Give Nurses More Autonomy in Wards to Improve Efficiency of Decision-making and Improve Patient Care

Policy Change Proposal Instructions

Identify a policy in your organization that you think could be created or amended to improve organizational governance, operations, or compliance with federal or state regulations. Write a paper that outlines your policy proposal ideas in which you do all of the following:

  • Provide an analysis of how your policy change would improve the organization.
  • Evaluate what changes in the organization would need to be made to implement the policy change.
  • Explain how you would advocate for your policy change while using the approval processes in your organization.

Read also Policy Making Process

Give Nurses More Autonomy in Wards to Improve Efficiency of Decision-making and Improve Patient Care – Policy Change Proposal

Policy changes in a clinical set up are necessary in order to improve the efficiency of operations, as well as to improve compliance with patient safety standards and other important government regulations. Policy changes help to ground various activities and how things are done in the hospital environment. The policies help to outline steps and procedures that should be met while performing certain duties in order for the operations to be effective and yield desired results (McComack et al., 2017). Clinical facilities exist in order to serve the need of patients, and as such, the effectiveness and efficiency of policies should be gauged based on patient outcomes. The policy proposal for this paper is one that seeks to give nurses more autonomy in the wards in order to improve the efficiency of decision-making and improve patient care.

Read also How to Implement a new Healthcare Policy and Address Internal and External Threats that would Arise

The policy change would help to improve the organization in a number of ways. In most cases, nurses make decisions in conjunction with other medical personnel in the wards in regard to various approaches to patient care. The increased autonomy for nurses to make decisions in clinical situations would allow nurses to respond more efficiently to the needs of patients. For example, in situations where patients who are bedridden are at higher risk of developing pressure sores, nurses can decide on the interval of hours between the patients should be turned on their beds. Pressure sores usually develop in patients who are bedridden for long periods of time due to lying in one position in bed. The sores usually develop in areas where there are bony prominences due to excess counter pressure from the bed surfaces. The principles that are usually applied in the prevention of these ulcers are the implementation of principles for the regular turning of the patients at risk, as well as recommendations for use of special mattresses, such as pressure alternating mattresses (Farahani & Shamsizadeh, 2019). Allowing nurses to make these decisions as quickly as possible will ensure that patients receive the best care, and would also allow doctors to focus on other issues. It will also provide a more efficient and conducive working environment for nurses. Generally, this approach will ensure that the organization is more efficient, and achieve greater positive outcomes in the handling of patients.

Read also The Role of the Executive in Healthcare Policy

There are a number of important changes that may need to be implemented in the organization in order to accommodate the proposed change in policy. Firstly, the organization needs to invest in building greater capacity among the nurses in order to boost their decision-making capacity. This includes deliberating on ways in which pertinent areas where the nurses can have the autonomy to make unilateral decisions in regards to clinical care of patients. The nurses can also be provided with regular clinical training on how to handle various conditions. The leadership structure in the wards should also be reorganized in order to give authority to nurse leaders to take responsibility for any clinical decisions they make. The organization should also make changes in regards to how doctors and other medical personnel operate in order for them to be available for consultations in are where the nurses feel they cannot make decisions on their own.

Read also Proposal for New Healthcare Legislation to be Presented by Political Party to United States Citizens

A number of channels would be used in advocating for the policy change. One of the common ways in the organization is through holding deliberations with colleagues and coming up with ideas on the best way to present the issues to the leadership. This approach ensures that the organization is informed in an appropriate way for them to make the best decision (Bel et al., 2018). Another approach would be to directly communicate with the board of management in order to pass the suggestions. This can be done through writing an official email or sending a full policy change proposal to the management for review and further direction on the same.

Read also Impact of Grassroots Policy Initiatives and Role of Nurse Leaders in Improving Health Outcomes

In conclusion, policy changes are necessary in healthcare management in order to improve efficiency, as well as improve chances for effectiveness and increase the chance for leading to positive patient outcomes. There are various changes that an organization should make while creating a new policy and these must be considered exhaustively before making any substantial changes. Policy proposals should also be communicated through the right channels in the organization in order to get the best outcomes in terms of the adoption of the proposals.

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