Question Description
Propose a high-level quality improvement initiative for a selected departmental strategic priority, and choose an effective method of presenting your proposal to executive leaders and other stakeholders in the organization and community.
Quality improvement and management in health care has its roots in the business world and the teachings of quality gurus such as W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, Phillip B. Crosby, and Avedis Donabedian. As health care costs rose in the late 1960s, payers wanted assurance that their investments resulted in improved health. More importantly, patients and health care professionals wanted assurance that their participation resulted in safe, effective care with positive long-term benefits.
As 21st century health care organizations strive for high reliability, executive leadership is tasked with keeping the organization focused on quality and safety. In the previous assessments, you identified an organization’s strategic priorities and provided a comprehensive assessment of stakeholder and leadership influence. High-reliability organizations align quality and safety with strategic goals. Your work in previous assessments will help you identify one strategic priority for improvement.
From the nursing unit level to the executive office, quality equates with attention to the processes and functions that drive and support safety, efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction. The DNP-prepared nurse is in a unique position to blend knowledge of systems theory with an understanding of quality management. Added to this mixture is the DNP-prepared nurse’s exquisite appreciation for the holistic needs of individuals and groups.
This assessment provides an opportunity for you to propose a quality improvement initiative that supports a departmental strategic priority.
DEMONSTRATION OF PROFICIENCY
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:
Competency 3: Propose a strategic plan that integrates feedback from other disciplines and aligns with organizational priorities.
Explain the rationale for establishing a strategic priority.
Present the key points from a SWOT analysis of a chosen strategic priority.
Identify key performance indicators for measuring the success of a quality improvement initiative.
Explain the value of stakeholder feedback and the process for collaborating with stakeholders on a proposed quality improvement initiative.
Explain how one contemporary change theory could be used to facilitate changes inherent in implementing a quality improvement initiative.
Competency 4: Recommend policy changes that support a strategic plan.
Make policy recommendations to support a proposed quality improvement initiative.
Competency 5: Address the assessment purpose in effective written or multimedia presentations, incorporating appropriate evidence and communicating in a form and style consistent with applicable professional and academic standards.
Communicate clearly and concisely in a form and style appropriate for the audience and for the substance, purpose, and context of the message being conveyed.
PREPARATION
Choose one strategic priority from the departmental strategic plan you developed in Assessment 3 as the focus of a proposed quality improvement initiative.
Note: Remember that you can submit all or a portion of your draft proposal presentation 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
Develop a presentation of your proposed high-level quality improvement initiative for executive leaders and other stakeholders in the organization and community.
Be creative in showcasing your proposal. Choose a presentation method you consider to be both engaging and likely to garner the necessary support and buy-in. For example, you might consider any of the following methods, or something different.
Marketing brochure.
Newsletter.
Video.
Audio or video slide presentation.
Executive summary.
Whichever method you choose, consider the information needs of your intended audience, their communication preferences, and possible time constraints on processing your proposal.
Video Recording
If you choose video as your preferred presentation method, Kaltura is the recommended tool for video recording. Refer to Using Kaltura for more information about this courseroom tool. You are also free to use any other technology of your choice (such as a video camera or smart phone) to record your video; however, please inform the faculty facilitator of your decision not to use Kaltura to avoid potential technical problems associated with file formats.
To record your video, you will need a built-in or external microphone and/or video camera (webcam or other device). Check that your recording equipment and software is working properly and that you know how to record and submit your video. Be sure to set up and test your equipment ahead of time.
Note: If you use assistive technology or any alternative communication methods to access course content, please contact DisabilityServices@Capella.edu with any access-related questions or to request accommodations.
Evaluation
The following tasks correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide, so be sure to address each point in the presentation of your proposed quality improvement initiative. Read the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed.
Explain the rationale for establishing a strategic priority.
Describe the overarching aim and focus of your proposed quality improvement initiative.
Use the evidence-based literature to provide broad rationale for establishing this priority.
Present the key points from a SWOT analysis of a chosen strategic priority.
Consider the organization’s political landscape and strategic priorities.
Identify key performance indicators for measuring the success of a quality improvement initiative.
For example: infection rates, customer satisfaction, financial performance indicators, productivity, nurse satisfaction, or other internal metric.
These indicators could align with those identified on the departmental balanced scorecard.
Explain the value of stakeholder feedback and the process for collaborating with stakeholders on the proposed quality improvement initiative.
Identify key stakeholders and explain why their support for this initiative is crucial to its success.
Explain how you will leverage stakeholder feedback.
Explain how one contemporary change theory could be used to facilitate changes inherent in implementing a quality improvement initiative.
Make policy recommendations to support the proposed quality improvement initiative.
Your recommendations could entail developing a new policy, revising a current policy, or retiring a current policy.
Describe the policy implications of this initiative and their impact on the organization.
Justify your recommendations.
Communicate clearly and concisely in a form and style appropriate for the audience and for the substance, purpose, and context of the message being conveyed.
Consider the needs of your audience.
Be succinct and mindful of communication best practices.
Carefully review your media and materials to avoid errors that could distract the audience and make it more difficult for them to focus on the substance of your proposed initiative.
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.
Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.
Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.
The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Discussion Questions (DQ)
- Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
- Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
- One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
- I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
- Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
- In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
- Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
- Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality
- Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
- Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
- I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
- I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
- As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
- It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
- For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
- Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
- Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
- Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
- The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
- Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
- If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
- I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
- As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
- Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
- Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
- Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
