changes in practice remain one of the most troublesome processes in healthcare (Milella et al., 2021). This was the case in a skilled nursing care facility that needed to implement a health information system. In this case, the reluctance of staff members to embrace the change, coupled with their poor understanding, ended up protracting the process. This was costly to the organization as it suffered systems inefficiency and significant financial bleeds. These challenges highlight the uncertainty of healthcare changes and how change management processes are key to the perpetuation of quality and safety in the modern care environment.

The AACN Essentials provides a framework for maintaining objectivity in healthcare. The four domains of the AACN competencies that closely align with the highlighted practice change include informatics and healthcare technologies, interprofessional partnerships, quality and safety, and population health (Mueller-Burke et al., 2024).

The domain of informatics and healthcare technologies underlines the integration of meaningful technologies into care processes. As per these provisions, communication technologies are valuable in gathering data and guiding decision-making processes. This highlights their significance in the clinical environment. The second domain of interprofessional partnerships posits that intentional collaboration between caregivers enhances clinical outcomes, highlighting its necessity in the care environment. Likewise, quality and safety have been identified as significant principles in healthcare. Population health, on the other hand, defines the delivery of quality healthcare at all levels of care (Welch & Smith, 2022).

The practice change was implemented to improve the quality and safety of care delivered within the nursing home. This demonstrated its alignment with the domain of quality. Likewise, the selected practice change employed a meaningful healthcare technology. Healthcare technologies are valuable in collecting data and supporting caregivers in their decision-making processes (Welch & Smith, 2022). Changes that ensure the establishment of healthcare information technologies are, therefore, aligned with the domain of informatics and health technologies. The domain of population health highlights the significance of delivering high-quality care at every point of the care process. The practice change under scrutiny sought to improve communication processes during the care continuum and disease prevention efforts. This showed its congruence with the domain of population health. The practice change also exploited interprofessional partnerships as it drew caregivers from diverse healthcare disciplines. These professionals were joined with the sole aim of ensuring that health information technology was successfully implemented within the nursing care facility.

The AACN essentials remain a valuable guide in nursing operationalization. These domains help ensure objectivity during change management processes in healthcare. The domains of partnerships, quality and safety, informatics and healthcare technologies, and population health were some of the provisions exploited during the implementation of health information systems in a psychiatric care setting.

References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2021). The essentials: Core competencies for professional nursing education. https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/0/PDFs/Publications/Essentials-2021.pdf

Kumar, A., Kearney, A., Hoskins, K., & Iyengar, A. (2020). The role of psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners in improving mental and behavioral health care delivery for children and adolescents in multiple settings. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 34(5), 275–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2020.07.022

Milella, F., Minelli, E. A., Strozzi, F., & Croce, D. (2021). Change and innovation in Healthcare: Findings from literature. ClinicoEconomics and Outcomes Research, 13, 395–408. https://doi.org/10.2147/ceor.s301169

Mueller-Burke, D., Bindon, S., Akintade, B., & Idzik, S. (2024). The AACN essentials: An intentional framework for successful implementation. Journal of Professional Nursing, 52, 62–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2024.03.009

Welch, T. D., & Smith, T. B. (2022). AACN essentials as the conceptual thread of nursing education. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 46(3), 234–244. https://doi.org/10.1097/naq.0000000000000541

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Aligning the Essentials with a Gap in Practice or Practice Change

In order to fulfil your DNP degree at Walden, you will complete non-clinical coursework, practicum hours, and a DNP Project. Both the clinical hours you will complete as part of your Practicum and your DNP Project will align with specific Domains as defined in The Essentials.

Aligning the Essentials with a Gap in Practice or Practice Change

Your DNP Project will focus on a gap in practice or practice change designed to improve quality within the organization at which you are doing your Practicum. The specifics of this will be decided later on, but at this early stage of your program, you should begin thinking about 1) the types of organizations you might select for your practicum experiences and 2) gaps in practice or practice changes that could be identified within these organizations. As you do this, keep in mind how the gaps in practice or practice changes will align with The Essentials

To prepare: The organization I choose will be about Psychiatric
• Review the Learning Resources for this week, specifically Chapter 4 of Dang et al. (2021) addressing the practice question, AACN’s The Essentials, the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Practicum Manual, and the DNP Project Process Guide.
o Dang, D., Dearholt, S. L., Bissett, K., Ascenzi, J., & Whalen, M. (2021). Johns Hopkins evidence-based practice for nurses and healthcare professionals: Model and guidelines (4th ed.). Sigma Theta Tau International.
o Chapter 3, “The Johns Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice (JHEBP) Model for Nurses and Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) Process Overview” (pp. 55–66)
o Chapter 4, “The Practice Question Phase” (pp. 73–96)
• Consider the types of organizations you might select for your practicum experiences (Psychiatric)
• Consider the kinds of gaps in practice or practice changes that could benefit such organizations, including those specific to the organization and those that relate to healthcare practices more generally.
• Consider how the gaps in practice or practice changes you are interested in pursuing align to The Essentials.
• Select one organizational type and one gap in practice or practice change on which to focus for this Assignment (Psychiatric).

Note: You may select a new organizational type and gap in practice or practice change or, if you choose, you may reuse one on which you focused for a previous Assignment, Discussion, or Blog in this course (Psychiatric).
• Also Note: These may or may not be the same organizational type and gap in practice or practice change as those you will focus on for your Practicum and DNP Project.
• Select a minimum of four domains from The Essentials that closely align with the gap in practice or practice change you selected.
Note: Be sure to review the grading rubric for this Assignment so you fully understand what is expected of you. To access the rubric, scroll down to the bottom of the Assignment page.
The Assignment: (2–3 pages) (Psychiatric)
Write a paper in which you address the following:
• Describe the organization type and the gap in practice or practice change that you selected for this Assignment.
• Identify the four Domains from The Essentials you identified which closely align with the gap in practice or practice change.
• Justify your Domain choices, explaining how each aligns with the gap in practice or practice change you selected.
Note: Us this week’s Learning Resources to support your Assignment. Use proper APA format and style for all references and citations. The College of Nursing requires that all papers include a title page, introduction, summary, and references. Use the College of Nursing Writing Template Links to an external site. for your Assignment submission.