Vision
The vision for this project is one of a healthcare facility that is well-equipped to detect various kinds of issues and deal with them appropriately. In particular, it would be able to admit senior patients with chronic diseases and discharge them confidently, knowing that they most likely will not return with the same issue for some time. It will do so through nurse navigators who are competent in dealing with chronic conditions that tend to affect the demographic and understand their interactions with the issues with which the patients come to them. They will guide the patient’s care from beginning to discharge and after it, ensuring that they are comfortable and recover enough that their health is unlikely to manifest any issues soon.
Goals
The project has three primary goals, two of which are quantifiable, while the third is more general. The first is to cut the readmissions for patients who are 65 and older. The second is to use nurse navigators to identify issues and solve them before the patient needs to be admitted to the facility again. The third is to break even within the first year if possible, though the project recognizes that it may not be. The breakeven will be achieved through reduced readmissions that are penalized by the Medicare program (Muller, 2019). The reduction in their number will offset the costs of implementing the project, which will decline themselves as the system is established.
Objectives
The objective for the first goal is to reduce the readmission rate from its current figure of 15% to 13% in the first year and 10% thereafter. In doing so, the facility will demonstrate its improved ability to help senior patients and become more efficient. For the second goal, the objective is to revise and adjust the nurse navigator role, putting the newly trained employees to work within the first year. Finally, as stated in the goals section, for the third goal, the objective is to break even within the first year. Success in doing so will establish the rationale for continuing the project, as it will be wholly beneficial for the facility from that point onward.
Actions to Be Taken
First, it will be necessary to determine what competencies are required of nursing navigators at the facility besides knowledge of chronic diseases. As Alberts et al. (2016) note, due to the novelty of the role, there is no established and universal process for its introduction. After the determination of the requirements, the organization will need to be adjusted to accommodate for navigators’ introduction into the healthcare process. At the same time, the prospective members of the new role will undergo training to improve their competencies and modify their outlook. Finally, the role will be put into practice, at which point it will require continued review and maintenance.
Timeline
The project will achieve most of its objectives within the first year, after which it will switch to maintenance. To that end, it will plan to finish the determination of what qualities are expected of the revised nurse navigator role within the first month. Then, in the second and third months, organizational adjustments will be made while the first group of the prospective navigators undergoes training. In the fourth month, the role will be formally introduced, with the fifth added to address any unforeseen complications. From that point onward, the project will take on a more passive approach, training new applicants to the position and reviewing the performance of existing ones.
References
Alberts, A., Lluria-Prevatt, M., Kha, S., & Weihs, K. (Eds.). (2016). Supportive cancer care. Springer International Publishing.
Muller, J. Z. (2019). The tyranny of metrics. Princeton University Press.