Introduction
The present rationale will review a poster presentation devoted to the use of change frameworks for improvement. It will consider a background scenario that can be employed for the session. Also, it will provide the critical context considerations and offer an academic summary of the presentations’ content. It can be suggested that the features of the audience define the content of the session and determine the key characteristics of its delivery.
Workplace Scenario as Background to the Session
Ann is a senior nurse who intends to work on the update of the existing patient positioning and mobility policies in her hospital, which, as she can prove based on recent research, are not evidence-based. She has been working at the hospital for over five years, and she has noted that previous changes usually took a long time to be adopted. Ann has not conducted an analysis of the barriers to change, but a few informal interviews with other nurses have shown that they are mostly associated with inefficient stakeholder engagement and the lack of attention to the feedback from nurses. Apart from that, Ann believes that the organization’s culture is not exactly supportive of change, and she knows that many nurses treat the current patient positioning policies as the only appropriate ones. In order to combat all the mentioned issues and to be able to respond to the ones that may arise, Ann looks into change management tools, including change frameworks. She comes across an article by Hanrahan et al. (2015) and finds that different frameworks can be integrated to lead quality improvement in particularly difficult environments. For the time being, she focuses on the Iowa Model while also considering other models and theories to determine the approaches that would suit her hospital the best. Ann strives to learn about the use of change framework for quality improvement in nursing.
Context Briefing
The presentation is meant for an audience consisting of senior nurses; the topic of the presentation is relevant and most likely familiar to them, and some of them might be specialists who have experience with change and related tools. The settings of the presentation are academic. These features define the content and its delivery. In particular, the speech will focus on the professional demonstration of facts supported by multiple resources and citations. The participants would be expected to be engaged due to the relevance of the topic to them, and the presentation will not aim to entertain, but it will also attempt to attract the attention of professionals with the help of highlights and illustrations. Thus, the specifics of the context of the presentation define its features, as well as those of the proposed workplace scenario, in which a senior nurse is the main character.
Academic Summary
The major elements of the presentation include the description of the key activities related to the use of change frameworks for improvement, the likely situations in which such activities would be required, and the principles of leadership and management associated with them. The reasons for using frameworks are also specified. Apart from that, the examples of change frameworks and some useful sources on the topic are mentioned for the nurses to study in future.
Given the importance of change for modern healthcare (McMillan, 2015), the successful management of change is similarly crucial. One of the tools that can facilitate change is change frameworks (Spear, 2016). Examples of change frameworks include Lewin’s Change Model (Spear, 2016), Kotter’s (2012) Eight-Step Change Model, Rogers’ (2010) theory of innovation diffusion, the Iowa model (Iowa Model Collaborative, 2017), and many other ones. The reasons for using change frameworks are associated with the complexity of change management, as well as the ability of the frameworks to assist in planning and structuring change-related activities. Apart from that, while there is not enough evidence to discuss the comparative effectiveness of changes with and without frameworks (Pollack & Pollack, 2014), some case studies report the ability of the latter to enhance the process (for example, by improving communication) (Hanrahan et al., 2015). Similarly, good outcomes of framework-facilitated changes are reported (for instance, sustainable change) (Small et al., 2016). Thus, there is some evidence which indicates that frameworks can indeed help to conduct a successful change.
The likely situations in which change frameworks are required are concerned with various changes that can be associated, for example, with evidence-based practice implementation, adoption of new technologies, or the solution of workplace issues (McAlearney, Hefner, Sieck, & Huerta, 2014; Mørk, Krupp, Hankwitz, & Malec, 2018; Small et al., 2016). In order to effectively employ a framework, a leader needs to choose an appropriate one (Spear, 2016), develop vision, mission, and goals that are strategically aligned (Appelbaum, Degbe, MacDonald, & Nguyen-Quang, 2015), and engage and empower stakeholders (Anders & Cassidy, 2014; Kotter, 2012). Furthermore, the development of a change-promoting culture is an important principle that enables the use of change frameworks for improvement (Anders & Cassidy, 2014; Kotter, 2012). From the managerial perspective, budgeting, planning, and scheduling also require strategic alignment (Shirley, 2016). Finally, managers and leaders need to ensure the development of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for their change (Anders & Cassidy, 2014; Hanrahan et al., 2015; Shirley, 2016). Overall, the role of managers and leaders in managing change for improvement with the help of special frameworks is crucial.
As for the sources that can be recommended for additional investigation, the original sources of key change frameworks may be helpful (Kotter, 2012; Rogers, 2010). Furthermore, secondary sources can offer useful summaries or interpretations (Hanrahan et al., 2015; Spear, 2016). Finally, case studies of change may be of interest; they often describe the role of leadership in the process (Mørk et al., 2018; Small et al., 2016). Thus, the presentation will offer the audience some sources for additional research.
Conclusion
As the present rationale shows, the audience of the presentation, which consists of senior nurses, defines its content. The ideas presented in the workplace scenarios are relevant for the nurses, and so is the topic of change for improvement in general. The presentation is designed to be more professional than entertaining to fit its academic settings. Furthermore, extensive use of references is proposed. The presentation will cover the key activities and possible situations related to change frameworks, as well as their examples, and it will focus on the management and leadership principles that are required for their effective use for improvement.
References
Anders, C., & Cassidy, A. (2014). Effective organizational change in healthcare: Exploring the contribution of empowered users and workers. International Journal of Healthcare Management, 7(2), 132-151. Web.
Appelbaum, S., Degbe, M., MacDonald, O., & Nguyen-Quang, T. (2015). Organizational outcomes of leadership style and resistance to change (part one). Industrial and Commercial Training, 47(2), 73-80. Web.
Hanrahan, K., Wagner, M., Matthews, G., Stewart, S., Dawson, C., Greiner, J.,… Williamson, A. (2015). Sacred cow gone to pasture: A systematic evaluation and integration of evidence-based practice. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 12(1), 3-11. Web.
Iowa Model Collaborative. (2017). Iowa model of evidence-based practice: Revisions and validation. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 14(3), 175-182. Web.
Kotter, J. (2012). Leading change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
McAlearney, A., Hefner, J., Sieck, C., & Huerta, T. (2014). The journey through grief: Insights from a qualitative study of electronic health record implementation. Health Services Research, 50(2), 462-488. Web.
McMillan, K. (2015). The critical bricolage. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 14(4), 160940691561155. Web.
Mørk, A., Krupp, A., Hankwitz, J., & Malec, A. (2018). Using Kotterʼs change framework to implement and sustain multiple complementary ICU initiatives. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 33(1), 38-45. Web.
Pollack, J., & Pollack, R. (2014). 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.
Rogers, E.M. (2010). Diffusion of innovations (4th ed.). New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
Shirley, D. (2016). Project management for healthcare. New York, NY: CRC Press.
Small, A., Gist, D., Souza, D., Dalton, J., Magny-Normilus, C., & David, D. (2016). Using KotterĘĽs change model for implementing bedside handoff. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 31(4), 304-309. Web.
Spear, M. (2016). How to facilitate change. Plastic Surgical Nursing, 36(2), 58-61. Web.