Effective Staff Development Program - Essay Example

?Project Effective Staff Development Program Key Outcome/s to be achieved: Increase the productivity of working by the nursing unit and rest ofthe affiliated staff in the hospital. The outcome is to be obtained through the coaching and mentorship of the nursing staff. This paper will look into the possible areas of improvement of the nursing practices through identification of sectors where the maximum productivity can be achieved. Coaching and mentorship is recommended for improving the nursing field in a particular environment. The aim of entire project and paper is to bring about improvements in the practices and approaches of the nursing staff through use of various updated modules and tools and educational kits. Key issue/s to be addressed: Identification of improvement processes pertaining to the various ranks of nursing staff employed in the hospital. Having observed that the bulk of the population of nurses are either fresh graduates or have little or no field experience, therefore it is being felt that it is the ripe time to enhance their abilities and promote good nursing staff for the future days. Secondly having spent some time in number of medical healthcare places, the need was felt to improve the working practices of the nursing staff and bring about more affectivity and efficiency in their practices. The nurse educator should have necessary knowledge of the field along with number of years of experience in the field which will help guiding the nursing students in a proper manner. Experience in any field is vital and there is no replacement for experience, hence in the field of nursing, expert trainers and educators must be in place to accomplish the project of improvements in the nursing field (Fulton & Lyon, 2009). : The clinical coaching pertains to the in depth field associated teaching and training. It allows imparting the knowledge of technical aspects of the field and operations and patients (Gardner & Suplee, 2010). Target Population: The scheme of action is to be implemented at a clinical ward in Perth W. Australia by the Staff development nurse. The direct focus of attention will be nursing team at different levels. With so many changes and improvements at door step, there is need for implementing effective improvement based training. Starting from the very fresh and with zero experience to others with considerable experience in the field but in need of up gradation in terms of the knowledge and tools and techniques. Key stakeholders/Audience: The guidelines will focus on training the new comers, and providing the updated knowledge tips to the experienced ones and those who are working at different levels in the middle ranks with in the clinical ward. Since different kinds of cases are faced in everyday activities inside the clinical ward, the knowledge should be broad based and should keep in view the variable nature of treatments and variable nature of patients and other circumstances (Mason, Isaacs, & Colby, 2011). Use of Tools: Mentorship and coaching are used as tools for the purpose of improvement in the hospital environment. While improvement is an incremental process and takes place in different steps, there must be a measuring procedure that ensures that the transformation process holds its place and results are seen. To determine the results that are desired, proper tools and techniques in form of mentor guidance and coaching manuals serve the purpose of improvement.. Verbal and written tests can be conducted along with the presentations which will evaluate the level of knowledge gained and the level of improvements needed. On behalf of the level of improvement in the teaching team, surveys and questionnaires serve the purpose of evaluation a great deal, the students should be asked to fill the questionnaires that would focus on identifying the level of improvements post improvement processes initiation (Tan & Sheps, 1998). Role of Mentor/ Mentorship as a tool: The mentor plays a vital role in the life of fresh students who have just come to the practical field. A wise and able mentor can set a nursing student on a path towards complete success and progress in longer run. Mentor enables translation of imagination into reality and further enables executing all that is being thought in books. Mentors provide the courage to make decisions that are critical towards success in career. A mentor himself/ herself is a person who has worked in the field and has the sufficient knowledge of the field and the changes that are needed in the field along with the knowledge of how to start career in the beginning right after completion of education (Kinnell & Hughes, 2010). Health care organizations and the field itself is always in need of change and improvement because of the massive developments that are taking place in the medical science field (Mick & Wyttenbach, 2003). Hence updating the students, the curriculum, the practices is the order of the day. The role of mentor is not just limited to practical knowledge transfer; rather the mentor can also provide counseling over the personal career focus related issues and other personal matters which might stand in the way of individual nursing staff. The entire working plan falls under the discipline of project management which will allow looking into the areas of improvement through the implementation of tools and techniques availability, Project management will allow step by step approach towards the improvements that are sought. Clear definition of the objectives is very important and pre implementation needs to be conducted before launching any practical step (Roussel, 2011). Mentorship includes the element of appreciation based on the performance of the nursing students. This can be done after conducting number of tests. The tests do not have to be of higher level of difficulty rather should be based on finding the level of comprehension of the students and in return should serve to provide them with encouragement. Appraisal and motivation works wonders in every organization, especially in areas of fields where the direct input output relation is involved such as the training staff and the students in this nursing discipline. Salient responsibilities of the mentor: Role definition: Knowledge impartment Highlight learning opportunities: Clearly highlight objectives: Keep the level of ambiguity to minimum. Notice areas of improvement: In time response: Sharing of the knowledge Provide encouragement: Easy ways of teaching(Kilgallon & Thompson, 2012): Definition of training methodologies: Objectives definition: Project planning Strategy and Practical implementation: It is being said in the management field that identification of problem is the half resolution of problem(Sprankle, 2007), hence in the field of nursing development, the first step is to define what is to be done, once that is clarified, it can be processed with the procedure of how is it to be done. Since the goal is pretty much straight forward and simple and it is to improve the working procedures in the nursing institute and provide a platform of the nursing students to develop their careers in alignment with the requirements of modern times, Having identified the processes and the approach, it is followed by the practical implementation. Coaching and mentorship are two of the areas selected for bringing about the changes and improvement. The mentorship will allow large number of following since they would know that the actions are already performed by the implementer .In mentor ship, the implementer guides through self performed activities and results. Mentor will enable identification of the dos and don’ts of the nursing daily life activities. From the coaching perspective, it includes proper guidelines, short term and long term goals, identification of strengths and weaknesses of the nursing students, there by focusing on improving the areas of strengths and working on fulfilling the gaps that result in the weaknesses. The weaknesses do not have to be explicitly limited to the students, rather it can be in form of the unavailability of the right kind of environment, the lack of facilities, lack of funds, lack of proper staff, and various other reasons which stand in the way of positive inclination of the students as well as the training institute (Grossman, 2007). Opportunity: Transforming nurses into competent practitioner: Nurses are an integral part of any health care centre and they play a large role in the proper working of any organization that seeks to promote healthcare and patient well being. While the doctors are concerned only with the treatment of patients and mostly visit the patient at a particular instance of time, the nurses are someone who are present for large number of time and they take into consideration various other factors of the patient just besides the treatment. They are largely responsible for the healthy activities of the patient; any discomfort faced by the patient with regard to the ambiance is resolved by the nurses (Hegner, Acello, & Caldwell, 2009). The field of nursing requires proper training and education. Not everyone can perform this task and this field has its own requirements and pre requisites that must be put into place before going into the practical field of welfare. Since it involves direct involvement of the patients of all kinds, therefore stress is exerted over the point of proper training and guidance in their education and training. Rationale: Importance of the project: While students and knowledge seekers were focused in earlier part of the paper, the top heads and the decision making unit also needs to undergo the improvement process. For this purpose proper meetings must be conducted on regular basis which should focus on highlighting the areas of improvement by looking into the currently existent models that are in practice. In take should be welcomed from different members of the team and anything that serves for the betterment of the hospital and the nursing unit should be taken into account and planned for further actions. While the up gradation and improvement process is initiated, the employees credentials and level of ability must be taken into account and those are lacking behind and do not fulfill the merits requirements should be given a certain deadline time period to complete their educational knowledge and degree requirements. Dreyfus Postulates of different caters: Dreyfus in his study of the nursing field stated five stages of nursing career that each nurse goes through in the life span of their professional nursing career. According to Dreyfus it starts with the beginner level of novice, who after some training and guidance goes into the advanced beginner level, which is further followed by competent level nurse, which is further proceeded by the proficient level and finally the expert level (Dracup & Bryan-Brown, 2004). Going from stage one to stage five, takes large amount of time and training, education and experience in the field. The scope of work performed by each of the above differs from each other and each handle the patient care in a different manner. While the beginners may not be assigned the intensive hardcore level and can be kept to the level of knowledge seeking and observing the experts. The mentors who are assigned to perform the nurturing role, ensure that they handle each cater of nursing team according to their level and experience in the field (Benner, 2001). Hence an effective strategy needs to be devised to equip the nurses to the need of the hour and provide them with the necessary updated education over the processes and practices that are in the benefit of both the health care organization as well as the patients. The transformation process not just includes the training rather knowledge of all necessary areas that are of importance and can be confronted with in their practicing environment. Continuous educational plans are very vital and should be provided at regular intervals in the field of nursing and education in order to maximize the benefits of health care centers. The updating of knowledge and areas will benefit the individuals equally and will allow them implementing the knowledge in long run in their careers at different places and would ultimately benefit the society and their careers. .Key issue/s to be addressed: The Barriers: Resistance to the change: Resistance to the change is a natural phenomena and it is part of the human nature. The human beings tend to resist the change in beginning but it is a known fact that change if intended for the good and is planned out well, mostly brings about the good. Change is the only constant (Wemken & Eckert, 2005) in this universe and through change does an organization and individual can progress and prosper. Nursing discipline is no exception and the nursing students tend to resist the change which may include the introduction or relatively advanced tools and techniques, relatively difficult manuals in the beginning, however since all this is intended for the good and will bring improvement, for this reason, the nursing staff should ensure bringing about the changes in the most flexible manner , changes implemented in an incremental manner can reduce the impact of un evenness, there the step wise approach towards change will always result in more productivity compared to the abrupt change .Preparing the stakeholders mentally will allow smooth transition towards the change. And prioritizing the activities where the interest lies will further ease the process of change (Blais, 2007). Effective Communication and Portfolio definition: Communication is of immense importance in any discipline that involves the rules of business engagement. The importance of communication cannot be ruled out nursing domain and communication between the mentor and the seeking party of nursing lobby is a must for ensuring the development process goes smooth and according to the desired results (Riley, 2011). Portfolios enable setting the deadlines and goals that are to be achieved, portfolio provides a clear guideline and road map towards what is to be achieved, how is it to be achieved and what methods and procedures are to be adopted in its achievement, in case of nursing education and development two common types of portfolios are quite common in practice and both yield positive outcomes (Reed, 2011) Types of portfolios: one is best work based, while the second is focused on growth and development based portfolio (Oermann, 2002). The best work portfolio aims at extracting the best out of the present and the capabilities lying within .and they serve as benchmark towards the future career and the paths to be adopted , in case of the latter form of portfolio ( development based portfolio) they are incremental in nature and provide step by step guidance towards reaching the milestones, this one is relatively preferred, however both are equally effective, yet their scheme of action and the manner in which they are implemented are slighted different from one another. The former form of portfolio is an holistic approach based mechanism while the latter is step by step approach which enables taking on the various steps in sequence as they appear. The definition of time frames is of vital importance since each action should be conducted in its due time frame and additional time taken in one step could mean time sacrificed over the next step, while it is understood that each step should be given its due time, therefore both the portfolios stress for equal and due time allocation to each of the incremental step at hand. Progress Reporting: Every project and task taken upon , has a definite time duration and number of steps that are taken in bid to accomplish the task and achieve the objectives, the nursing mentorship and guidance scheme also involves number of steps and phases that must be conducted in due time and in due consideration. Each of these steps is of equal importance and must be given due importance. These steps include in initiation phase which is the beginning phase and pertains to the knowledge of basic and elementary level activities and tasks. This is followed by the working phase where everything is set and actions are taken on the pre defined terms. While the final phase is the termination phase, since every project has a decline time and termination time, in case of this scenario, the termination phase is reached when sufficient knowledge is being transferred to the seeking body and the fresh nursing unit. Initiation phase: Working phase: Termination phase: Deliverables: Peer coaching vs. Inter professional Coaching: The peer coaching specializes in expertise in one particular discipline, while the inter professional coaching involves interaction with professionals from nearly same discipline or professionals who work in almost same sector and through exchange of ideas and knowledge enable each other to learn and implement new methods. (Blackiston Division, 1992). While inter professional coaching allows highlighting the areas of importance and improvement achieved by other disciplines, the peer coaching allows specialization in the respective field through the existing knowledge and pre text which is available for the purpose of improvements in the nursing discipline. The approach implemented here is a mix of both peer and professional coaching, which will allow maximum opening of knowledge domain in a larger way. The approach adopted was based on individual improvement, organizational improvement and professional level. The areas of interest and application were kept broad for purpose of maximizing the benefits of the entire process (Reeves, et al, 2011). The key to the success of this entire project is the equal level of participation of the learning team. A positive response from their end would result in encouragement of the teaching team and teaching personnel and would open doors towards further progress in the field. The individuals should be provided training and education in a manner which brings about awareness in them towards the further improvements. Since improvements in medical health field is a continuous process and should not stop at any point, the students and learning team should be provided awareness about this fact and should be obliged into finding new ways towards improvements themselves. Research and Development always yields new research and new openings in an field. The learning team should be familiarized with the research aspect of the knowledge. Knowledge impartment: While there are large number of areas involved in the training and education, each of them must be taken into consideration while imparting the knowledge to the nursing students. They should be given updated knowledge on how to handle the patients, how to cope with the tough situations, how to handle the cases prior to operations and treatments and various other considerations along with the ambiance consideration. Challenges and Responsibilities of mentor: While the mentor and training expert expects the learning team and the fresh nursing unit to deliver at the end of entire project, the mentors themselves have number of responsibilities up their sleeve; their work should be based on sheer hard work, honesty, equal opportunity and translation of the knowledge to the best of abilities. The job at hand requires standardization of procedures and principles and each action taken must be according to the rule of the book. Every health organization should have a mentor in place for the guidance and education purposes however the results given by the mentor are time consuming and at times the results might not be very obvious in the beginning days of training and educational process (Bosher & Pharris, 2008). Was the establishment of a model for change management defined prior to the beginning of the project? An effective management strategy is to define and establish the model prior to practical working. In our case a model was pre defined with context to the ground situation and it took into consideration all the important variables that were to be addressed and would be changed through the change strategy. The change management model was designed in a very organized manner and it took into account all the functions and important entities. The advantage of definition of model for change prior to beginning is it clears a panoramic view of what is to be achieved and how is it to be achieved. Was a team organized to plan and implement the change and what were their roles? A group was constituted in form of an internal team that was assigned the responsibilities for looking into the changes intended. While changes have to be incremental and should not disturb the flow of proceedings, therefore it was necessary to establish an able team who would implement and monitor the changes. Different roles were assigned to different people in the team, while some were associated with the change strategy designing, others were assigned the tasks of identifying the areas where changes were inevitable and demanded. Was their resistance to the change and if so what were the tools used to overcome resistance? Resistance to change is a natural phenomenon, and clinical ward in this case was no exception, however realizing the need for change and improvements, it was decided to bring about change in form of revamping the structure, for this purpose an effective tool was decided to be used in form of mentorship and clinical coaching. These two areas would enable the members to get familiarized with the concept of improvement in the organization. The mentorship and clinical coaching was implemented in one of the wards in a metropolitan hospital in Perth, Western Australia. The choice of mentorship and clinical coaching served as the best tool that could have been used, since it enabled the coaching team to create awareness about the purpose of change and further explained its affectivity. Was an evaluation model and tools prescribed as part of the development of the change management planning and if so what were these? Incremental change, and coaching and mentorship as the choice of tools are prescribed for the purpose of improvements in the organization and medical ward in the metropolitan hospital. The changes were conducted through proper project management planning guidelines, which allowed creating smoothness in the change and improvement process. All the steps taken were in line with the rules defined generically. Evaluation model was based on the performance evaluation monitoring after the mentorship and coaching. What was learnt from the project; would you have done this differently if you were planning the project now? The entire project served as a learning lesson in many ways. It created awareness for future improvements, it enabled the members realizing the need for change, it further enabled creating adaptability with the change mechanism, it further introduced the concept of change in the organization and the hospital itself. It was learnt that if the change is implemented in an incremental manner, and people are provided guidance and training in the proper way, they will embrace the chance mechanism in a positive manner. All this is possible through effective mentorship and coaching. There is always a margin for improvement in any project conducted, however overlarge part of the project it can be termed as positive and successful, yet improvements can be made through critical analysis of the results and implementation strategy and those areas where the outputs are relatively low, can be served as targets for future improvements. Conclusion: Having identified the changes that are needed and the realization for need in a health care organization, it cannot be denied that the change initiation process requires a collaborative approach and no single individual can perform this single handedly , the supporting staff should provide enough backing and support to the front line implementers, every individual ranging from the knowledge seekers, the students, to the funds providers to the vision setters have a role to play in improving the working methods in the incumbent organization . Mentor ship is believed to be an essential part of every nursing house and each of the institutes where nurses are involved would require the counseling and updating of curriculum and methods of approach from time to time, therefore the importance of mentor cannot be ignored. Bibliography: Benner, P. E. (2001). From novice to expert: excellence and power in clinical nursing practice. Prentice Hall. Blais. (2007). 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