Executive Summary
The intensive care unit is a unit of paramount salience in a healthcare setup. It serves the sole purpose of handling critically ill patients requiring extensive care. Teamwork is vital in providing timely, effective, and excellent care and promoting patient safety (Ervin et al., 2018). Poor collaboration and communication can compromise care provision in the ICU. Due to the area’s sensitivity, complications of the patient’s condition may result, and in some cases, death occurs. Our facility is currently being affected by various issues impairing its effective operations. As such, they include insubordination and reluctance to comply with the set rules. The unit is experiencing a rise in superiority tussles as each staff seeks to prove his seniority over others. Such happenings have impaired effective team working, leading to poor service delivery. Effective communication is vital in all sectors as it ensures a stable flow of information across all involved stakeholders. The ICU unit, however, has a broken channel of receiving and sharing details. Due to their uncordial relationships, the members fail to pass information precisely and directly. Most times, they use a tone that is unfriendly and disrespectful.
Change Description
The proposed change is team building within the intensive care unit. This proposal seeks to connect medical stakeholders, care providers, and patients. The difference aims to unite all personnel in the intensive care unit in a team-building endeavor. It shall provide an opportunity for the staff members to share quality time and get to know each other well. Through such experiences, the change will enable them to bond at personal levels and establish mutual relationships. Such friendships will form the foundation for developing respect and love for one another. Further, it will equip each healthcare team member with good teamwork and communication skills. Members will learn and acquire skills that will enable them to be influential team members and gain practical communication skills as they work with others. Consequently, the ICU medical service providers will adapt to the change and be able to work collectively to ensure timely and effective care is provided to each patient. They, therefore, will be able to coordinate care and minimize the risk of harming patients. with proper leadership and mutual support to one another, the proposed change can be considered productive.
Justification and scope
The intensive care unit requires extensive medical skills and knowledge. The clients require integrated care from all providers, including medical officers, nurses, and patient aids. For this reason, the change in team building will play a key role in promoting care. Addressing the change will positively impact the ICU as it will increase the productivity of caregivers (Ervin et al., 2018). The change enhances safety and excellence, consequently leading to customer satisfaction. The difference extends to cover both professional and social life scope. This is because it seeks to establish an effective team with well-bonded members. Such relations will aid the medical personnel in networking and providing coordinated care. The quality of services will be of the set standards, and clients will be handled professionally and promptly. The change incorporates introducing team-building activities such as skydiving, hiking and dinners during off-duty hours as departmental members. Medical trips and benchmarking exercises can also allow members to build effective teams (Hastings et al., 2018). Continuing medical education programs will be organized in which all ICU workforce will attend collectively. The CMEs will provide each member a chance to learn and teach others.
Stakeholders and management team
The change will extensively affect all medical fraternity stakeholders, specifically those serving in the intensive care unit. The change will impact the doctors, nurses, imaging personnel, therapists, and patients. each medical stakeholder will be included in the team-building process to enhance personal and interdepartmental relations. The Management team will play the role of strategizing and executing the proposed change (Lacerenza et al., 2018). They will serve as the team leader and guide others. Leadership is of paramount salience in the process of implementing the proposed change. The lead members will serve as the policy formulators and implementors. They will coordinate the activities presented by the change and the staff members. Leaders serve as examples and motivators of their subject, and in this change, leadership is essential in encouraging members of its course (Hastings et al., 2018). The management team will also aid in assessing, planning, and budgeting the exercise. Upon the completion of change execution, the unit executive will evaluate to determine if the goals were met.
Change Communication
The proposed plan will be communicated to each stakeholder through established channels such as messaging. The management team will design an informative text message which will be shared with the members. Use of graphics and drawings can also be used to share information (Lacerenza et al., 2018). The leadership can share the information during general meetings and take the opinions of the members. Communication to the workforce should be detailed and include all aspects of the proposed change. While communicating the change, the information should be shared diligently to promote corporation from all persons involved. Each detail provided should be clearly and honestly the first sign of respect to the staff members. All stakeholders deserve to be told why the process is being conducted and how they will collectively benefit upon its completion (Lacerenza et al., 2018). The set goals and anticipated risks should also be outlined to everyone. This will prepare the members both physically and psychologically for the proposed change’s implementation. The message shared should indicate how the process will be conducted and what role each individual should perform.
Risk mitigation
As per the proposed change’s scope, anticipated risks might be encountered. As such, they include the unwillingness of members to participate due to the already existing poor relationship with one another. Social activities such as hiking may pose a safety risk due to the conditions of the sites. Poor timing of the activities may also hinder the implementation of the plan. Some outdoor activities and exercises, such as skydiving, may be risky for members with no previous skills. Such persons are prone to accidents that may lead to physical injury (Hastings et al., 2018). These risks can be managed by allocating team players simple incentives to encourage them to be part of the group. This will serve as motivation and a sign of respect and love. Organizing indoor activities to minimize dangers could be more effective during social interactions. In the case of outdoor activities, the management team ought to seek security from responsible service providers to promote safety during the process. Such activities should, however, be planned and timed appropriately (Hastings et al., 2018). For instance, the proposed change can be conducted during summer due to its conducive weather.
References
Ervin, J. N., Kahn, J. M., Cohen, T. R., & Weingart, L. R. (2018). Teamwork in the intensive care unit. American Psychologist, 73(4), 468. Web.
Hastings, E. M., Jahanbakhsh, F., Karahalios, K., Marinov, D., & Bailey, B. P. (2018). Structure or nurture? the effects of team-building activities and team composition on team outcomes. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 2(CSCW), 1- 21. Web.
Lacerenza, C. N., Marlow, S. L., Tannenbaum, S. I., & Salas, E. (2018). Team development interventions: Evidence-based approaches for improving teamwork. American Psychologist, 73(4), 517. Web.