Managing Change in Midwifery Practice - Research Proposal Example

Change Management Name Institution Date Introduction In the quest to improve quality of healthcare services provided to the patients, changes have to be made from time to time. This is mainly aimed at ensuring that the best model is selected and implemented (Masters, 2014). At St. Gorge Hospital, the continuity of midwifery care model is being implemented to the quality of maternal care services offered to the people at the rural community. The community program will mainly involve collaboration between the midwives and obstetricians. The community members also require information about the model in order to ensure efficiency. The implementation of the new model usually results to changes which have a direct impact on the stakeholders (Cameron & Green, 2012). During the implementation of the model, a number of changes will be witnessed and this is likely to affect the nurses, obstetricians as well as the other stakeholders. Change management is vital in ensuring that the implementation of the model is successful. The failure to effectively manage the changes can derail the implementation of the new model (Cameron & Green, 2012). This means that the women in need of the maternal services in the rural and remote areas will not benefit. The paper discusses the aspects of change management at the hospital in relation to the implementation of the model. Discussion Changes that will take place In order to effectively implement the model, a number of changes are expected. The maternity services offered by the hospital have to undergo reorientation. There will be an increase in the utilization of midwifery skills. This means that the midwives will play a more critical role in improving on the quality of maternal health. The involvement of the midwives is mainly aimed at ensuring that the continuity is achieved in the rural and remote areas. The midwives play an important role in ensuring that the pre-natal and post-natal care is provided (Butts & Rich, 2013). The process will also ensure that the access to the maternal health services is improved. More midwives will be recruited during the program in order to improve on the capacity of the hospital to offer the services to the rural areas. A close collaboration between the obstetricians and the nurses will be one of the major requirements during the implementation of the model. The redeployment of the obstetricians and midwifes to the rural and remote areas is also one of the major changes that will take place. This means that they will be required to cope with the new working environment. Working in the rural environment can present a lot of challenges to the healthcare workers with no prior experience (Matthews, 2012). Unlike in the current set up, a lot of interaction between the healthcare personnel and the community members will be required. Continuous development of the skills of the obstetricians and the midwives will also form an important aspect of the program. Autonomy in the professional practice will also form part of the changes. The healthcare personnel will have more powers in terms of decision making process when performing their duties. The independence between the management and the midwives will also increase as a result of implementing the program. Approach that will be taken to manage change The change management process is crucial and it requires a strategic approach in order to ensure that all the changes are effectively implemented. The first step that will be taken in order to effectively involves changing the organizational structure. The organizational structure in most cases may be facilitate or obstruct the implementation of the changes (Daft, 2012). It is thus important to ensure that the organizational structure supports the new changes. The training of the stakeholders will be carried in order to provide them with adequate information about the changes. Training is vital in ensuring that the personnel are fully prepared for the implementation of the changes. The training of the personnel has to be carried out with experts who are experienced in the particular field. Training of the personnel is vital in ensuring that resistance to change is eliminated during the implementation process (Hill, Seo, Kang & Taylor, 2012). It is expected that the training of the midwives and the obstetricians may last for about one week. Focus on working with the community members in the rural and remote areas will form part of the training. Team building exercise will also be part of the training in order to encourage the collaboration between the obstetricians and the midwives. Clear roles of the obstetricians and midwives will be developed in order to define their working relationship. This is vital in ensuring that conflicts among the personnel are minimized. The presence of conflicts among the personnel usually results to negative impacts on teamwork (Cummings & Worley, 2014). The personnel may find it difficult to work together in the presence of conflicts. The implementation of change requires financial as well as human resources (Benn, Dunphy & Griffiths, 2014). Adequate financial resources will be allocated to the process in order to ensure that all the required activities are implemented. The financial resources will be used for carrying out various activities including the hiring of new personnel and purchase of equipment. Adequate resources will be allocated for each step of the implementation process. This is considering that the changes will be implemented on a step by step basis. Implementing the changes step by step is important in ensuring that any weakness is identified and corrective measures put in place immediately. The stakeholders will be involved in every step of the implantation. During the implementation of change, most employees do not respond positively when they feel the changes are being forced on them. The obstetricians and midwives who are the main stakeholders will be actively involved in driving the change agenda. The needs and concerns of the stakeholders will be considered during the process. This is vital in ensuring that the stakeholders feel they are supported in the implementation of change. During the change management process, communication is one of the most important tools (Battilana & Casciaro, 2012). Effective communication will be utilized at all stage of the change management. Adequate information will be provided to the stakeholders during the implementation process. The stakeholders will be encouraged to express their concerns and ask any questions regarding the implementation process. Effective communication has the potential of eliminating conflicts as well as resistance to change. Accurate information will be provided to the stakeholders during the implementation process. This is with the aim of encouraging negotiations with the stakeholders. The presence of negotiations encourages the stakeholders to raise their concerns. Measures aimed at appealing to the emotions of the audience will be considered during the process. This is vital in ensuring that the stakeholders are able to obtain adequate support. The change management process is usually characterized by a lot of emotions due to the impacts of the changes (Hatch, 2012). This is due to the challenges associated with the change process. Appealing to the emotions of the midwives and obstetricians can therefore be vital in ensuring that the process is successful. Good leadership skills will be applied during the change management process. This is important in ensuring a sense of stability is created during the change management process. A sense of stability is important where the changes are inevitable. The changes may create some instability among the obstetricians and midwives who will be deployed to the rural areas to provide the services to the community members. An inclusive relationship will also be developed throughout the process in order to ensure success. In order to determine the success of the change management process, monitoring and evaluation mechanism will be put in place. Monitoring and implementation can be carried out using managerial control mechanisms. Quality audits will be used form part of the monitoring and evaluation process. Continuous improvement measures are also important in ensuring that the changes are effectively managed (Fugate, Prussia, & Kinicki, 2012). Key elements that will be managed The key elements have to be determined during the change management process. The attitudes as well as the perceptions of the stakeholders play a vital role in the change management process. The behavior is one of the key elements that will be managed during the process. This will be aimed at promoting behaviour change among the stakeholders. Behaviour change is important during the change management process. This will ensure that the stakeholders are able to embrace the new working arrangements as well as activities. Teamwork as well as conflict management will be a key element that will be targeted during the change. Conflicts are common during the change management process (Raineri, 2011). This is because most of the stakeholders are not fully aware of the new activities and routines. Managing the conflicts is thus vital in ensuring that the process is effective. The emotions of the main stakeholders will also be a key element that will be managed during the decision making process. A lot of anxiety and expectations are common during the implementation of changes (Alfes, Shantz, Truss & Soane, 2013). Managing the expectations of the stakeholders is therefore important in contributing to the success of the process. The key elements are vital in ensuring that the needs of all the stakeholders are met. Approach that will be used to measure the success of the change process Measuring the success of the change process is vital in determining whether the goals and objectives have been met. The quality audits will be used for measuring the success of the change process. The audit will be carried out after every six months by experts in collaboration with the human resource management department. The involvement of external parties in the process of measuring the success of the change process is useful in ensuring that accuracy is attained. The quality audits focuses on the quality aspects in relation to the goals and objectives of the change management process (Caldwell, Henshaw, Taylor, 2011). The ability of the obstetricians and the midwives to work together effectively to meet the goals and objective of the program will be analyzed during the audit. The quality audit will also focus on the number of people who have been served and their levels of satisfaction. Relationship between the community members and healthcare personnel will also be analyzed in the audit. This will play a vital role in determining the levels of success of the program. An increase in the number of community members visiting the facility will be an indication of overall success of the program. This is considering that the main objective of the program is to improve on quality and access to maternal healthcare services. Lack of any resistance to change will also be an indication of success of the change management process. The success of the change management process is vital in ensuring that the services are continuously provided to the people in the rural and remote areas. Incorporation of learning The change management process is usually characterized with various challenges as well as successes (Fugate, Prussia, & Kinicki, 2012). During the change management process, all the challenges as well as lessons learnt will be recorded. This will include the challenges as well as the corrective measures that were put in place. A daily report during the implementation process will be developed by the supervisors. All the information including the incidences and challenges has to be recorded. The success encountered during the process also needs to be recorded. This is mainly for the purposes of ensuring that it is used in future projects. Learning is a continuous process and new experiences are usually gained in different programs. However, the lessons learnt in one project can be used for solving the challenges encountered in other projects. Although the challenges may vary from one project to the other, there are elements of similarities that can be used in solving the challenges (Raineri, 2011). The success of the program is mainly dependant on how the challenges encountered are dealt with. The individuals implementing the program will also be asked to provide their own accounts regarding the challenges that they faced. This will be useful in providing vital information about the lessons learnt from an individual perspective. A newsletter will be published every month to highlight the challenges as well success that has been witnessed. Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that the implementation of the model will contribute to a number of changes. The change management process will focus on a number of issues that will have a direct and indirect impact on the healthcare personnel. 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