The environment of an operating theater (OT) demands immediate responses and quick thinking along with substantial resourcefulness and the perfect knowledge of established guidelines. Therefore, in order to magnify the efficacy of performance in the OT setting among nurses, the use of shared leadership (SL) principles is required. The aim of this paper is to prove that the application of SL impacts the quality of nurses’ performance in the OT context directly since it leads to more effective collaboration, fewer instances of misunderstandings or information mismanagement, and, as a result, better surgical outcomes.
In turn, the specified aim will imply accomplishing several objectives, namely, the analysis of the existing state of managing tasks in the OT, as well as the strategies used to improve the efficacy of nurses’ performance in the OT.
Design
To implement the project, one will require the quantitative research design since the paper seeks to compare the outcomes of using an SL-driven framework to the one that is traditionally applied to the OT context. Consequently, given the research method, the quasi-experimental design based on the philosophy of positivism and the deductive approach to theory development will be required. Thus, the critical correlations between the variables under analysis will be identified.
As far as the study variables are concerned, the independent ones will be represented by the improvement in nurses’’ performance (dependent variable) and the application of SL-based leadership (independent variable). The presence of extraneous variables, such as comorbid issues in patients, need to be noted as the possible issues that may affect the outcomes of the research, yet the specified limitations are unlikely to be critical.
Setting for Implementation and Sample
The research will be set in the environment of a local healthcare facility, where nurses will be provided with an opportunity to train the skills needed to apply the principles of SL in the OT environment. Specifically, the ability of nurse leaders to deploy the SL principles and the extent to which the rest of the team members follows the provided direction and manage to collaborate in the OT environment will be examined.
The sample size will be represented by 100 patient outcomes observed in both experimental groups, namely, the one with the SL approach deployed (Group A) and the control one (Group B). By comparing the outcomes in each group, one will be able to test the initial hypothesis. Namely, Student’s t-test will be utilized as the means of determining whether the null hypothesis applies in the target setting. It is believed that the null hypothesis will be proven wrong and that the significance of SL in the OT context will be proven.
Innovation/Intervention
The proposed innovation is represented by the principles of the shared leadership as the guiding strategy for managing nursing processes in the OT environment. In itself, the shared leadership style suggests that team members are able to accept the responsibilities of their leader and, thus, contribute to the accomplishment of the set goals (Han, 2016). According to Sweeney, Clarke, and Higgs (2019), SL is “a dynamic interactive influence process among individuals in groups for which the objective is to lead one another to the achievement of group or organizational goals or both” (pp. 115–116).
The suggested innovative measure is expected to increase the extent of initiative in the OT environment, as well as encourage collaboration between team members. The latter change is especially important given the drastic outcomes of conflicts in the OT environments, which are known to arise quite often due to the tension and the constraints of the social hierarchy in hospitals (Han, 2016). In turn, the intervention is bound to affect the specified context positively by emphasizing the significance of negotiation and cooperation.
Procedures to Implement
In order to conduct the described quasi-experiment, several crucial procedures will have to be implemented. Namely, the transformation of the OT environment toward an SL-driven one will have to be conducted. In addition, a set of standards for SL will be included in the OT context.
Procedures to Sustain
The main procedures that this study will have to sustain include the introduction of essential criteria for SL and the change in the behaviors of staff members in the OT setting.
Outcome
The change that the introduction of SL into the environment of the OT is expected to cause will help to improve health outcomes by minimizing the threat of misunderstandings and medical errors in the OT environment. Specifically, the SL principles will strengthen the team and increase the level of responsibility among staff members, encouraging them to accept the necessity to make decisions. As a result, the efficacy of their performance will rise due to a better understanding of the impact that their actions will cause, as well as the acceptance of the relevant nursing principles and ethics. For instance, the need to prioritize patients’ well-being when making decisions in the OT setting will become evident once the wright of responsibilities is placed upon team members with the acceptance of the SL principles.
Measures
To evaluate the success of the proposed change and the effect that it has on the management of patients’ needs in the OT setting, one will need an elaborate and accurate measurement tool. To measure the extent of change, the increase in the number of recoveries and the drop in the number of errors and confrontations occurring in the OT setting will be used. Specifically, the measurement tools to be utilized in the course of the experiment will include a questionnaire and a scale that the participants of the study will use to evaluate their well-being.
Operational Definition
The research will use several notions, the methods of measuring the outcomes of the study needs to be considered closer. In this study, the operational definition of the research measurements will include mostly the extent to which the treatment was effective. Therefore, whether the recovery took place within the expected time range can eb considered the operational definition of this study..
Data Source
The main source of information that will be used in this research is the records of the instances of recovery that will be provided to the authors of the study by the hospital staff. Granted that the specified source of data is quite biased due to rather concise information that does not allow viewing the entire picture, it is possible to elicit efficient data from them. For this purpose, it will be necessary to approach the information provided in the records as the information that needs verification and can only be utilized in the analysis if it does not contradict itself. Thus, the parts that conflict with the rest of the narrative and doe not seem to be true can be easily identified and excluded from the general source of data.
Data Collection Plan
In order to gather the information needed for the study, it will be necessary to consider the tools that will be used to collect the key information. For example, the analysis of the written records should be conducted in order to identify the number of recoveries that will take place after the implementation of the suggested treatment strategy. In addition, the use of interviews taken with nurses and other healthcare staff member may be needed to consider the impact of the proposed treatment on patients closer.
Analysis Plan
The information obtained after the study of the existing records will be analyzed with the help of Student’s t-test to determine whether the initial hypothesis is true. The suggested method of analysis can be considered as slightly flawed since it does not allow examining the relationships between multiple variables and only offers the analysis of the correlation between the two. However, the suggested technique also helps to determine the existing correlation, if any, rather accurately, which is crucial in the case in point.
Style
The research will be conducted in the style that will allow for the most accurate assessment of the hypothesis and provide the opportunities to prove it either right or wrong. Specifically, the style that will lead to the assessment of the variables precisely will be used. Specifically, the research style that allows documenting the existing sources best will be adopted. Currently, the APA style seems to be the most legitimate method of referencing the existing sources of information.
References
Han, J. R. (2016). The effects of shared leadership on team performance and team commitment of team-based learning in nursing students: Mediating effects of team trust. Journal of Digital Convergence, 14(12), 303-311. Web.
Sweeney, A., Clarke, N., & Higgs, M. (2019). Shared leadership in commercial organizations: A systematic review of definitions, theoretical frameworks and organizational outcomes. International Journal of Management Reviews, 21(1), 115-136. Web.