NURS 8114 Week 6 Assignment EBP, IS, AND QI

NURS 8114 Week 6

Assignment EBP, IS, AND QI

Student Name

Walden University

NURS 8114: Theoretical and Scientific Foundations of Nursing

Professor Name

Date

Introduction

The nurse shortage crisis poses a significant challenge to healthcare organizations. The shortage results in increased workloads, staff burnout, and compromised patient outcomes, highlighting the urgency for actionable solutions. By leveraging the Knowledge-to-Action (KTA) Framework, the initiative aims to translate research findings into practical strategies tailored to the organization’s needs.

The comprehensive approach involves stakeholder engagement, targeted interventions, and ongoing evaluation to improve nurse recruitment and retention (Robinson, 2022). Addressing the issue benefits St. Francis Health Services and serves as a model for addressing workforce shortages across the healthcare sector.

Site Selection

St. Francis Health Services is to provide care to family units, elderly people, and people with chronic illnesses. The mission is to improve people’s quality of life and deliver accessible care. St. Francis is part of healthcare organizations established as private entities, allowing access to shared resources (Robinson, 2022). The established quality improvement (QI) department is central to the site and fosters innovation. Riverwood Regional Medical Center mainly targets patients who need emergency and acute care, especially those involving trauma. The core values are thus to achieve the strategic mission of providing patient-centered and progressive accessible care.

For strategic direction, the public entity is autonomous to respond to challenges in theregion effectively (Riverwood Healthcare Center, 2021). The high patient volume is noteworthy, making nurse shortages particularly critical. Lakeside Rehabilitation and Care Center delivers health care primarily to elderly patients and patients in need of long-term care. The purpose is to improve the quality of life among people living in a particular territory (White et al., 2030). A significant feature is the ongoing struggle with staff retention, presenting both a challenge and an opportunity for improvement.

Strengths and Weaknesses

A good facility and clear healthcare leadership may be a significant disadvantage of St. Francis Health Services since more people engaged means slow decision-making in an instance. On the positive side, Riverwood Regional Medical Center has embraced work on autonomy, which means change can be quickly initiated and implemented (White et al., 2030). On the other hand, the fact that Riverwood is a public hospital may hamper the resources available for working on changes (Robinson, 2022).

Lakeside Rehabilitation and Care Center’s size is adequate for quick implementation of activities, but the lack of network results in resource-limiting factors. For example, Riverwood managing different emergencies proves the staff is at a higher risk of burnout (Naseem et al., 2024). St. Francis already has some QI programs that should greatly help, though the planning stages may take longer than at the more usable Lakeside facility.

Selected Site

The selected site for implementing the evidence-based practice (EBP) quality improvement (QI) initiative is a real-life organization known as St. Francis Health Services. The decision is based on several factors. First, the organization’s required QI infrastructure guarantees a favorable environment for implementing evidence-based policies (Robinson, 2022). Incorporating into a broader strategic unit allows access to resources, staff development processes, and knowledge inaccessible to individual small-scale entities (Naseem et al., 2024). Second, the patient population is heterogeneous; hence, the impact of staff changes is more expansive, making staff upgrades necessary for a good patient outcome.

Decision-Making Process

The decision-making process involved comparing site capabilities, patient demographics, and mission alignment. St. Francis’ ability to implement scalable solutions stood out. While Riverwood’s flexibility and Lakeside’s adaptability are advantages, St. Francis offers a balance of resources, infrastructure, and community reach (Robinson, 2022). The presence of vested leadership in QI initiatives is a guarantee for preparedness for a formal EBP-driven intervention. Moreover, solving the problem of deficits threatening St. Francis staff nurses, when done effectively, can be replicated by other concrete organizations within the network, escalating the manageability and sustainability of the movement (Naseem et al., 2024). St. Francis Health Services can be considered the most suitable location for the project based on the strategic position and capabilities, which have prospects for widespread diffusion.

Stakeholders

At St. Francis Health Services, QI activities are in charge of providing and monitoring evidence-based projects with the team. If there is no department of QI responsible for a particular setting, the responsibility generally goes to the director of nursing (Robinson, 2022). Stakeholders include managers, planners, and implementers of care at St. Francis and clinicians at the coal face of patient care. The CEO offers the final authority for decisions, though the Director of Nursing oversees strategic decisions regarding the healthcare facility (White et al., 2030). Nurse educators undertake professional development of staff and project coordination. The HR managers address recruitment and retention strategies to tackle the nurse shortage, and frontline nurses ensure the daily application of the project’s changes (Robinson, 2022). The hierarchy ensures collaborative efforts to improve care quality and patient outcomes effectively.

Relevant Stakeholders

Practice or Organization Issue

The selected practice issue is the lack of nurses within St. Francis Health Services. The problem is exacerbated over time, destabilizing the quality of patient care, staff motivation, and performance of organizational workflows. The condition leads to workload expansion, high burnout incidences, and patient harm; thus, the idea of embarking on an EBP QI project to solve the problem credibly (Alzoubi et al., 2024).

According to Green and Kinchen (2021), healthcare facilities with adequate nurse staffing report fewer medical errors and improved patient satisfaction. Implementing engaging, evidence-based, practice-driven QI projects is necessary to determine how to attract, maintain, and foster adequate support for nurses (Alzoubi et al., 2024). For example, the research examines that work learning, development, and support initiatives positively affect employee satisfaction and turnover talent (Cleaver et al., 2021). According to Gupta et al. (2021), the culture regarding set working hours before and after COVID-19 and the reduced coping with workplace stress angle could reduce burnout. Technology integration, such as automated scheduling systems, has proven to reduce staffing inefficiencies (Rowan et al., 2022).

Moreover, solving the shortage is consistent with organizational objectives to increase the value of delivered services and to decrease expenses triggered by staff turnover (Alzoubi et al., 2024). Leadership that supports a program that strengthens work culture can help enhance the engagement and tenacity of a nurse in a particular career (Lee & Chang, 2022). The complexity of the various effects of shortages calls for the provision to maintain optimum quality in practice and stabilize the workforce (Lee & Chang, 2022). The project offers scalable solutions with significant long-term benefits.

Translation Framework/Model

The KTA framework is the selected model for the EBP QI initiative addressing the nurse shortage crisis at St. Francis Health Services. The framework helps to close the gap between knowledge discovery and implementation to ensure that researchers’ discoveries are well implemented as strategies. The KTA framework consists of two interconnected phases: learning and doing (Bhardwaj et al., 2021). The knowledge creation phase aims to integrate study findings, while the action phase emphasizes the application of these knowledge creations in practical practice. The KTA framework was used for the reasons above: the ability of the framework to accommodate, as well as the importance of stakeholder engagement in such multi-faceted problems as the shortage of nurses (Bhardwaj et al., 2021).

The KTA framework also gives a cut-out and stick model, an iterative process that corresponds to the aims of enhancing recruitment, retention, and staff satisfaction. Compared to alternatives like the plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycle or the Iowa Model, KTA offers a more comprehensive process by integrating stakeholder input and monitoring sustainability (Gholamzadeh et al., 2023). For example, KTA helps pinpoint the obstacles that can be an issue for nurse retention and effectively generates interventions that might be helpful, such as mentorship or schedule adaptability from the evidence (Eggenberger & Mulcaster, 2023). The iterative process ensures that the initiative can be continuously refined for long-term success.

Steps/Processes in the KTA Framework

• Identify Problem: Discuss the nurse shortage crisis and its implications for the organization.
• Knowledge Synthesis: Review and analyze evidence-based strategies to address nurse shortages.
• Adapt Knowledge: Adapt the findings according to the situation at St. Francis Health Services.
• Engage Stakeholders: Consult with management, human resources, and other employees from the nursing department (Eggenberger & Mulcaster, 2023).
• Implement Interventions: Introduce targeted initiatives such as mentorship programs and flexible schedules.
• Evaluate Impact: Evaluate enhancements in nurse turnover rate, job satisfaction, and quality of patient care (Eggenberger & Mulcaster, 2023).
• Sustain Changes: Implement a policy and training that will allow successful practices to become pervasive in the organization (Eggenberger & Mulcaster, 2023).

Conclusion

The nurse shortage crisis demands innovative, evidence-based solutions to ensure sustainable improvements in healthcare delivery. The proposed EBP QI initiative at St. Francis Health Services employs the KTA Framework to bridge the gap between research and practice.

The initiative addresses critical factors impacting nurse retention and satisfaction by implementing targeted interventions, such as mentorship programs and flexible scheduling. Continuous evaluation ensures the project’s adaptability and long-term success, fostering a supportive work environment and enhancing patient outcomes. The project reinforces the importance of collaboration, evidence-based decision-making, and sustainable practices in addressing healthcare’s most pressing issues.

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