Introduction
The initiative can involve the provision of affordable pre- and post-natal counseling services, discounted infant care programs, and the promotion of quality healthcare among healthcare organizations. Therefore, engaging the healthcare stakeholders for action-taking and information collection will help reduce the number of pre-birth defects which cause a high infant mortality rate.
Specific Goals and Implementation Milestones
Achieving the three goals will involve various implementations during the initiative’s progress. Given its long-term effect on the U.S economy and healthcare sector, the initiative will take ten years. The duration will be divided into three implementation milestones: at the start, after three years, four years, and ten years. At the start, the involved stakeholders will gather resources necessary for the initiative: money and interested parties. After that, the initiative will be kicked off by implementing activities to reduce NTDs. After three years, the involved stakeholders will be required to have significantly reduced NTDs. After four years, pregnant women will have access to more quality healthcare facilities. Lastly, after ten years, the initiative will be ended, having achieved the three set goals.
Progress Measurement
Project progress includes the status of the assigned activities and their completion levels. For the current initiative, technologically-based tools will be crucial in measuring its progress. nTask, an online project management software, will be the primary tool. The software will help generate reports on resource allocation, budgeting and fiscal summaries, task completion rates, and milestone achievement. The reports will be generated bi-annually, giving a clear picture of the initiative’s progress. The software is configured in such a manner that tasks must be completed before starting the subsequent ones. Therefore, the stakeholders will have to stick to the initiative’s goals. Additionally, progress surveys can be taken, and compared with nTask-generated reports. Survey tools such as Google Forms and Jotform will be used to collect progress data.
Success Measurement
The initiative’s success involves achieving goals and setting milestones throughout the project. Data on institutional changes, stakeholders’ impact, and task completion will help measure success. The collected data will be recorded in Microsoft Excel and analyzed for comparison purposes. For instance, the infant mortality rate at the start of the initiative will be compared with the one after every milestone. Percentage changes in NTDs, infant mortality, and healthcare quality will be success measures (Ho et al., 2021). Positive changes indicate high success rates, while negative changes indicate low success rates. Increasing resource allocations including finances will help adjust where there is an alarming negative change. The finances will boost improvement actions, attending to the failed activities.
Information collection and analysis
Stakeholder satisfaction involves the initiative’s success after every milestone. Consequently, collecting information from the involved stakeholders will help determine their satisfaction rate (Hristov & Appolloni, 2021). The initiative’s success rate will be measured by collecting data on NTDs, infant mortality rate, and healthcare quality improvement. The information will be collected using online Google Forms given the wide scope of the initiative. After that, the information will be recorded in Microsoft Excel for analysis. Line and bar graphs will be used to analyze and compare collected information to ascertain stakeholder satisfaction. After that patients and doctors will be involved in a satisfaction survey for improvement purposes. Their opinions on the before and current status of maternal healthcare quality will be measured on a Likert scale.
Conclusion
Healthcare stakeholders, doctors, and patients are crucial in data collection and measuring the initiative’s success. Achieving the set goals is associated with stakeholders’ satisfaction with the initiative. Therefore, engaging the stakeholders at every step of the initiative will be significant for their satisfaction and the initiative’s overall success.
References
Ho, P., Quigley, M. A., Tatwavedi, D., Britto, C., & Kurinczuk, J. J. (2021). Neonatal and infant mortality associated with spina bifida: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE, 16(5), e0250098. Web.
Hristov, I., & Appolloni, A. (2021). Stakeholders’ engagement in the business strategy as a key driver to increase companies’ performance: Evidence from managerial and stakeholders’ practices. Business Strategy and the Environment. Web.