Implementation Steps
The transfer from the existing model of care to the one that implies the active education of the target demographic is fraught with several difficulties. As recent studies show, the specified phenomenon occurs due to the lack of self-care skills among patients (Acher et al., 2017). Therefore, a program aimed at introducing the vulnerable demographic to the concept of self-care by increasing the efficacy and intensity of patient education is required. As a result, a number of problems associated with the transfer from one healthcare setting to another will be avoided since patients will be able to determine a threat to their well-being and use the available resources to ask for assistance or remove the threat independently.
The program in question will require taking several crucial steps; the first one is the assessment of the existing resources and the choice of the ones that will be the most useful in the management of patients’ needs. The reconsideration of the existing leadership approach will be the second stage of the program. Particularly, nurses will have to be provided with crucial instructions for meeting the needs of patients in regard to their education. Afterward, the process of teaching will commence, each nurse is assigned to a group of patients that require education about the threats of transitions.
The next stage of the project will imply testing the effects of the program on patients’ well-being. Specifically, the staff members that have been provided with the education required for administering the transfer properly will be assigned the practical task of teaching patients the principles of self-care. The next and final stage of the project will require evaluating the efficiency and independence with which patients are receiving education use the newly developed skills. The number of positive outcomes among the specified demographic will be compared to those within a control group, where no patient education about self-care is offered.
Time Frame
It is expected that the project will take place for three months. The choice of the specified schedule is justified by the necessity to ensure that nurses acquire the necessary skills and receive the information and guidelines for providing patients with education. In addition, a significant amount of time will be needed for gathering the data. Thus, three months should be seen as the minimum schedule required for the introduction of the suggested patient education techniques into the environment of transitional care.
The first two weeks will be used for identifying and arranging the resources, as well as structuring the course for nurses and setting the education strategy for teaching patients. During this period, apart from the essential resources, the goals and expected outcomes of the project will be set. At the end of the specified period, all preparations for the courses and patient education will be over.
The next month will be used for teaching nurses to approach patients’ educational needs from the perspective of the self-care framework. Nurses will be provided with a theoretical framework, particularly the Self-Care Deficit Theory by Dorothea Orem, and the strategies that they can use to build awareness among the target demographic (Fawsett, 2016). At the end of the training, the nurses will have to perform a simple test to determine the change in the levels of their competency regarding the subject matter.
The fourth stage will imply educating patients. The nurses that have acquired the skills of promoting self-care will provide the target demographic with extensive information about the importance of self-care and the need to locate threats to their health in order to address the emerging issues quickly. Specifically, the patients will be provided with basic information about their disorders, including the signs and symptoms thereof and the treatment that patients can use in case no professional intervention is needed. In addition, the symptoms that require immediate assistance from nurses or other healthcare staff members will be described.
Finally, the target demographic will be provided with the data regarding the available health-related resources, including information sources, counseling, medications, and other essential items. The specified stage will require at least a month.
The fifth stage will involve the evaluation of the program outcomes and the comparison of patient outcomes to those of the control group, where no such intervention will be implemented. The assessment results will inform the further use of the proposed technique. However, it is currently believed that the suggested strategy will allow increasing the number of positive outcomes and reducing hospital readmission rates significantly (Peter et al., 2015). A week is required for conducting the necessary assessments.
The final week will be used to draw conclusions, provide recommendations, and define the further course of the research. The study may need a sharper focus on the elements of the patient education program and the strategies that have the best possible effect on the promotion of self-care among transitioning patients. Therefore, it will be critical to identify the further direction that the research will take and locate the areas that need to be explored in depth.
Table 1. Schedule.
Budget Considerations
The research will need financial support in order to meet its goals and cover the issues that it seeks to address. Specifically, financial resources will be required to provide salaries for the healthcare experts that will provide medical and educational services, as well as patient consultations. It is expected that the total amount of money required for paying the professionals to participate will amount to $100,000.
Furthermore, the expenses associated with transportation and the use of resources will have to be taken into consideration. The specified costs are expected to be covered by a total of $50,000. The specified expenses include the use of innovative technology, particularly interactive tools and simulations for both patients’ and nurses’ education. By incorporating several types of media into the study, one will be able to both reduce costs and make the education process more effective.
Resources and Statistical Tools
The analysis of changes that are believed to occur after the program is implemented will be performed with the help of statistical analysis. Therefore, the IBM SPSS software will be required for the study of data (Aljandali, 2016). The specified software will allow determining the presence of variance within the target group and the control one, thus proving the efficacy of the suggested tool for improving patient education.
Furthermore, the resources for nurse and patient education will have to be considered. Apart from visual and textual pieces of data, nurses will have to be offered simulations during which they will test their skills in an environment that will be as close to reality as possible. Patients, in turn, will have to be provided with interactive tools that will help them remember the essential information and arrange it in the most memorable and effective way.
References
Archer, A. W., Campbell-Flohr, S. A., Brenny-Fitzpatrick, M., Leahy-Gross, K. M., Fernandes-Taylor, S., Fisher, A. V.,… Weber, S. M. (2017). Improving patient-centered transitional care after complex abdominal surgery. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 225(2), 259-265. Web.
Aljandali, A. (2016). Quantitative analysis and IBM SPSS statistics: A guide for business and finance. New York, NY: Springer.
Fawsett, J. (2016). Applying conceptual models of nursing: Quality improvement, research, and practice. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
Peter, D., Robinson, P., Jordan, M., Lawrence, S., Casey, K., & Salas-Lopez, D. (2015). Reducing readmissions using teach-back: Enhancing patient and family education. Journal of Nursing Administration, 45(1), 35-42. Web.