Assessment 1
Assessing the Problem: Leadership,
Collaboration, Communication, Change Management, and Policy Considerations
Instructions
In a 4–7 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 Capella Academic Portal Volunteer
Experience Form.
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Introduction
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] Download Practicum Focus Sheet: Assessment 1 [PDF], which
provides guidance for conducting this portion of your practicum.
Note: As you revise your writing, check out the resources
listed on the Writing Center’s Writing Support page.
Instructions
Complete this assessment
in two parts.
Part 1
Use Assessment 01 Supplement: Assessing the Problem: Leadership,
Collaboration, Communication, Change Management, and Policy Considerations
[PDF] Download Assessment 01 Supplement: Assessing the Problem: Leadership,
Collaboration, Communication, Change Management, and Policy Considerations
[PDF]to 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] Download 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 Capella
Academic Portal 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.
o
Summarize the problem
you’ll explore.
o
Identify the patient,
family, or group you intend to work with during your practicum.
o
Provide context, data,
or information that substantiates the presence of the problem and its
significance and relevance to the patient, family, or population.
o
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.
o
Note whether the authors
provide supporting evidence from the literature that’s consistent with what you
see in your nursing practice.
o
Explain how you would
know if the data are unreliable.
o
Describe what the
literature says about barriers to the implementation of evidence-based practice
in addressing the problem you’ve defined.
o
Describe research that
has tested the effectiveness of nursing standards and/or policies in improving
patient, family, or population outcomes for this problem.
o
Describe current
literature on the role of nurses in policy making to improve outcomes, prevent
illness, and reduce hospital readmissions.
o
Describe what the
literature says about a nursing theory or conceptual framework that might frame
and guide your actions during your 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.
o
Describe research that
has tested the effectiveness of these standards and/or policies in improving
patient, family, or population outcomes for this problem.
o
Describe current
literature on the role of nurses in policy making to improve outcomes, prevent
illness, and reduce hospital readmissions.
o
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.
o
Discuss research on the
effectiveness of leadership strategies.
o
Define the role that you
anticipate leadership must play in addressing the problem.
o
Describe collaboration
and communication strategies that you anticipate will be needed to address the
problem.
o
Describe the change
management strategies that you anticipate will be required to address the
problem.
o
Document the time spent
(your practicum hours) with these individuals or group in the Capella Academic
Portal 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. APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX] is provided
to help you in writing and formatting your paper. Be sure to include:
o
A title page and
reference page. An abstract is not required.
o
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.
Capella Academic Portal
Complete the
NURS-FPX4900 Volunteer Experience Form in Capella Academic Portal.
Include a description of your relationship to the patient, family, or group in
the Volunteer Experience comments field.
The BSN Capstone Course
(NURS-FPX4900 ) requires the completion and documentation of nine (9) practicum
hours. All hours must be recorded in the Capella Academic Portal. Please review
the BSN Practicum Campus page
for more information and instructions on how to log your hours.
Context
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.
Competencies Measured
By successfully
completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the
following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:
·
Competency 1: Lead
people and processes to improve patient, systems, and population outcomes.
o
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.
o
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.
o
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.
o
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
Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form.
·
Competency 8: Integrate
professional standards and values into practice.
o
Organize content so
ideas flow logically with smooth transitions.
o
Apply APA style and
formatting to scholarly writing.
