As a baccalaureate-prepared nurse, your participation and leadership in interdisciplinary teams will be vital to the health outcomes for your patients and organization. One way to approach designing an improvement project is to use the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement describes it thus:
The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle is shorthand for testing a change in the real work setting—by planning it, trying it, observing the results, and acting on what is learned. This is the scientific method adapted for action-oriented learning…Essentially, the PDSA cycle helps you test out change ideas on a smaller scale before evaluating the results and making adjustments before potentially launching into a somewhat larger scale project (n.d.).
You might also recognize that the PDSA cycle resembles the nursing process. The benefit of gaining experience with this model of project design is that it provides nurses with an opportunity to ideate and lead improvements. For this assessment, you will not be implementing all of the PDSA cycle. Instead, you are being asked to interview a health care professional of your choice to determine what kind of interdisciplinary problem he or she is experiencing or has experienced in the workplace. This interview, in Assessment 2, will inform the research that you will conduct to propose a plan for interdisciplinary collaboration in Assessment 3.
It would be an excellent choice to complete the PDSA Cycle activity prior to developing the report. The activity consists of four questions that create the opportunity to check your understanding of best practices related to each stage of the PDSA cycle. The information gained from completing this formative will promote your success with the Interview and Interdisciplinary Issue Identification report. This will take just a few minutes of your time and is not graded.
Reference
Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (n.d.). How to improve. http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/HowtoImprove/default.aspx
Demonstration of Proficiency
Competency 2: Explain how interdisciplinary collaboration can be used to achieve desired patient and systems outcomes.
Summarize an interview focused on past or current issues at a health care organization.
Describe collaboration approaches from the literature that could be relevant in establishing or improving an interdisciplinary team to address an organizational issue.
Competency 3: Describe ways to incorporate evidence-based practice within an interdisciplinary team.
Identify an issue from an interview for which an evidence-based interdisciplinary approach would be appropriate.
Competency 4: Explain how change management theories and leadership strategies can enable interdisciplinary teams to achieve specific organizational goals.
Describe change theories and a leadership strategy that could help develop an interdisciplinary solution to an organizational issue.
Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly, evidence-based communication strategies to impact patient, interdisciplinary team, and systems outcomes.
Organize content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions; contains few errors in grammar/punctuation, word choice, and spelling.
Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references, exhibiting nearly flawless adherence to APA format.
Professional Context
This assessment will introduce the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) Model to create change in an organization. By interviewing a colleague of your choice, you will begin gathering information about an interprofessional collaboration problem that your colleague is experiencing or has experienced. You will identify a change theory and leadership strategies to help solve this problem.
Scenario
This assessment is the first of three related assessments in which you will gather interview information (Assessment 2); design a proposal for interdisciplinary problem-solving, (Assessment 3); and report on how an interdisciplinary improvement plan could be implemented in a place of practice (Assessment 4). At the end of the course, your interviewee will have a proposal plan based on the PDSA cycle that he or she could present to stakeholders to address an interdisciplinary problem in the workplace.
For this assessment, you will need to interview a health care professional such as a fellow learner, nursing colleague, administrator, business partner, or another appropriate person who could provide you with sufficient information regarding an organizational problem that he or she is experiencing or has experienced, or an area where they are seeking improvements. Consult the Interview Guide [DOCX] Download Interview Guide [DOCX]for an outline of how to prepare and the types of information you will need to complete this project successfully.
Remember: this is just the first in a series of three assessments.
Instructions
For this assessment, you will report on the information that you collected in your interview, analyzing the interview data and identifying a past or current issue that would benefit from an interdisciplinary approach. This could be an issue that has not been addressed by an interdisciplinary approach or one that could benefit from improvements related to the interdisciplinary approach currently being used. You will discuss the interview strategy that you used to collect information. Your interview strategy should be supported by citations from the literature. Additionally, you will start laying the foundation for your Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal (Assessment 3) by researching potential change theories, leadership strategies, and collaboration approaches that could be relevant to issue you have identified. Please be certain to review the scoring guide to confirm specific required elements of this assessment. Note that there are differences between basic, proficient and distinguished scores.
When submitting your plan, use the Interview and Issue Identification Template [DOCX], Download Interview and Issue Identification Template [DOCX],which will help you to stay organized and concise. As you complete the template, make sure you use APA format for in-text citations for the evidence and best practices that are informing your plan, as well as for the reference list at the end.
Additionally, be sure to address the following, which corresponds to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. Please study the scoring guide carefully so you understand what is needed for a distinguished score.
Summarize an interview focused on past or current issues at a health care organization.
Identify an issue from an interview for which an evidence-based interdisciplinary approach would be appropriate.
Describe potential change theories and leadership strategies that could inform an interdisciplinary solution to an organizational issue.
Describe collaboration approaches from the literature that could facilitate establishing or improving an interdisciplinary team to address an organizational issue.
Communicate with writing that is clear, logically organized, and professional, with correct grammar and spelling, and using current APA style.
Additional Requirements
Length of submission: Use the provided template. Most submissions will be 2–4 pages in length. Be sure to include a reference page at the end of the plan.
Number of references: Cite a minimum of 3 sources of scholarly or professional evidence that support your central ideas. Resources should be no more than 5 years old.
APA formatting: Make sure that in-text citations and reference list follow current APA style.
Portfolio Prompt: Remember to save the final assessment to your ePortfolio so that you may refer to it as you complete the final Capstone course.
Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:
Competency 2: Explain how interdisciplinary collaboration can be used to achieve desired patient and systems outcomes.
Summarize an interview focused on past or current issues at a health care organization.
Describe collaborative approaches from the literature that could be relevant in establishing or improving an interdisciplinary team to address an organizational issue.
Competency 3: Describe ways to incorporate evidence-based practice within an interdisciplinary team.
Identify an issue from an interview for which an evidence-based interdisciplinary approach would be appropriate
Competency 4: Explain how change management theories and leadership strategies can enable interdisciplinary teams to achieve specific organizational goals.
Describe potential change theories and leadership strategies that could help develop an interdisciplinary solution to an organizational issue.
Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly, evidence-based communication strategies to impact patient, interdisciplinary team, and systems outcomes.
Organize content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions; contains few errors in grammar/punctuation, word choice, and spelling.
Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references exhibiting nearly flawless adherence to APA format.
Scoring Guide
Use the scoring guide to understand how your assessment will be evaluated.
View Scoring GuideDownload View Scoring Guide
RESOURES
INTERVIEWING:
Byrne, D. (2017). Data collection: How do I collect data using interviews? Project Planner, 1–11.
This resource provides an overview of interview methods and tips to collect the type of data you are seeking.
Knight, R. (2016). How to get the most out of an informational interview. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2–7.
This article provides tips on how to best use interview time to get necessary information.
Evidence-Based Practice
Building competencies for nursing practice: Closing the QSEN-to-practice gap. (2020). ANA-New York Nurse, 4(4), 8–10.
This article describes an educational experience for nursing students and new nurse graduates in researching and applying QSEN standards to practice.
Duffy, J. R., Culp, S., Marchessault, P., & Olmsted, K. (2020). Longitudinal comparison of hospital nurses’ values, knowledge, and implementation of evidence-based practice. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 51(5), 209–214.
This article evaluates whether an EBP educational program sustained the nurses’ value and knowledge and application of EBP in care delivery.
Plan-Do-Study-Act Model
Backhouse, A., & Ogunlayi, F. (2020). Quality improvement into practice. BMJ: British Medical Journal (Online), 368.
McNicholas, C., Lennox, L., Woodcock, T., Bell, D., & Reed, J. E. (2019). Evolving quality improvement support strategies to improve plan–do–study–act cycle fidelity: A retrospective mixed-methods study. BMJ Quality & Safety, 28(5), 356–365.
This article summarizes support strategies to improve the PDSA cycle fidelity.
Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (n.d.). How to improve. http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/HowtoImprove/default.aspx
This website provides an overview of the PDSA cycle and resources related to using it to drive improvement and change.
Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (n.d.). QI games: Learn how to use the PDSA cycles by spinning coins [Video]. http://www.ihi.org/education/IHIOpenSchool/resources/Pages/AudioandVideo/QI-Games-Learn-How-to-Use-PDSA-Cycles-by-Spinning-Coins.aspx
This video walks you through a simplified PDSA cycle.
Collaboration, Interprofessional, and Leadership Models
Collaboration and Leadership
Dyess, S. M., Sherman, R. O., Pratt, B. A., & Chiang-Hanisko, L. (2016). Growing nurse leaders: Their perspectives on nursing leadership and today’s practice environment. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 21(1), 1–11. http://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-21-2016/No1-Jan-2016/Articles-Previous-Topics/Growing-Nurse-Leaders.html
This study presents findings related to the current development of new nurse leaders, and the perspective of new and developing nurse leaders.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (n.d.). Transforming care at the bedside: Empowering better nursing care [Video] | Transcript. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CtXFdITU8w
Run time: 4:48.
This video shows a leadership and change project at a hospital.
Interprofessional Collaboration
Varagona, L., Nandan, M., Hooks, D., Porter, K. J., Maguire, M. B., Slater-Moody, J. (2017). A model to guide the evolution of a multiprofessional group into an interprofessional team. The Journal of Faculty Development, 31(2), 49–56.
This article focuses on an educational context but provides a good example of ways to bring a group together into an interprofessional team.
Ellenbecker, C., & Edward, J. (2016). Conducting nursing research to advance and inform health policy. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, 17(4), 208–217.
This article discusses how nurses should conduct research to have an impact on health care policies.
Schot, E., Tummers, L., & Noordegraaf, M. (2020). Working on working together: A systematic review on how healthcare professionals contribute to interprofessional collaboration. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 34(3), 332–342.
This article presents metadata on strategies to promote interprofessional collaboration.
