The offered case study revolves around the change process within the Norwegian hospital X. The central idea was to go paperless and shift towards using the most innovative ways to work with patients, including electronic patient records (EPR) and electronic care plans (ECP). The proposed reconsideration was associated with numerous challenges linked to the nature of new technology and staff experiences and skills. For instance, nurses training to acquire knowledge of how to use new approaches was complicated by the lack of time and the absence of experience. Also, nursing assistants were unfamiliar with paperwork and documents, which was an additional limitation. However, it is possible to admit the positive nature of the outlined change and its possibility to promote positive outcomes. Several reasons from the case can help to prove this statement.
First of all, the change can be analyzed using Lewin’s model, implying three major phases. These are unfreezing, change, and refreezing typical for all processes. Thus, Norwegian hospital management followed the model, which served as the basis for positive outcomes. Preliminary meetings with the staff and discussions helped to clarify existing expectations and fears. During this phase, the top management and health workers created a shared vision and agreed to engage in the change process, although there were some factors that could be viewed as barriers to attaining success. Moreover, the benefits of integrating the EPR and ECP were outlined, contributing to the growing interest and motivation to participate in the process. It means that the successful unfreezing phase was one of the success factors influencing the change process in the selected hospital.
Another positive aspect of change was the staff’s engagement and readiness to overcome difficulties. Thus, the integration of new technologies was viewed as something inevitable, which helped to establish a positive attitude toward the scope of change. Additionally, regardless of some problems discovered during the reconsideration of the unit’s work, the staff remained optimistic about outcomes and the possibility of achieving the current goals. It means that the organizational culture, values, and philosophy were considered and employed to create the basis for change and support it. At the same time, the case shows that project members and workers supported each other during the most critical moments and were ready to do extra work to ensure the change continues and there are no critical barriers influencing outcomes.
Finally, the role of leadership should also be admitted as managers create the basis for change. It was achieved due to the close cooperation with team members and a clear outline of goals along with their benefits. Leaders play a critical role in any change process as they can introduce needed corrections or redistribute resources if any problems occur. For the discussed case, effective leadership helped to correctly address the emerging complexities and unit the staff. The high level of support and cooperation can be viewed as the result of the effective strategy selected by leaders to address the problem and ensure the change process is successful. Altogether, the case shows that regardless of several problems that appeared during the process, the change in Norwegian hospitals can be determined as overall positive. The health workers were motivated to acquire new skills and learn new methods to work with patients and documents.