Assessment 1: Assessing the Problem: Leadership, Collaboration, Communication, Change Management, and Policy Consideration

In a 5-7 page written assessment, define the patient, family, or
population health problem that will be the focus of your capstone
project. Assess the problem from a leadership, collaboration,
communication, change management, and policy perspective. Plan to spend
approximately 2 direct practicum hours meeting with a patient, family,
or group of your choice to explore the problem and, if desired,
consulting with subject matter and industry experts. Document the time
spent (your practicum hours) with these individuals or group in the Core
Elms Volunteer Experience Form.

Introduction

Nurses in all professional roles work to effect positive patient
outcomes and improve organizational processes. Professional nurses are
leaders in problem identification, planning, and strategy
implementation—skills that directly affect patient care or
organizational effectiveness.

Too often, change agents jump to a conclusion that an intervention
will promote the envisioned improvement. Instead, the ideal approach is
to determine which interventions are appropriate, based on an assessment
and review of credible evidence. Interventions could be patient-facing
or involve a change in policy and process. In this assessment, you’ll
identify and make the case for your practicum focus area, then explore
it in depth from a leadership, collaboration, communication, change
management, and policy perspective.

This assessment lays the foundation for the work that will carry you
through your capstone experience and guide the practicum hours needed
to complete the work in this course. In addition, it will enable you to
do the following:

• Develop a problem statement for a patient, family, or population that’s relevant to your practice.
• Begin building a body of evidence that will inform your approach to your practicum.
• Focus on the influence of leadership, collaboration, communication, change management, and policy on the problem.

Preparation

In this assessment, you’ll assess the patient, family, or population
health problem that will be the focus of your capstone project. Plan to
spend approximately 2 hours working with a patient, family, or group of
your choice to explore the problem from a leadership, collaboration,
communication, change management, and policy perspective. During this
time, you may also choose to consult with subject matter and industry
experts about the problem (for example, directors of quality or patient
safety, nurse managers/directors, physicians, and epidemiologists).

To prepare for the assessment, complete the following:

• Identify the patient, family, or group you want to work with
  during your practicum The patient you select can be a friend or a family
  member. You’ll work with this patient, family, or group throughout your
  capstone project, focusing on a specific health care problem.
• Begin surveying the scholarly and professional literature to
  establish your evidence and research base, inform your assessment, and
  meet scholarly expectations for supporting evidence.

In addition, you may wish to complete the following:

• Review the assessment instructions and scoring guide to ensure
  that you understand the work you’ll be asked to complete and how it will
  be assessed.
• Review the Practicum Focus Sheet: Assessment 1 [PDF], which provides guidance for conducting this portion of your practicum.

Note: Remember that you can submit all, or a portion of, your draft assessment to Smarthinking Tutoring
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.

Instructions

Complete this assessment in two parts.

Part 1

Define the patient, family, or population health problem that will
be the focus of your capstone project. Assess the problem from a
leadership, collaboration, communication, change management, and policy
perspective and establish your evidence and research base to plan,
implement, and share findings related to your project.

Part 2

Connect with the patient, family, or group you’ll work with during
your practicum. During this portion of your practicum, plan to spend at
least 2 hours meeting with the patient, family, or group and, if
desired, consulting with subject matter and industry experts of your
choice. The hours you spend meeting with them should take place outside
of regular work hours. Use the Practicum Focus Sheet [PDF]
provided for this assessment to guide your work and interpersonal
interactions. Document the time spent (your practicum hours) with
these individuals or group in the Core Elms Volunteer Experience Form.

Requirements

The assessment 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, note the additional requirements for
document format and length and for supporting evidence.

• Define a patient, family, or population health problem that’s relevant to your practice.
  • Summarize the problem you’ll explore.
  • Identify the patient, family, or group you intend to work with during your practicum.
  • Provide context, data, or information that substantiates the
    presence of the problem and its significance and relevance to the
    patient, family, or population.
  • Explain why this problem is relevant to your practice as a baccalaureate-prepared nurse.
• Analyze evidence from peer-reviewed literature and professional
  sources that describes and guides nursing actions related to the
  patient, family, or population problem you’ve defined.
  • Note whether the authors provide supporting evidence from the
    literature that’s consistent with what you see in your nursing practice.
  • Explain how you would know if the data are unreliable.
  • Describe what the literature says about barriers to the
    implementation of evidence-based practice in addressing the problem
    you’ve defined.
  • Describe research that has tested the effectiveness of nursing
    standards and/or policies in improving patient, family, or population
    outcomes for this problem.
  • Describe current literature on the role of nurses in policy
    making to improve outcomes, prevent illness, and reduce hospital
    readmissions.
  • Describe what the literature says about a nursing theory or
    conceptual framework that might frame and guide your actions during your
    clinical practicum.
• Explain how state board nursing practice standards and/or
  organizational or governmental policies could affect the patient,
  family, or population problem you’ve defined.
  • Describe research that has tested the effectiveness of these
    standards and/or policies in improving patient, family, or population
    outcomes for this problem.
  • Describe current literature on the role of nurses in policy
    making to improve outcomes, prevent illness, and reduce hospital
    readmissions.
  • Describe the effects of local, state, and federal policies or
    legislation on your nursing scope of practice, within the context of
    this problem.
• Propose leadership strategies to improve outcomes,
  patient-centered care, and the patient experience related to the
  patient, family, or population problem you’ve defined.
  • Discuss research on the effectiveness of leadership strategies.
  • Define the role that you anticipate leadership must play in addressing the problem.
  • Describe collaboration and communication strategies that you anticipate will be needed to address the problem.
  • Describe the change management strategies that you anticipate will be required to address the problem.
  • Document the time spent (your practicum hours) with these individuals or group in the Core Elms Volunteer Experience Form.
• Organize content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions.
• Apply APA style and formatting to scholarly writing.

Additional Requirements

• Format: Format your paper using APA style. Use the APA Style Paper Template. An APA Style Paper Tutorial is also provided to help you in writing and formatting your paper. Be sure to include:
  • A title page and reference page. An abstract is not required.
  • A running head on all pages.
  • Appropriate section headings.
• Length: Your paper should be approximately 5–7 pages in length, not including the reference page.
• Supporting evidence: Cite at least five sources
  of scholarly or professional evidence that support your central ideas.
  Resources should be no more than five years old. Provide in-text
  citations and references in APA format.
• Proofreading: Proofread your paper, before you
  submit it, to minimize errors that could distract readers and make it
  more difficult for them to focus on its substance.

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: Lead people and processes to improve patient, systems, and population outcomes.
  • Define a patient, family, or population health problem that’s relevant to personal and professional practice.
• Competency 2: Make clinical and operational decisions based upon the best available evidence.
  • Analyze evidence from peer-reviewed literature and professional
    sources that describes and guides nursing actions related to a defined
    patient, family, or population problem.
• Competency 5: Analyze the impact of health policy on quality and cost of care.
  • Explain how state board nursing practice standards and/or
    organizational or governmental policies could affect a defined patient,
    family, or population problem.
• Competency 7: Implement patient-centered care to improve quality of care and the patient experience.
  • Propose leadership strategies to improve outcomes,
    patient-centered care, and the patient experience related to a defined
    patient, family, or population problem and document the practicum hours
    spent with these individuals or group in the Core Elms Volunteer
    Experience Form.
• Competency 8: Integrate professional standards and values into practice.
  • Organize content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions.
  • Apply APA style and formatting to scholarly writing.