Atrium Health: Summary Of The Issues
In this paper, I will talk about change implementation for Atrium Health.
Atrium Health is an integrated nonprofit healthcare organization that aims at delivering the best health care to patients. Although the leaders of the organizations strive to improve the workplace environment constantly, several issues are yet to be solved. Specifically, there are five issues related that need to be addressed. The first issue is the lack of proper communication between different disciplines. The second issue is the lack of communication between employees and leaders. Third, their training for new employees is insufficient. Fourth, the short breaks for nursing staff may cause burnout and an increased employee turnover rate. The fifth issue is the absence of a standard uniform. These issues may not seem critical at this point, but introducing change can improve job satisfaction and performance in Atrium Health.
The Proposed Change
Implementing change in healthcare is challenging, but evidence-based practices can prevent many issues associated with it. Indeed, no organizational change can be effective without evidence (Sitterding et al., 2021). Nurses often need to introduce specific changes to improve employee performance and patient outcomes (Cullen & Adams, 2012). Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the nurse leaders to promote changes to achieve higher standards in the workplace (Sitterding et al., 2021). Therefore, the proposed change for Atrium Health is to organize weekly journal clubs for the staff of Atrium Health, where departments will come in their unique uniforms. The two-hour sessions with coffee breaks will be dedicated to reviewing recent research and training for new employees. The staff will freely discuss with the leaders of Atrium Health various issues that appear at the workplace.
Why Is The Change Good?
Introducing this change may result in better interdisciplinary collaboration. Furthermore, it will unite the efforts of employees and leaders for the improvement of the workplace environment. Indeed, good leadership requires cooperation and open dialogue because organizations evolve through teamwork. This change may also encourage constant learning and improvement among the healthcare workers, and it will serve as training for new employees. The journal club will allow the staff to relax from work. Lastly, it may encourage employees’ interest in wearing the standard uniform.
Type, Scope, And Stakeholders Of Change
The type of change that should be implemented for Atrium Health is Kotter’s eight-stage model, which is widely used for introducing innovations in companies (J. Pollack & R. Pollack, 2015). Figure 1 represents the eight stages required for introducing a new approach. The first step in this model suggests establishing a sense of urgency to make change compelling (J. Pollack & R. Pollack, 2015). The second step requires guiding coalition formation (J. Pollack & R. Pollack, 2015). During the third and fourth steps, vision and strategy are developed and communicated to the organization’s members. The fifth stage involves removing obstacles to empower broad change (J. Pollack & R. Pollack, 2015). During the next phase, short-term wins during the change process should be celebrated (J. Pollack & R. Pollack, 2015). The sixth and seventh steps include producing more change and securing a new vision in the culture.
Communicating Change and Risk Mitigation
The suggested change can be communicated to employees via social media, e-mailing, and by creating an entertaining video about the benefits of opening the journal club. Some risks associated with this change should be considered. Specifically, organizing the journal club for nurses will entail financial losses for Atrium Health. Additional funding for this purpose can be obtained from donations to our organization. Moreover, to maintain patient safety during the journal club sessions, nurses will participate according to the schedule that will not contradict their job duties.
References
Cullen, L., & Adams, S. L. (2012). Planning for implementation of evidence-based practice. Journal of Nursing Administration, 42(4), 222–230. Web.
Pollack, J., & Pollack, R. (2015). Using Kotter’s eight stage process to manage an organisational change program: Presentation and practice. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 28(1), 51–66. Web.
Seijts, G. H., & Gandz, J. (2018). Transformational change and leader character. Business Horizons, 61(2), 239–249. Web.
Sitterding, M.C., Miller, C., & Marshall, E.S. (2021). Practice model design, implementation, and evaluation. In Broome, M. E., & Marshall, E. S. (Eds.) Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader (3rd ed, pp. 99–154). Springer.
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