Preparation
You have been asked to conduct an analysis of your care setting that will result in two potential pathways toward a strategic plan to improve health care quality and safety in your organization, department, team, community project, or other care setting. To accomplish this, you will take two approaches to the analysis:
- Complete the discovery and dream phases of an appreciative inquiry (AI) project.
- Conduct a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis.
To help ensure that your analysis is well-received, the requester has suggested that you:
- Present your analysis results in four parts:
Part 1: Appreciative Inquiry Discovery and Dream.
Part 2: SWOT Analysis.
Part 3: Comparison of Approaches.
Part 4: Analysis of Relevant Leadership Characteristics and Skills. - Your analysis should be 4–7 pages in length.
Part 1: Appreciative Inquiry Discovery and Dream
·
Synthesize stories and evidence about times when a care setting performed at its best with regard to quality and safety goals
.
. Collect stories from your care setting. You may collect stories through interviews or conversations with colleagues or provide your own.
. Explain how your stories are related to quality and safety goals.
. Describe the evidence you have that substantiates your stories.
. Identify the positive themes reflected in your stories.
. Describe other evidence (for example: data, awards, accreditations) that validates your care setting’s positive core.
· Propose positive, yet attainable, quality and safety improvement goals for your care setting.
. Explain how accomplishing these goals will lead to ethical and culturally-sensitive improvements in quality and safety.
. Explain how your proposed goals align with your care setting’s mission, vision, and values.
Part 2: SWOT Analysis
· Conduct a SWOT analysis of your care setting, with respect to quality and safety goals.
. Provide a narrative description of your analysis.
. Identify the assessment tool you used as the basis of your analysis.
. Describe your key findings and their relationships to quality and safety goals.
· Describe one area of concern that you identified in your SWOT analysis—relevant to your care setting’s mission, vision, and values—for which you would propose pursuing improvements.
. Explain how this area of concern relates to your care setting’s mission, vision, and values.
. Explain why you believe it will be necessary and valuable to pursue improvements related to this area of concern.
.
Part 3: Comparison of Approaches
Compare the AI and SWOT approaches to analysis and reflect on the results.
· Describe your mindset when examining your care setting from an AI perspective and from a SWOT perspective.
· Describe the types of data and evidence you searched for when taking an AI approach and a SWOT approach.
· Describe the similarities and differences between the two approaches when communicating and interacting with colleagues.
·
Part 4: Analysis of Relevant Leadership Characteristics and Skills
Analyze the leadership characteristics and skills most desired in the person leading potential performance improvement projects, taking both an AI and SWOT approach.
· Explain how these characteristics and skills would help a leader facilitate a successful AI-based project and a successful SWOT-based project.
·
Comment on any shared characteristics or skills you identified as helpful for both AI and SWOT approaches.
Criteria |
Non-performance |
Basic |
Proficient |
Distinguished |
Synthesize stories and evidence about times when a care setting performed at its best with regard to quality and safety goals. |
Does not list stories and evidence about times when a care setting performed at its best with regard to quality and safety goals. |
Lists but does not synthesize stories and evidence, or fails to clearly relate stories and evidence to quality and safety goals. |
Synthesizes stories and evidence about times when a care setting performed at its best with regard to quality and safety goals. |
Synthesizes stories and evidence about times when a care setting performed at its best with regard to quality and safety goals. Identifies knowledge gaps, unknowns, missing information, unanswered questions, or areas of uncertainty (where further information could improve the synthesis). |
Propose positive, attainable quality and safety improvement goals for a care setting. |
Does not propose positive goals for a care setting. |
Proposed goals are positive but not attainable, or will not lead to ethical and culturally sensitive improvement of organizational quality and safety, or are not clearly aligned with the care setting’s mission, vision, and values. |
Proposes positive, attainable quality and safety improvement goals for a care setting. |
Proposes positive, attainable quality and safety improvement goals for a care setting, and identifies assumptions on which proposed goals are based. |
Conduct a SWOT analysis of a care setting, with respect to quality and safety goals. |
Does not present the findings of a SWOT analysis of a care setting. |
Conducts a SWOT analysis of a care setting that is not clearly focused on quality and safety goals. |
Conducts a SWOT analysis of a care setting, with respect to quality and safety goals. |
Conducts a SWOT analysis of a care setting, with respect to quality and safety goals, and impartially considers conflicting data and other perspectives. |
Describe an area of concern identified in a SWOT analysis—relevant to a care setting’s mission, vision, and values—that should be improved. |
Does not describe an area of concern identified in a SWOT analysis that should be improved. |
Describes an area of concern identified in a SWOT analysis, but does not show its relevance to a care setting’s mission, vision, and values. |
Describes an area of concern identified in a SWOT analysis—relevant to a care setting’s mission, vision, and values—that should be improved. |
Describes an area of concern identified in a SWOT analysis—relevant to a care setting’s mission, vision, and values—that should be improved. Identifies criteria that could be used to evaluate such an improvement. |
Compare the AI and SWOT approaches to analysis with regard to data gathering and interactions with others. |
Does not describe data gathering and interactions with others. |
Describes data gathering and interactions with others, but does not compare these activities using an AI and SWOT approach to analysis. |
Compares the AI and SWOT approaches to analysis with regard to data gathering and interactions with others. |
Compares the AI and SWOT approaches to analysis with regard to data gathering and interactions with others, and acknowledges one’s own assumptions and biases. |
Analyze the leadership characteristics and skills most desired in the person leading potential performance improvement projects, taking both an AI and SWOT approach. |
Does not analyze leadership characteristics and skills most desired in the person leading potential performance improvement projects. |
Analyzes leadership characteristics and skills most desired in the person leading potential performance improvement projects, but does not clearly distinguish between an AI and SWOT approach. |
Analyzes the leadership characteristics and skills most desired in the person leading potential performance improvement projects, taking both an AI and SWOT approach. |
Analyzes the leadership characteristics and skills most desired in the person leading potential performance improvement projects, taking both an AI and SWOT approach. Identifies areas of uncertainty or knowledge gaps. |
Communicate analyses clearly and in a way that demonstrates professionalism and respect for stakeholders and colleagues. |
Does not communicate analyses clearly and in a way that demonstrates professionalism and respect for stakeholders and colleagues. |
Communication is not consistently clear and professional; errors in grammar or mechanics distract from the message, or communication lacks respect for stakeholders or colleagues. |
Communicates analyses clearly and in a way that demonstrates professionalism and respect for stakeholders and colleagues. |
Communicates analyses clearly, logically, and persuasively, demonstrating professionalism and respect for stakeholders and colleagues. Grammar and mechanics are virtually error-free. |
Integrate relevant and credible sources of evidence to support assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style. |
Does not integrate relevant and credible sources of evidence to support assertions; does not correctly format citations and references using APA style. |
Sources lack relevance or credibility, are poorly integrated, or are incorrectly formatted. |
Integrates relevant and credible sources of evidence to support assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style. |
Integrates relevant and credible sources of evidence to support assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style. Citations are error-free. |