Evaluate the role of health policy and organizational structure on quality
improvement within health care environments.
ANSWER
According to Bvumbwe and Mtshali (2018), the provision of quality healthcare is ethical
among health care professionals in developed and under-developed nations and every individual
across the world requires quality care that meets their specific needs and not just what is
necessary for health care personnel providing such care. Therefore, health care transformation
across the world is required to improve quality health care provision that acknowledges the
responsibilities of nursing leadership in policy formulation and changes.
Healthcare globalization
Healthcare globalization provides an opportunity for all health care personnel to
interrelate and execute approaches to provide quality care to improve the medical care of people
across the world. Bvumbwe and Mtshali (2018) stated that, because nursing professionals make
up the highest number of healthcare workers in the world, they must carry out essential roles and
practices in a health care facility. Therefore, nurses must be proactively involved in health care
provision in developed and under-developed nations to ensure that global healthcare needs are
met. Besides, Fervers, Oser Picot (2016) contended that nursing roles are currently
acknowledged as the crucial facets to improve health care quality, and with more health care
workers advancing their education and working to their full extent of education, they are in a
position to provide solutions to different healthcare issues. As globalization procedures are
happening across the world, they cause health and lifestyle effects because health and lifestyle
determinants are affected by these procedures.
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Proposed policy change
Shariff (2015) contended that different healthcare facilities have been facing criticism
due to the quality of care provided, and as a result, the emphasis has been drawn on the
essentialness to improve health care quality as managerial responsibilities in health care
organizations. Thus, the proposed policy change is improving nursing education about healthcare
policies. Shariff (2015) asserted that nursing professionals must handle healthcare issues that
face their particular countries and organizations by being involved in the formulation of health
care policy policies. However, education is required to enable them to participate in the drafting
of such policies to increase their knowledge that will then be used to improve their specific
professionals. As advocated by the American Association of Colleges and Nursing (AACN),
nurses should be involved in legislative procedures and advocate for health care transformation
(Smolowitz et al., 2015). The projected policy change aims to introduce nursing professionals to
healthcare policy formulation, which is crucial to enhance their responsibilities in the healthcare
system and, in turn, will help to increase competent nursing professionals. Shariff (2015) also
claimed that communication globalization, for instance, internet communication will improve the
proposed policy changes on training, which will ensure that it is updated in terms of up-and-
coming illnesses and new drugs to treat such diseases.
Agenda setting strategies
Jacobs and Weaver (2015) acknowledged that the media is an essential strategy that can
be used to gain stakeholder's attention and create their awareness about the essentialness of the
projected policy changes. The media will ensure that majority of stakeholders understand why
nursing education in health policies is essential. Further, seminars and conferences can be
organized to provide an adequate opportunity for all stakeholders to understand the planned
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policy change, and through these seminars, everyone will be allowed to outline significant
concerns about the policy change.
Change model
In a healthcare facility, the trainer has to understand different variables to ensure that the
nursing training sessions are practical and just like any other learning setting, the initial thing that
has to be considered is a learning model which will be utilized as an approach to design the
content of the sessions to devise efficient strategies to attain the set aims. Therefore, Jean Piaget's
theory of cognitive development can be used to ensure that the proposed change is effective.
While facilitating the training sessions, the theory will provide essential guidelines that will help
to guarantee successful training sessions. Müller, Ten Eycke, and Baker (2015) defined Piaget's
theory of cognitive development as a comprehensive theory concerning the nature and
development of personal intelligence. Even though it is often referred to as developmental stage
theory, it as well connects the type of knowledge and how people gain, develop, and utilize
acquired skills. A significant strength of Piaget's theory of cognitive development is that the kind
of cognitive skills that a learner can have at every stage is described, and in this manner, flexible
training materials will be delivered to nurses, and they will be able to relate them to the proposed
policy change.
Design strategies
The proposed training change program will only involve five steps, namely: analyzing
the organization, creating training objectives, developing a lesson preparation, evaluating the
rating, and calculating the cost benefits. While analyzing the organization, the training initiatives
can be linked with the organizational tactical plans and this will be an essential step since before
seeking the training solutions, there must be proper allocation of funds from the organization that
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will ensure that the training is successful. Secondly, the creation of the training objectives will
ensure that everyone works for a common good to ensure that nurses understand policy changes
in their respective organizations. Thirdly, the development of a lesson plan will ensure that
everyone involved in the education program is aware of what will be covered, and this will
facilitate proper preparations. The fourth strategy will be to evaluate the rating where behaviors
such as competency, understanding, and mastering will be assessed, and this will help the trainer
to understand each nurse involved in the education program. Lastly, the cost-benefit will be
calculated to evaluate if the education program has any impact on nurses concerning proposed
changes.
Implementing strategies
Jacobs and Weaver (2015) stated that every organizational stakeholder must be involved
in the change process to ensure successful implementation. In this case, each corporate division
will be engaged in the strategic planning procedure to ensure a smooth flow of information to all
organizational levels. Nurses will be educated to understand how their specific overall
organization operates and how this education will impact the operations in their health care
facilities. Another implementation strategy that will be essential is the communication of the
needs and how resolutions were made to fill the need. Workers and every stakeholder should
understand why the approach is emphasized and its objectives. Jacobs and Weaver (2015) stated
that employees develop paranoia when there is a change in their organization, and to make them
feel important in the organization, they must be educated about the information that will assist
them in developing interest and coordination rather than an obsession.
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Evaluation strategies
Necessarily, training and education evaluation entail formative and summative
assessments (Dixson & Worrell, 2016). The former will be used to improve the education
procedures, and it often offers information on how to make the educational program better
through collection of qualitative data, for instance, opinions, values, and feelings by the use of
questionnaires with program trainees. The later will look at how the educational participants
(nurses) will change after the educational program, and the aim of this evaluation will assess if
the nurses have gained the required knowledge and skills to enable them to participate in policy
change and formulation to increase nursing professionals in the organization.
Conclusion
Nurses play a crucial role in advocating for patient's rights because they are in a higher
position to understand the medical needs of the patients, and this offers them a task to advocate
for necessary health care policies and changes. Therefore, family practitioner nurses should shift
from reactive response framework to a strategic planned framework to change health care
policies. Besides, nurses should understand these health care policies through proper education to
enable them to know who, how and when to influence.