The goal of realizing the plan is to introduce changes that will help improve the performance of nurses who care for the elderly and the quality of service in… hospital. The primary approach to implementation is the use of Levin’s three-stage theory of change and transformational leadership style to enhance collaboration between professionals. Thus, an interprofessional approach to serving elderly patients will allow faster and better performance of procedures for diagnosing and treating, reduce the workload on staff and increase employees and patients’ satisfaction with the provision of services.
Objectives and Predictions
The main goal of this plan is to change the organization of specialists work whose consultations are necessary for services for the elderly and to encourage their cooperative work. These changes in… the hospital will improve service for older patients, reduce the length of hospital stays and nurse’s workload. At the first stage of the plan realization, the worktime of specialists will increase, as well as the number of their duties to study issues needed changes and propose their modification, as well as arrange additional meetings. However, after its successful implementation, the workload will decrease due to a precise schedule and elimination of delays.
Employee satisfaction with the changes in the system will also decrease at the beginning of the plan performing due to increased workload. However, in the process of changes, employees will be satisfied with the new interaction system because of its convenience. Such results confirm De Sutter et al. (2019) by proving that clear definition of roles and, as result, reduced time for patient’s consultation increased staff satisfaction. Another feature is the possible denial of the need and effectiveness of cooperation, and especially, meetings, since they require time and active participation, but after time and establishing connections, specialists will discover their advantages (Jones & Van de Ven, 2016). Therefore, the most challenging stage in implementing the plan is identifying and eliminating the shortcomings of the current communication system, as well as encouraging employees to cooperate.
Change Theories and Leadership Strategies
Lewin’s theory of change and transformational leadership strategies are the most appropriate and necessary measures to implement the plan. At the first stage of unfreezing, the leader must make arguments showing the inefficiency of the current organization of work and push employees to identify deficiencies to encourage their participation. In this case, the manager needs to assemble a team and listen to employees’ individual needs. For example, Ms. Gordon complained in interviews about delays in applying treatment to her patients due to late check-ups by other specialists. Simultaneously, doctors, such as an endocrinologist or orthopedist, can express irritation at being taken away from their work.
In the second step, the leader should help professionals, both nurses and doctors, show their strengths and find benefit in others’ experiences during team meetings to interest the participants in interaction. This step facilitates knowledge sharing and collaboration to establish new scheduling, member responsibilities, rules, and communication mechanisms to improve patient care. For example, in the article Wojciechowski et al. (2016), this stage included engaging employees by educating, coaching, communication, and proposing the idea and changes. At the last stage of refreezing, the transformational leader must support employees’ motivation to continue cooperation and can also show transactional leadership traits for using punishment and rewards to maintain new order (Alvinius, 2017). In this way, a new collaborative value system and work organization will be reinforced and established, which will help improve the service for elderly patients and fulfill the plan’s goal.
Team Collaboration Strategy
The leader, who can be a senior manager with authority over nurses and doctors, has the most responsibilities for implementing the plan. At the first stage, his duties are to organize a team of necessary specialists, namely a geriatric nurse, cardiologist, endocrinologist, orthopedic surgeon, and therapist. The manager also needs to encourage the team and help with the distribution of responsibilities. The leader also have to collect data on professionals’ current performance in serving older people and present possible improvements, which is also data to track progress. After that, specialists’ responsibilities are to research information in their field and make suggestions useful for improving the service. In addition, Ms. Gordon should review and suggest the most convenient hours on the schedule of elderly patients for specialist check-ups to avoid delays.
In the second stage, the leader’s primary duty is to coordinate the work of the group to enhance their collaboration and create a safe atmosphere for the exchange of knowledge (Mayo, 2019). It is also the manager’s responsibility to draw up a new schedule of visits to elderly patients, taking into account the wishes of the specialists. The duties of the healthcare professionals are to bring useful knowledge to the work of the team and to meet the new order. At the last stage, the manager must monitor the compliance with the previously established schedule and the rules for the interaction of participants in the group.
Required Organizational Resources
Organizational resources for implementing the plan are minimal because specialists have already performed the necessary work but in an inefficient manner. Since professionals must examine elderly people who are not their patients, setting specific hours for such checks, for example, daily from 11 am to 12 am, will not increase their working hours. The organization of meetings also requires only room, as well as a projector and a computer to show the data to the team, and the hospital has these resources at its disposal. The only cost can be paid for the time spent on meetings. The average salary for a healthcare professional is $ 40 an hour, and one session a week is enough for a discussion (“Occupational employment statistics,” 2019). Thus, a team of five specialists and the manager requires approximately an additional $ 500 per week. Consequently, the implementation of the plan requires a small cost but significant organizational effort.
References
Alvinius, A. (2017). Contemporary leadership challenges. InTech.
De Sutter, M., De Sutter, A., Sundahl, Declercq, T., & Decat, P. (2019) Inter-professional collaboration reduces the burden of caring for patients with mental illnesses in primary healthcare. A realist evaluation study. European Journal of General Practice, 25(4), 236-242. Web.
Jones, S. L., & Van de Ven, A. H. (2016). The changing nature of change resistance: An examination of the moderating impact of time. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 52(4), 482–506.
Mayo, A.T. (2016). Teamwork in health care: Maximizing collective intelligence via inclusive collaboration and open communication. AMA Journal of Ethics, 18(9), 933-940.
Occupational Employment Statistics. (2019).
Wojciechowski, E., Murphy, P., Pearsall, T., & French, E. (2016). A case review: Integrating Lewin’s Theory with Lean’s System Approach for change. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 21(2). Web.