Evaluation Plan
Assessing the nurses’ ability to use the skills associated with Interdisciplinary Cooperation (IC) and lifelong learning to determine their ability to meet the set objectives should be seen as the first step toward implementing change. Restating the specified objectives, one should mention that the cognitive ones include nurses’ understanding of the goals of cross-disciplinary collaboration. The behavioral one concerns the nurses’ ability to meet the standards by following the newly designed instructions. Finally, the affective one implies that nurses will consciously select the identified strategies to address the health concerns of vulnerable groups. Therefore, the evaluation plan will need to embrace the nurses’ performance quality, attitudes, and values that guide their decision-making.
Measures
In the course of the evaluation, the measures on the merit of which the participants will be evaluated will include the ability to cooperate in a nursing setting, the skill of managing interdisciplinary conflicts, and the ability to share information to locate the available solutions and select an appropriate one. As Table 1 shows, the identified measures will need to be specified when introduced into a particular nursing setting.
Table 1. Measures and Outcomes: Cognitive, behavioral, and Affective.
Five (5) Question Test
- What are the key stages and goals of IC in nursing? What types of IC do you know? (Bloom’s Taxonomy level (BTL): “remember” (White, 2017, p. 10));
- With what types of IC strategies are you familiar? Please, provide an illustration of the appropriate scenario for each strategy. (Bloom’s Taxonomy level (BTL): “apply” (White, 2017, p. 10));
- How do you engage in IC during work? How do you manage conflicts emerging during IC? (Bloom’s Taxonomy level (BTL): “evaluate” (White, 2017, p. 10));
- If there is an ethical problem during the IC process, how will you address it? (Bloom’s Taxonomy level (BTL): “analyze” (White, 2017, p. 10));
- By what values are you guided in decision-making during IC? (Bloom’s Taxonomy level (BTL): “understand” (White, 2017, p. 10)).
The questions provided above are linked directly to the cognitive, behavioral, and affective objectives of the program. Particularly, they determine a nurse’s ability to meet the established criteria for maintaining communication with colleagues in an interdisciplinary setting, a nurse’s attitude toward the specified change, and a nurse’s understanding of the underlying values. Each of the questions correlates to a specific level of Bloom’s Taxonomy (BT). Specifically, the questions listed above help determine whether a nurse can understand, remember, create, evaluate, and apply the relevant information to a specific setting.
Evaluation Approach: Type and Rationale
To evaluate the effects of the project, the Systems Approach (SA) will be required. In the course of the evaluation, changes in nurses’ ability to work in the interdisciplinary setting and deploy the relevant communication techniques will be tested. By definition, the SA implies assessing the efficacy of a program from several standpoints, including the alterations in patients’ well-being rates, the levels of nurses’ competency, and socioeconomic factors affecting the program’s success (Reeves, Boet, Zierler, & Kitto, 2015). The SA will be deployed to determine the shift in nurses’ perception of patients’ needs, the depth of their knowledge, and the efficiency with which they manage IC-related issues.
The ability to embrace numerous factors that define the success of IC can be deemed as the key rationale for using the proposed assessment technique. As an evaluation approach, SA also helps to locate the common metrics across the selected team of learners (Smith & Jones, 2016). Thus, general tendencies among learners will be determined, and the common problems and learning gaps will be addressed respectively. Moreover, the proposed technique can be utilized to evaluate the efficacy of a program within a complex organization, which is critical for nurses due to the differences in their initial perception of the subject matter and the values that are promoted to them.
Learning Theory: Description and Rationale
In order to encourage rapid learning among nurses, one will need to deploy the theoretical framework that will help to build the motivation levels among the target demographic. Specifically, the Cognitive Learning Theory (CLT) seems to be appropriate in the described case since it creates the setting for boosting nurses’ motivation. CLT is a framework that allows exploring the phenomenon of information processing in learners (Aliakbari, Parvin, Heidari, & Haghani, 2015). Therefore, the specified approach will introduce additional opportunities for measuring the efficacy of the proposed program.
The choice of the specified approach is justified by the fact that there is a tangible emphasis on the cognitive aspect of applying IC skills in the nursing setting. While the identified task also requires specific behavioral skills, such as attention to detail, allow avoiding a range of medical errors it is still important for nurses to develop a profound understanding of nursing processes. Particularly, it is not only preferable but also advisable for nurses to base their decisions not on intuitive choices but on the outcomes of a detailed analysis and the results of conscious observations. The selected approach toward evaluating the effects of a program helps to determine whether the program succeeds in building the specified skills in nurses due to the attention to the cognitive issues.
To implement the project, one will have to utilize three key learning principles, which include peer support, experience sharing, motivation, and emotional intelligence. The identified concepts should be used to create a system of values based on IC and since they encourage collaboration. Moreover, the promotion of empathy as the cornerstone of a patient-centered nursing should lead to a better management of the target population’s needs.
Information Gaps Within the Project: Type and Rationale
It is expected that the project described above will cover most of the issues associated with IC in the nursing setting. However, certain issues will have to be omitted since creating an all-embracive project is barely possible and possibly extraordinarily time-consuming. Among the key information gaps that will be observed in the specified program, one will have to list communication with patients as one of the primary information gaps.
The rationale for the specified omission is rather basic yet reasonable. Because of the nature of IC, it typically does not involve close and immediate communication between a patient and an interdisciplinary team (Rider et al., 2014). Particularly, the adoption of IC techniques is most likely to be useful in the setting of an emergency room (ER) or a surgical environment, where a dialogue with a patient is impossible. However, to address the specified gap, the concepts of EI and empathy were introduced into the program and its assessment as the critical components (Wahab et al., 2016). Thus, nurses will be able to meet the needs of patients respectively.
Program Steps
The program will require taking several crucial steps in order to deliver the key instructions to nurses successfully. The final changes concern primarily the location of the program and the arrangement of the available resources. Thus, the program will have a powerful effect on all nurses that will take part in it.
Delivery of the Instructions
In order to provide nurse learners with the necessary instructions, one will need to design guidelines and standards for IC. Posters, presentations and other materials containing visual information will be designed to deliver crucial data to learners concisely and accurately. While integrating interactive tools for a more profound analysis of the provided data may be required, the use of traditional visual tools, including presentations, posters, and graphs, will be seen as the focus of the instructions delivery process.
In addition, simulations for testing nurses’ skills in applying the acquired knowledge will be designed. The identified tasks will be created with the help of the latest technological advances, particularly, interactive digital tools. The specified step of the program will be taken after nurses are provided with lectures and information concerning IC. The simulations will help to test nurses’ skills in handling complex IC-related issues and make decisions in the interdisciplinary setting.
Therefore, the delivery of knowledge will be accomplished with the help of both traditional and digital media. The latter will be especially useful in creating the setting where the participants will cooperate and apply IC skills. The final step of the program, which will include the assessment of the nurses’ knowledge, will be performed with the help of digital tools. Specifically, all participants will answer the questions listed above to prove their ability to use IC skills in a professional nursing setting. Thus, an unbiased evaluation of their knowledge will be possible.
Final Preparations
At the end of the program design, one will need to consider the arrangements associated with the use of space, infrastructure, and time. A room for nurses to learn and test their skills will have to be designed and equipped properly. Specifically, learners will study in the setting in which they will feel most comfortable, whereas teachers will have a vast range of opportunities to arrange the elements of the learning environment in a suitable way.
In addition, the facility in which the program will take place will be located within close proximity to the environment in which nurses work regularly. The specified choice will help learners to move from one room to another in a calm and collected manner, allowing them to remain organized. The identified choice will have a vastly positive effect on the learners’ performance during the program. Transportation services will include payment for bus, taxi rides, or any other transportation method. Food services will include free breakfasts and lunches in a local café.
Conclusion
By focusing on the cognitive aspects of the IC program, at the same time promoting a behavioral change and encouraging the development of empathy in learners, one will create the program that will lead to a rapid shift in nurses’ priorities, causing an increase in their performance. At present, it is critical to encourage nurses to build the skills needed for IC, one will enhance the process of knowledge sharing and reduce the threat of medical errors due to the shift in nurses’ priorities and the acquisition of the relevant values. Specifically, nurses will develop the ability to address complex situations related to IC, especially concerning interdisciplinary conflicts. At the same time, learners will acquire the ability to share skills and make group decisions in the setting that imply a significant amount of pressure.
References
Aliakbari, F., Parvin, N., Heidari, M., & Haghani, F. (2015). Learning theories application in nursing education. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 4(2). 1-11. Web.
Reeves, S., Boet, S., Zierler, B., & Kitto, S. (2015). Interprofessional education and practice guide No. 3: Evaluating interprofessional education. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 29(4), 305-312. Web.
Rider, E. A., Kurtz, S., Slade, D., Longmaid III, H. E., Ho, M. J., Pun, J. K. H.,… Branch Jr, W. T. (2014). The international charter for human values in healthcare: An interprofessional global collaboration to enhance values and communication in healthcare. Patient Education and Counseling, 96(3), 273-280. Web.
Smith, P. S., & Jones, M. (2016). Evaluating an online family assessment activity: A focus on diversity and health promotion. Nursing Forum, 51(3), 204-210.
Wahab, M. T., Wu, J. T., Ikbal, M. F., Loo, T. W. W., Kanesvaran, R., & Radha Krishna, L. K. (2016). Creating effective interprofessional mentoring relationships in palliative care – Lessons from medicine, nursing, surgery and social work. Journal of Palliative Care and Medicine, 6(6), 290-297. Web.
White, S. (2017). Activities for English language learners across the curriculum. Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Education.