Review the Learning Resources covering leadership skills and project planning.
Explore project management techniques and strategies to be used for your problem.
Consider the connection between project management strategies and leadership styles.
Post a description of your identified design approach for your practice problem. Identify the focus and setting of your problem, as well as the leadership styles most appropriate for the proposed practice change. Identify potential facilitators and barriers to making a proposed practice change. Be specific. How might your leadership style and skills match with the identified facilitators and barriers? Gather evidence to justify your selection and consider whether the approach addresses the practice gap. In your post, be sure to cite the specific evidence found.
Note: this is the practice problem that need to be used For adult obesity patients (P), does the implementation of a staff education on obesity management (I) as compared to lack of staff education (C) improve Patient’s enrollment to weight loss program (O) over a period of 6 weeks(T)
Leadership Skills and Planning
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Leadership Skills and Planning
DNP projects require advanced planning, adequate preparation, and effective leadership skills to ensure successful completion. In this respect, doctorally-prepared nurses must possess project management skills and be able to apply them to address practice problems in their places of work. Rew et al. (2020) define project management as a set of steps, methods, and strategies that can facilitate the realization of specific project objectives. The purpose of this assignment is to describe the project management approaches and the leadership style appropriate for the practice problem at the practicum site.
Design Approach
When selecting a project management strategy, leaders should be careful to choose an approach that will solve existing practice issues and generate the desired improvement. The design project management approach for the practice problem is the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDSA) cycle. The rationale for choosing the PDSA cycle for the practice problem is that it provides a simple approach, in a continuous loop, for solving issues that might arise during a change initiative (American Society for Quality, 2022). Using the PDSA cycle, the project leader will be able to implement the proposed solution in a methodical and rigorous way to address the practice problem.
Focus and Setting of the Problem (add organizational readiness)
The setting for the proposed project is an outpatient clinic. The clinical practice problem that will be the focus of the proposed project is that 50-60% of patients receiving care at the practicum site are obese. A detailed analysis of the issue indicates that many patients do not engage in weight management activities to help their bodies burn excess calories and fats. This is happening because they are not getting enough education from healthcare professionals at the site on how to manage obesity. Further investigations revealed that most nurses have limited knowledge regarding obesity management and are therefore unable to provide proper guidance to patients. The practice change that will help to address the practice problem is the implementation of a staff education program on obesity management to improve patients’ enrolment in weight loss programs. The research question that the project will address is that “For adult obesity patients (P), does the implementation of a staff education on obesity management (I) as compared to lack of staff education (C) improve patient’s enrollment to weight loss program (O) over a period of 6 weeks(T)?”
Leadership Style
The leadership style that is most appropriate for the proposed practice change is transformational leadership style. The rationale for choosing the transformational leadership style for the practice problem is that it will enable the change leader to steer the planned reforms by developing strong relationships with stakeholders (Marshall, 2016). The project will be successful when the leader can serve as a role model, motivate followers, encourage creativity, and support followers to achieve both personal and organizational goals.
Potential Facilitators and Barriers and Alignment with Leadership Style
The change leader will embrace facilitators and identify strategies to address barriers that might prevent the successful implementation of the proposed practice change. The potential facilitators include leadership support, availability of organizational policy and guidelines for obesity management, flexibility among staff members, and quality physicians who will form part of the training team (Mathieson et al., 2019). The potential barriers include possible resistance from some stakeholders, disruption of workflow during training, and financial constraints (Tappen et al., 2017). The chosen leadership style is adequately linked with the potential facilitators and barriers. Precisely, to be able to benefit from the facilitators and effectively address the barriers, the transformational change leader will have to serve as a role model, motivate followers, encourage creativity, and support followers to achieve both personal and organizational goals (Marshall, 2016).
Conclusion
The chosen approach will address the practice gap. When the change leader utilizes the PDSA cycle approach, the change team will be able to implement a reform that will increase staff knowledge regarding obesity management. Eventually, many obese patients will enroll in weight loss programs for effective management of obesity.
References
American Society for Quality. (2022). What is the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle? https://asq.org/quality-resources/pdca-cycle
Mathieson, A., Grande, G., & Luker, K. (2019). Strategies, facilitators and barriers to implementation of evidence-based practice in community nursing: a systematic mixed-studies review and qualitative synthesis. Primary Health Care Research & Development, 20, e6. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1463423618000488
Marshall, E. & Broome, M. (2016). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader. Springer Publishing Company.
Rew, L., Cauvin, S., Cengiz, A., Pretorius, K., & Johnson, K. (2020). Application of project management tools and techniques to support nursing intervention research. Nursing Outlook, 68(4):396-405. doi: 10.1016/j.outlook.2020.01.007. Epub 2020 Mar 3. PMID: 32138975.
Tappen, R. M., Wolf, D. G., Rahemi, Z., Engstrom, G., Rojido, C., Shutes, J. M., & Ouslander, J. G. (2017). Barriers and Facilitators to Implementing a Change Initiative in Long-Term Care Using the INTERACT® Quality Improvement Program. The Health Care Manager, 36(3), 219–230. https://doi.org/10.1097/HCM.0000000000000168