NR554: Leadership in Healthcare Policy

Imbedding Policy into Healthcare Culture NAME Chamberlain College of Nursing NR554: Leadership in Healthcare Policy DATE From the perspective of the nursing leadership position that you expect to have upon graduation, consider how you would move a new healthcare policy into your healthcare organization. What would be the first steps taken with the organization’s leadership to gain buy-in? Week 5: Imbedding Policy into Healthcare Culture Buy-in is critical to making any large organizational change happen. While the majority of organizational initiatives happen in the clinical and administrative departments, initiatives and policy changes aren’t sustainable without buy-in from clinical staff, administrators, and the executives. That’s why it’s up to nursing leaders of a healthcare organization to effectively communicate their strategies and demonstrate the various benefits to ensure that the hospital’s leadership executives authorize the initiative. The following are the first steps taken by the organization's leadership to gain buy-in when trying to implement a new healthcare policy into your healthcare organization. One, determine your objective. What action do you want your audience to take in regards to your policy change or initiative? Lay out your reasoning for the change to stakeholders clearly and provide accurate information, sound analyses, and examples that support how you developed your initiative (Hedges, 2015). Identify solutions, set goals, and customize best practices; goals must be measurable, realistic, and specific regarding time (Mennella, 2017). Make sure the policy change can relate to the organization’s vision and values. Two, gather support from other key individuals. Find other employees within the organization who have influence and credibility in the organization and buys into your initiative. These staff members should possess expertise in their fields and possess strong leadership skills (Mennella, 2017). Building a strong coalition to successfully adopt and implement new ideas and change has greater credibility than one individual. Three, communication is key. Keeping the lines of communication open and reinforcing the understanding that change in the healthcare industry is necessary and inevitable. Use a variety of effective communication methods to create successful communication channels (Mennella, 2017). Four, learn what best practices are out there. Document and track the benefits, both the tangible and non-tangible benefits and communicate the results to the stakeholders. References Hedges, K. (2015). How to get real buy-in for your idea. Retrieved from Mennella, H. A. (2017). Leading Change. CINAHL Nursing Guide, Reference Center Plus, EBSCOhost RESPONSE TO PROFESSOR & PEER POST: Dr. Fildes, Amy, and Sandra, I’m learning that self-awareness is the foundational skill for personal growth and leadership development. A leader who can recognize their strengths and weaknesses, feelings, thoughts, and actions can make better quality decisions than those who do not. Self-awareness is a key factor in the capability for a leader to be able to adapt and grow within the healthcare industry. As Sandra mentioned self-awareness is essential in the buy-in process with stakeholders. A leader that has developed self-awareness understands that having the right impact may mean they have to create different language and different behaviors to get the results that they need (Zuckerman, Friedman, Castro, 2018). A self-aware leader can identify all stakeholders involved and work out their needs. They think about the stakeholders they need to propose the initiative to; they think about the people the change will affect; they think about the people who are watching what they do. Improving one’s self-awareness gives them a greater chance of inspiring stakeholders to follow their lead and work towards their goals. Leaders must be invested and personally believe in the importance of implementing their initiatives. Reference Zuckerman, J.D., Friedman, A., & Castro, M. (2018). Self-awareness: The ladder to leadership success. Chief Learning Officer, 17(2), 16-19. RESPONSE TO PROFESSOR POST: A passionate nurse leader who is going to champion EBP needs to be familiar with the Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice (JHNEBP) model, Your thoughts? Dr. Fildes, Today’s healthcare system represents a culture of improving quality, promoting patient safety, and supporting practice with evidence. Evidence-based practice puts emphasis on providing the safest and highest quality care to patients to improve outcomes. Evidence-based practice (EBP) is incorporated into all levels of the nursing field. Institutions that are looking to gain Magnet recognition must implement EBP into the hospital setting. The goal of the John Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice (JHNEBP) model is to ensure that the latest research findings and best practices are quickly and appropriately incorporated into patient care. John Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice explains how nurses should use evidence to give proof of the outcomes for patients and their professional work. The model simplifies the process of implementing EBP by using a three-step process called PET: Practice question, Evidence, and Translation. Nurses can use this model for patient care projects at the individual patient, population, or organizational level. My thoughts are that a passionate nurse leader has to be well equipped with JHNEBP knowledge to ensure that he or she provides the right leadership to the nurses through monitoring and evaluation and following the evidence-based practice to ensure that all the nurses provide quality health care to their patients. Carole B. Reference Dang, D., & Dearholt, S. (2017). Johns Hopkins nursing evidence-based practice: model and guidelines. 3rd ed. Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau International.