NHS FPX 6004 Training Session for Policy Implementation Assessment 4 Training Session for Policy Implementation

Assessment 4: Training Session and Agenda

NHS FPX 6004 Training Session for Policy Implementation Assessment 4 Training Session for Policy Implementation KP

The consistent improvement of quality in health care services demonstrates the need for implementing regular training plans for various stakeholders in the health care industry. In this training, it is vital to obtain buy-in from the stakeholders taking part in the policy implementation. The role group in this training session will be nurses. Indeed, nurses are essential in implementing the proposed policies and practice guidelines. The strategies that will apply to obtain their buy-in will involve, first, letting them know their input in the policy implementation is vital. Making them understand that they are an essential part of the organization and its practices will motivate them to participate in the policy implementation (Nibbelink & Brewer, 2018). Secondly, it will involve consulting them to give their inputs because, as the frontline workers who spend the most time with patients, their contribution to the policy will matter significantly. Lastly, it will report back to them based on their inputs. These strategies have a significant potential for effectiveness for various reasons. First, they seek to show the nurses that they are part of the organization. This will give them a sense of belonging and own the policies as if they were their initiative. Secondly, they show appreciation to the nurses by showing them their contribution is valued by giving them feedback on their contributions and performance.

NHS FPX 6004 Training Session for Policy Implementation Assessment 4 Training Session for Policy Implementation KP

After the training and rollout of the policy and practice guidelines, various measures might provide early indicators of success. The first indicator will be the reduction of readmission cases. Indeed, Mercy Medical Center continues to experience significant cases of readmissions, mainly for diabetes patients. Therefore, reducing readmission cases will show that the policy is successful. Secondly, it is evident that the diabetic cases that readmissions cause the hospital handles. Therefore, when the hospital starts receiving fewer diabetes cases, it will successfully indicate the policy.

 The new policy and practice guidelines will have several impacts on the hospital. First, it will reduce the number of readmission cases to the hospital, which is the fundamental goal of the policy. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (2020), several of the current processes that can reduce the excessive readmission rates include refining the communication and practice of care and delivery between departments, patients, doctors, nurses, and other health care axillary groups. Hence, implementing the policy, which advocates for patient engagement and communication, and optimizing the transition of care will reduce readmission cases. Secondly, the quality of care at Mercy Medical Center will improve because nurses and doctors will have more time to address new cases instead of handling readmissions. The policy and practice guidelines will follow a defined plan in the following order.

• Gather the stakeholders at the facility level and agree on the policy and practice guidelines.
• Documenting Mercy Medical Center clinical processes, especially those the policy and practice guidelines will affect.
• If any disagreements arise, the third step will be to modify the policy to cover the interest of all stakeholders.
• Communicating changes in the facility processes.
• Deciding how to assess the success of the policy and practice guidelines.
• Incorporate organizational goals by implementing policy, procedure, and practice guidelines.

The proposed policy and practice guidelines will affect nurses’ daily work routine and responsibilities at Mercy Medical Center. Currently, patient engagement and education are negligible at the hospital. Therefore, after implementing the policy, nurses will be responsible for engaging patients in their treatment and discharge processes. This will include clear communication about their post-discharge care, monitoring symptoms, and follow-up plans. Also, the nurses will start educating patients on various aspects of their conditions and how to handle them to avoid rehospitalization.

NHS FPX 6004 Training Session for Policy Implementation Assessment 4 Training Session for Policy Implementation KP

Indeed, the new policy and practice guidelines will improve the quality of care related to nurses. Nurses admit patients and discharge them after hospitalization (Middleton et al., 2018). During hospitalization, they monitor them and interact with them significantly. The proposed policy and practice guidelines will seek to ensure the nurses do their work in the most effective way to reduce the rehospitalization of patients. Hence, the nurses will engage patients and educate them accordingly. They will also give practical and correct instructions to patients concerning their post-discharge care to avoid incidences that can create their readmission. If this applies as stipulated, the nurses will have demonstrated a significant quality improvement in their care. Consequently, patient outcomes will improve (Hegedüs et al., 2020). The policy will ensure reduced readmissions, which means patients will receive the best care during their first visit to the hospital. Hence, the need for readmission will not arise. 

The nurses will play a significant role in implementing this policy and practice guidelines, and their importance cannot be overlooked. Nurses can influence healthcare for patients currently and in the future. They can advocate for patient information at various levels using plain language and health literacy guidelines. The work and buy-in of nurses in implementing this policy are essential for several reasons. First, they are the hospital’s most significant personnel based on patient interaction and engagement (Carthon et al., 2019). If anything, the policy and practice guidelines target them at the implementation level. They will serve as the transition coaches patient trainers and conduct their other nursing responsibilities. To ensure that nurses feel empowered, the program will have various practices. First, it will ensure that nurses are free to communicate with the hospital leadership concerning the practices they feel should change to implement the policy and practice guidelines. Secondly, it will provide all the resources to the nurses necessary for the policy implementation to facilitate their work.

The training will take two hours. Hence, the instructional content must be brief yet detailed enough to ensure the nurses understand the policy and practice guidelines effectively. The content will be oral, written, and audiovisual. The oral content will explain the importance of the policy and practice guidelines to the nurses in realizing excellent patient outcomes. The training will also use printed notes to support the oral content. Moreover, it will use audiovisual content to demonstrate the policy and practice guidelines practically. The proposed activities in the training agenda will support learning and development in that they will introduce new knowledge to the nurses, provide room for evaluation, and allow nurses to practice what they have learned to evaluate their understanding.

Annotated Training Agenda

1. Introduce the need for having hospital policies and practice guidelines.
2. Present the benchmark and metrics by various authorities on healthcare and inform the nurses about the underperformance analysis of the hospital.
3. Explain the need to have policies and practice guidelines at Mercy Medical Center to address the metrics in the underperformance analysis.
4. Present a summary of the proposed policy and practice guidelines.
5. Issue pamphlets with demonstrations about the proposed policy and practice guidelines and explain the pamphlet’s contents. 
6. Present an audiovisual demonstration of how nurses should handle patients in implementing the policy.
7. Form groups of nurses, each with three nurses, to practice the policy activities, e.g., Discharge a patient and have an information teach-back process.
8. Evaluate the nurses’ understanding of the policy with oral questions.
9. Conclude the training. 

References

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). (2020, October). Decreasing Redundant Hospital Readmissions: The act of the Patient Safety Organization. 

Carthon, J. M. B., Davis, L., Dierkes, A., Hatfield, L., Hedgeland, T., Holland, S., … & Aiken, L. H. (2019). Association of nurse communication and nurse staffing on patient protection. Journal of nursing care quality, 34(1), 40.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc6263830/

NHS FPX 6004 Training Session for Policy Implementation Assessment 4 Training Session for Policy Implementation KP

Hegedüs, A., Kozel, B., Richter, D., & Behrens, J. (2020). The success of transitional involvements in improving patient results and service use post-discharge from psychiatric inpatient care. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10, 969. 

Middleton, A., Li, S., Kuo, Y. F., Ottenbacher, K. J., & Goodwin, J. S. (2018). New Practice in long‐term care post-hospital discharge to a skilled nursing facility. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 66(1), 56-63.

https://agsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jgs.15131

Nibbelink, C. W., & Brewer, B. B. (2018). Decision‐making in nursing practice: A consolidative literature assessment. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(5-6), 917-928.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jocn.14151