assessing the problem

nursing

Assessing the Problem: Leadership, Collaboration, Communication, Change Management, and Policy Considerations

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

·

PRINT

· In a 5 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.

8. Summarize the problem you’ll explore.

8. Identify the patient, family, or group you intend to work with during your practicum.

8. Provide context, data, or information that substantiates the presence of the problem and its significance and relevance to the patient, family, or population.

8. 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.

9. Note whether the authors provide supporting evidence from the literature that’s consistent with what you see in your nursing practice.

9. Explain how you would know if the data are unreliable.

9. Describe what the literature says about barriers to the implementation of evidence-based practice in addressing the problem you’ve defined.

9. Describe research that has tested the effectiveness of nursing standards and/or policies in improving patient, family, or population outcomes for this problem.

9. Describe current literature on the role of nurses in policy making to improve outcomes, prevent illness, and reduce hospital readmissions.

9. 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.

10. Describe research that has tested the effectiveness of these standards and/or policies in improving patient, family, or population outcomes for this problem.

10. Describe current literature on the role of nurses in policy making to improve outcomes, prevent illness, and reduce hospital readmissions.

10. 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.

11. Discuss research on the effectiveness of leadership strategies.

11. Define the role that you anticipate leadership must play in addressing the problem.

11. Describe collaboration and communication strategies that you anticipate will be needed to address the problem.

11. Describe the change management strategies that you anticipate will be required to address the problem.

11. 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. 

APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX]

 is provided to help you in writing and formatting your paper. Be sure to include:

14. A title page and reference page. An abstract is not required.

14. Appropriate section headings.

. Length: Your paper should be approximately 5 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. Organize content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions.

22. Apply APA style and formatting to scholarly writing.

1/23/22, 5:18 PM Assessing the Problem: Leadership, Collaboration, Communication, Change Management, and Policy Considerations Scoring Guide

https://courserooma.capella.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/NURS-FPX/NURS-FPX4900/220100/Scoring_Guides/a01_scoring_guide.html 1/2

Assessing the Problem: Leadership, Collaboration, Communication, Change
Management, and Policy Considerations Scoring Guide

CRITERIA NON-PERFORMANCE BASIC PROFICIENT DISTINGUISHED

Define a patient,
family, or population
health problem
that’s relevant to
personal and
professional
practice.

Does not define
a patient, family,
or population
health problem.

Attempts to define a
patient, family, or
population health
problem.

Defines a patient,
family, or
population health
problem that’s
relevant to
personal and
professional
practice.

Clearly and succinctly defines a
patient, family, or population
health problem that’s relevant to
personal and professional
practice. Fully substantiates the
presence and relevance of the
problem.

Analyze evidence
from peer-reviewed
literature and
professional
sources that
describes and
guides nursing
actions related to a
defined patient,
family, or population
problem.

Does not cite
evidence from
peer-reviewed
literature and
professional
sources that
describes and
guides nursing
actions related
to a defined
patient, family, or
population
problem.

Cites evidence from
peer-reviewed
literature and
professional
sources that
describes and
guides nursing
actions related to a
defined patient,
family, or population
problem.

Analyzes evidence
from peer-
reviewed literature
and professional
sources that
describes and
guides nursing
actions related to a
defined patient,
family, or
population
problem.

Analyzes evidence from peer-
reviewed literature and
professional sources that
describes and guides nursing
actions related to a defined
patient, family, or population
problem. Applies relevant,
unambiguous criteria for
evaluating the evidence, and
exhibits clear insight into
potential barriers to evidence-
based practice and theoretical
guiding frameworks.

Explain how state
board nursing
practice standards
and/or
organizational or
governmental
policies could affect
a defined patient,
family, or population
problem.

Does not identify
state board
nursing practice
standards and/or
organizational or
governmental
policies that
could affect a
defined patient,
family, or
population
problem.

Attempts to identify
state board nursing
practice standards
and/or
organizational or
governmental
policies that could
affect a defined
patient, family, or
population problem.

Explains how state
board nursing
practice standards
and/or
organizational or
governmental
policies could
affect a defined
patient, family, or
population
problem.

Provides an explanation, with
examples, of how state board
nursing practice standards
and/or organizational or
governmental policies could
affect a defined patient, family,
or population problem, based on
a perceptive and coherent
synthesis of current literature.
Provides clear insight into how
policy affects nursing scope of
practice.

1/23/22, 5:18 PM Assessing the Problem: Leadership, Collaboration, Communication, Change Management, and Policy Considerations Scoring Guide

https://courserooma.capella.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/NURS-FPX/NURS-FPX4900/220100/Scoring_Guides/a01_scoring_guide.html 2/2

CRITERIA NON-PERFORMANCE BASIC PROFICIENT DISTINGUISHED

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.

Does not
propose
leadership
strategies to
improve
outcomes,
patient-centered
care, and the
patient
experience
related to a
defined patient,
family, or
population
problem, and
does not
document
practicum hours
in CORE ELMS
Volunteer
Experience
Form.

Proposes leadership
strategies that are
not clearly related to
a defined patient,
family, or population
problem or which
are not likely to
significantly improve
outcomes, patient-
centered care, and
the patient
experience, and/or
does not document
practicum hours in
CORE ELMS
Volunteer
Experience Form.

Proposes
leadership
strategies to
improve outcomes,
patient-centered
care, and the
patient experience
related to the
defined patient,
family, or
population problem
and documents the
practicum hours
spent with these
individuals or
group in the CORE
ELMS Volunteer
Experience Form.

Proposes leadership strategies,
supported by examples, to
improve outcomes, patient-
centered care, and the patient
experience related to a defined
patient, family, or population
problem. Exhibits clear insight
into the necessary role of
leadership and the need for
collaboration, communication,
and change management in
addressing the problem. and
Documents the practicum hours
spent with these individuals or
group in the CORE ELMS
Volunteer Experience Form.

Organize content so
ideas flow logically
with smooth
transitions.

Does not
organize content
for ideas to flow
logically with
smooth
transitions.

Organizes content
with some logical
flow and smooth
transitions.

Organizes content
so ideas flow
logically with
smooth transitions.

Organizes content so clarity is
enhanced and all ideas flow
logically with smooth transitions.

Apply APA style and
formatting to
scholarly writing.

Does not apply
APA style and
formatting to
scholarly writing.

Applies APA style
and formatting to
scholarly writing
incorrectly and/or
inconsistently,
detracting
noticeably from
good scholarship.

Applies APA style
and formatting to
scholarly writing.

Applies APA style and formatting
to scholarly writing. Exhibits
strict and nearly flawless
adherence to stylistic
conventions, document
structure, and source
attributions.