You are a staff nurse in the intensive care unit (ICU) at one of your city’s two hospitals.
You are a staff nurse in the intensive care unit (ICU) at one of your city’s two hospitals. You have worked at this hospital for 5 years and transferred to the ICU 2 years ago. You love nursing but are sometimes frustrated in your job due to a short supply of nurses, excessive overtime demands, and the stress of working with critically ill patients.
The hospital has a closed shop, so union dues are deducted from your pay even though you are not actively involved in the union. The present union contract is up for renegotiation, and the union and management have been unable to agree on numerous issues. When the management made its last offer, the new contract was rejected by the nurses. Now that the old contract has expired, nurses are free to strike if they vote to do so.
You had voted for accepting the management offer; you have two children to support, and it would be devastating to be without work for a long time. Last night, the nurses voted on whether to return to the bargaining table and try to renegotiate with management or to go out on strike. Again, you voted for no strike. You have just heard from your friend that the strike vote won. Now, you must decide if you are going to support your striking colleagues or cross the picket line and return to work tomorrow. Your friends are pressuring you to support their cause. You know that the union will provide some financial compensation during the strike but believe that it will not be adequate to support yourself and your children. You agree with union assertions that the organization has overworked and underpaid you and that it has been generally unresponsive to nursing needs. On the other hand, you believe that your first obligation is to your children.
DQ: List all of the reasons for and against striking. Decide what you will do. Use appropriate rationale from outside readings to support your final decision.
Discussion Protocol. Please observe the following 3 x 3 rule: when writing your weekly discussions: – A minimum of three paragraphs per DQ. Each paragraph should have a minimum of three sentences.
All answers or discussions comments submitted must be in APA
Research an economic opportunity that might be available within your health care setting that will provide ethical and culturally equitable improvements to the quality of care. Then, write a 2-4 page proposal for an initiative to take advantage of that opportunity, supported with economic data and an analysis of the prospective benefits. Please follow scoring guide to ensure a pass grade.
– APA format
– References must be within the past 5 years
INTRODUCTION
Note: Each assessment in this course builds upon the work you have completed in previous assessments. Therefore, you must complete the assessments in the order in which they are presented.
Master’s-level health care practitioners are charged with the responsibility of constantly scanning the external environment for shifts in the supply of, and demand for, services. Concurrently, leaders must examine their organization’s strategic direction and determine whether adjustments must be made to current service offerings, whether equipment updates are needed, whether staffing models should be changed, and whether other decisions must be made. Each decision that is proposed must be evaluated in terms of the organization as a system, alignment with the organization’s mission and strategy, available internal resources, potential contract and payer source implications, and the short- and long-term economic effects at both the micro and macro levels.
PREPARATION
Research an economic opportunity that might be available within your health care setting—at both micro (departmental, neighborhood) and macro (organizational, community) levels—that you believe will provide ethical and culturally equitable improvements to the quality of care. Then, propose an initiative to take advantage of that opportunity. Support your proposal with economic data (sector growth, supply versus demand, cost versus reimbursement, et cetera) and an analysis of the prospective benefits for your department and for the organization overall.
Such economic opportunities might include offering a new service line, working to improve a service line already offered, retiring an outdated or unprofitable service line, or any other initiative you believe will be of benefit to your organization in the short and long term. One example is a recently launched partnership with a local bicycle-sharing company. Your organization partners with them to host healthy community events that offer free screenings for early detection of various health issues. Free screenings help fulfill some of your organization’s preventive and healthy lifestyle initiatives, while also potentially driving referrals to other services provided by your organization.
Note: Your proposal will serve as the basis for subsequent assessments in this course.
Note: Remember that you can submit all, or a portion of, your draft proposal to Smarthinking for feedback before you submit the final version for this assessment. If you plan on using this free service, be mindful of the turnaround time of 24–48 hours for receiving feedback.
INSTRUCTIONS
The requirements for your proposal, outlined below, correspond to the scoring guide criteria, so be sure to address each main point. Read the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed. In addition, be sure to note the requirements for document forma, length, and supporting evidence.
Explain how your proposed initiative will provide ethical and culturally equitable improvements to the quality of care.
Analyze the economic factors of supply and demand associated with your proposed initiative, within a context relevant to your organization or care setting.
What do economic and demographic data suggest is the supply and demand?
What additional information would improve your analysis?
How does the data illustrate a potential opportunity and the economic viability of your proposal?
Write concisely and directly, using active voice.
Proofread your proposal before you submit it to minimize errors that could distract readers and make it more difficult for them to focus on the substance of your proposal.
Support main points, assertions, arguments, conclusions, or recommendations with relevant and credible evidence.
Example Assessment: You may use the following to give you an idea of what a Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like:
Your assessment should also meet the following requirements:
Format: Format your proposal using current APA style. Use the APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX] to help you in writing and formatting your proposal. Be sure to include:
A title page and references page. An abstract is not required.
A running head on all pages.
Appropriate section headings.
Length: Your proposal should be 2–4 pages in length, not including the title page and references page.
Supporting evidence: Cite 3–5 authoritative and scholarly resources to support your proposal. Be sure that your sources include specific economic data.
Portfolio Prompt: You may choose to save your proposal to your ePortfolio.
COMPETENCIES MEASURED
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment scoring guide criteria:
Competency 1: Analyze the effects of financial and economic factors (such as cost-benefit, supply and demand, return on investment, and risks) in a health care system on patient care, services offered, and organizational structures and operation.
Analyze the economic factors of supply and demand associated with a proposed initiative, within a context relevant to a particular organization or care setting.
Competency 2: Develop ethical and culturally equitable solutions to economic problems within a health care organization in an effort to improve the quality of care and services offered.
Note: Each assessment in this course builds upon the work you have completed in previous assessments. Therefore, you must complete the assessments in the order in which they are presented.
Develop a business case for the economic initiative you proposed in Assessment 1. Examine the feasibility and cost-benefit considerations of implementing your proposed initiative over the next five years. Analyze ways to mitigate risks and complete a cost-benefit analysis.
Note: Remember that you can submit all, or a portion of, your draft business case to Smarthinking for feedback before you submit the final version for this assessment. If you plan on using this free service, be mindful of the turnaround time of 24–48 hours for receiving feedback.
The requirements for your business case, outlined below, correspond to the scoring guide criteria, so be sure to address each main point. Read the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed. In addition, be sure to note the requirements for document format and length and for supporting evidence.
Propose ethical and culturally sensitive solutions that address the risks associated with your initiative to the future economic security of your organization or care setting.
Which risks are potentially the most significant for your organization or care setting?
How could you modify your proposed initiative to mitigate those risks?
Does your analysis warn against specific aspects of your proposed initiative?
How would you recommend that your findings be incorporated into decisions about the feasibility of your proposed initiative?
Propose ethical and culturally equitable ways of keeping costs under control, while maximizing the benefits of your initiative.
What costs are you most likely to be able to control or reduce?
How would you go about ensuring this?
How could controlling or reducing these costs affect the benefits of your proposed initiative?
What strategies could you employ to maintain or maximize these benefits, while controlling or reducing costs?
How do you plan to ensure that any cost controls or benefit reductions are ethical and equitable?
Justify the relevance and significance of the quantitative and qualitative economic, financial, and scholarly evidence you used to support your business case.
This criterion applies to any evidence you cited throughout your business case. Your evidence should be persuasive and relevant to your findings, proposals, and recommendations. Consider one or more of the following questions when citing support evidence:
How is the evidence relevant to your organization or care setting?
How is the evidence relevant to your proposed economic initiative?
How does the evidence illustrate a solution that has been successful in the past?
How does the evidence illustrate that an initiative or solution is likely to be a net benefit to the organization or care setting?
Write concisely and directly, using active voice.
Proofread your document before you submit it to minimize errors that could distract readers and make it more difficult for them to focus on the substance of your business case.
Apply current APA formatting to in-text citations and references.
Example Assessment: You may use the following to give you an idea of what a Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like:
Your assessment should also meet the following requirements:
Format: Format your business case using APA current style. Use the APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX] to help you in writing and formatting your business case. Be sure to include:
A title page and references page. An abstract is not required.
A running head on all pages.
Appropriate section headings.
Length: Your business case should be 4–7 pages in length, not including the title page and references page.
Supporting evidence: Cite 4–5 authoritative and scholarly resources to support your business case. Be sure that your sources include specific economic data.
Portfolio Prompt: You may choose to save your business case to your ePortfolio.
COMPETENCIES MEASURED
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment scoring guide criteria:
Competency 1: Analyze the effects of financial and economic factors (such as cost-benefit, supply and demand, return on investment, and risks) in a health care system on patient care, services offered, and organizational structures and operation.
Analyze the economic costs and benefits of a proposed initiative over a five-year period.
Competency 2: Develop ethical and culturally equitable solutions to economic problems within a health care organization in an effort to improve the quality of care and services offered.
Propose ethical and culturally equitable ways of keeping costs under control, while maximizing the benefits of an initiative.
Competency 3: Justify the qualitative and quantitative information used to guide economic decision making to stakeholders and colleagues.
Justify the relevance and significance of the quantitative and qualitative economic, financial, and scholarly evidence used to support a business case.
Competency 4: Develop ethical and culturally equitable economic strategies to address dynamic environmental forces and ensure the future security of an organization’s resources and its ability to provide quality care.
Propose ethical and culturally sensitive solutions that address the risks associated with an initiative to the future economic security of the organization or care setting.
Competency 5: Produce clear, coherent, and professional written work, in accordance with Capella writing standards.
Write concisely and directly using active voice.
Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references.
Discussion Topic: Introduction and Policy Involvement
Learning Goal: I’m working on a nursing discussion question and need a sample draft to help me learn.
Please introduce yourself and describe how you, as an advance practice nurse, could be involved in the political system. Describe any involvement that you have had. If you have not had any involvement, describe an area in which you would like to see public policy changed.
My name is Rachel. From my nursing experience is that I have worked in the Progressive Step-down Unit (PCU). I graduated in August 2019 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. I was able to sit for my board exam in 2020, and I was able to pass well. Therefore, through learning and doing several exams, I have been able to have different nursing experiences and learn other ideas on nursing operations. My learning experiences have enabled me to contribute a lot t the nursing profession as I have the necessary skills alongside the profession’s personality. Moreover, I have created a positive work setting within the hospital, wherein the progressive step-down unit department. The positive work environments I have made have helped me increase positive patient outcomes and the excellence of care. I’m currently working in a Psych Hospital that I found out I really like this field , it wasn’t my original field of interest but I have developed a new found passion for Psych and I’m actually really good at it with the patients.
Select one outcome quality measure focused on a change in health status (i.e. 30-day death rates), one process quality measure focused on the steps of a process (i.e. Patients who reported that staff “always” explained about medicines before giving them) and one patient satisfaction measure ( i.e. Patients who reported YES, they would definitely recommend the hospital).
Compare and contrast the two hospitals based on these three measures. Based on your knowledge of local needs, concerns and preferences select ONE of these measures that you believe would be the most important the local community.
Research peer-reviewed nursing or hospital administration journals for strategies that has been utilized to improve quality related to the ONE selected measure. For instance, if you selected a patient satisfaction measure, you can research strategies for improving satisfaction in any hospital unit or service. Select one strategy that you feel would be most effective. Analyze the strategy, for this hospital in its community for the following:
Feasibility
Efficacy
Stakeholders (a person with an interest or concern in the measure; those who are critical for change to occur). Individuals should be identified by general job titles and not named
STEP 3
Create a 6-8 slide PowerPoint presentation Include the following in the PowerPoint:
Selected measure: Outline the quality measure that you select as most important to the local community, and the hospital selected to implement it. Provide your rationale
Research: Present strategy and analyze for
Feasibility
Efficacy
Stakeholders
Reference slide
STEP 4
Consider your preceptor to be the Director of Nursing for the selected hospital. Present your review and evidence to your preceptor in a zoom meeting. Make the case for why the hospital should consider using the strategy. Determine which stakeholders should be included on a committee to decide if the strategy should be implemented.
