Introduction
As change theory states, a need for change exists in any organization. In emergency room nursing, change theory can be applied to such issues as overcrowding, a small size of emergency units, and patient admission and release. Nevertheless, change needs resources, but when there are plenty, the need for change is not felt as sharply as to start it.
Change theory
Previously to identifying the area of practice where change theory can be used, it is necessary to define change theory itself. Change theory states that a need for change exists in any organization, and, in its own turn, such change requires proper management of its implementation and outcomes. It is known that organizations mostly resist changes and try to limit them as much as possible. The aim of a manager is to expand change-facilitating forces to make them prevail over the change-restraining ones. Certain limitations exist for organizational change. For instance, it can be started only by someone with enough authority, but it cannot happen merely due to a leader’s order. Additionally, the process of change may be hindered by a conflict of interests. The following inherent contradiction exists in change theory. To implement change, an organization needs resources, but when there are plenty of them, the need for change is not felt.
Applying Change Theory to Nursing Practice
It is clear that change theory is highly relevant to healthcare in general and nursing in particular. In nursing, the most suitable way is planned change (Mitchell, 2013, p. 32). To my opinion, the area of practice where change theory can be applied with the highest level of efficiency is patient care. First, it is necessary to identify particular problems that change is intended to remove. In emergency room nursing, such problems as patient care flow (overcrowding), insufficient size of an emergency unit, and “expediting the hospital admissions and release of patients” (Santos, Lima, Pestana, Garlet, & Erdmann, 2013, par. 24) need to be addressed by change initiators. Handling these problems requires strong nursing leadership. As G. Mitchell stated, leadership is “among the most important elements for planned change” (2013, p. 34).
Next, the change-facilitating and change-restraining forces should be indicated. In our case, the latter include additional time expenses and possible resistance of employees and patients. Change-facilitating factors include the increased job satisfaction, expanded patient autonomy, professional development, and more appropriate workload (Mitchell, 2013, p. 35).
A Flaw in Change Theory
As it was already mentioned, change theory has an inherent weakness: it needs resources to be implemented, but when plenty of resources exist, the leaders and employees of an organization do not feel the need to change anything. It does not necessarily apply to financial resources only. For example, imagine that an organization has decided to use change theory to handle the problem of overcrowding in emergency rooms. The need for change will feel like the most urgent in periods when a lot of patients arrive at emergency rooms, and the personnel is overloaded. However, an emergency department will have no time resources to implement a change in the situation of patient overflow; it will be preoccupied when dealing with these patients. Later, when there is no patient overflow, the need for change will not be felt by the organization as strongly as it was before, which will affect motivation dramatically.
Conclusion
According to change theory, any organization needs change. Change theory is highly relevant to emergency room nursing; several problems need to be addressed. However, an inherent weakness of change theory may hinder the process of change.
References
Mitchell, G. (2013). Selecting the best theory to implement planned change. Nursing management, 20(1), 32-37.
Santos, H.L., Lima, M.A.D., Pestana, A.L., Garlet, E.R., & Erdmann, A.L. (2013). Challenges for the management of emergency care from the perspective of nurses. Acta Paulista de Enfermagem, 26(2), 136-143. Web.