Introduction
The health care industry is always striving to improve patient outcomes and attain organizational goals. Nurses can play a critical role in achieving these goals; one way to encourage nurse participation in larger organizational efforts is to create a shared vision and team goals (Mulvale et al., 2016). Participation in interdisciplinary teams can also offer nurses opportunities to share their expertise and leadership skills, fostering a sense of ownership and collegiality.
You are encouraged to complete the Budgeting for Nurses activity before you develop the plan proposal. The activity consists of seven questions that will allow you the opportunity to check your knowledge of budgeting basics and as well as the value of financial resource management. The information gained from completing this formative will promote success with the Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal. Completing this activity also demonstrates your engagement in the course, requires just a few minutes of your time, and is not graded.
Demonstration of Proficiency
• Competency 1: Explain strategies for managing human and financial resources to promote organizational health.
o Explain organizational resources, including a financial budget, needed for the plan to be a success and the impacts on those resources if nothing is done, related to the improvements sought by the plan.
• Competency 2: Explain how interdisciplinary collaboration can be used to achieve desired patient and systems outcomes.
o Describe an objective and predictions for an evidence-based interdisciplinary plan to achieve a specific objective related to improving patient or organizational outcomes.
o Explain the collaboration needed by an interdisciplinary team to improve the likelihood of achieving the plan’s objective. Include best practices of interdisciplinary collaboration from the literature.
• Competency 4: Explain how change management theories and leadership strategies can enable interdisciplinary teams to achieve specific organizational goals.
o Explain a change theory and a leadership strategy, supported by relevant evidence, that are most likely to help an interdisciplinary team succeed in collaborating and implementing, or creating buy-in for, the project plan.
• Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly, evidence-based communication strategies to impact patient, interdisciplinary team, and systems outcomes.
o Organize content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions; contains few errors in grammar/punctuation, word choice, and spelling.
o Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references, exhibiting nearly flawless adherence to APA format.
Reference
Mulvale, G., Embrett, M., & Shaghayegh, D. R. (2016). ‘Gearing up’ to improve interprofessional collaboration in primary care: A systematic review and conceptual framework. BMC Family Practice, 17.
Professional Context
This assessment will allow you to describe a plan proposal that includes an analysis of best practices of interprofessional collaboration, change theory, leadership strategies, and organizational resources with a financial budget that can be used to solve the problem identified through the interview you conducted in the prior assessment.
Scenario
Having reviewed the information gleaned from your professional interview and identified the issue, you will determine and present an objective for an interdisciplinary intervention to address the issue.
Note: You will not be expected to implement the plan during this course. However, the plan should be evidence-based and realistic within the context of the issue and your interviewee’s organization.
Instructions
For this assessment, use the context of the organization where you conducted your interview to develop a viable plan for an interdisciplinary team to address the issue you identified. Define a specific patient or organizational outcome or objective based on the information gathered in your interview.
The goal of this assessment is to clearly lay out the improvement objective for your planned interdisciplinary intervention of the issue you identified. Additionally, be sure to further build on the leadership, change, and collaboration research you completed in the previous assessment. Look for specific, real-world ways in which those strategies and best practices could be applied to encourage buy-in for the plan or facilitate the implementation of the plan for the best possible outcome.
Using the Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal Template [DOCX] Download Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal Template [DOCX]will help you stay organized and concise. As you complete each section of the template, make sure you apply APA format to in-text citations for the evidence and best practices that inform your plan, as well as the reference list at the end.
Additionally, be sure that your plan addresses the following, which corresponds to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. Please study the scoring guide carefully so you understand what is needed for a distinguished score.
• Describe an objective and predictions for an evidence-based interdisciplinary plan to achieve a specific goal related to improving patient or organizational outcomes.
• Explain a change theory and a leadership strategy, supported by relevant evidence, that is most likely to help an interdisciplinary team succeed in collaborating and implementing, or creating buy-in for, the project plan.
• Explain the collaboration needed by an interdisciplinary team to improve the likelihood of achieving the plan’s objective. Include best practices of interdisciplinary collaboration from the literature.
• Explain organizational resources, including a financial budget, needed for the plan to succeed and the impacts on those resources if the improvements described in the plan are not made.
• Communicate the interdisciplinary plan, with writing that is clear, logically organized, and professional, with correct grammar and spelling, using current APA style.
Additional Requirements
• Length of submission: Use the provided template. Remember that part of this assessment is to make the plan easy to understand and use, so it is critical that you are clear and concise. Most submissions will be 2–4 pages in length. Be sure to include a reference page at the end of the plan.
• Number of references: Cite a minimum of 3 sources of scholarly or professional evidence that support your central ideas. Resources should be no more than 5 years old.
• APA formatting: Make sure that in-text citations and reference list follow current APA style.
Note: Faculty may use the Writing Feedback Tool when grading this assessment. The Writing Feedback Tool is designed to provide you with guidance and resources to develop your writing based on five core skills. You will find writing feedback in the Scoring Guide for the assessment, once your work has been evaluated.
Portfolio Prompt: Remember to save the final assessment to your ePortfolio so that you may refer to it as you complete the final Capstone course.
Developing an interdisciplinary plan proposal to address a real issue requires thoughtful consideration of evidence-based strategies and resources. Allow me to offer a few suggestions based on the criteria outlined.
An objective for your plan should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) to improve patient or organizational outcomes related to the issue identified. For example, you may aim to reduce hospital readmission rates for a particular condition by 10% within 6 months. Predictions could project the estimated impact on readmissions, costs, patient satisfaction, etc. if successful.
Regarding change management and leadership, Kotter’s 8-step process for leading change is widely supported for successfully implementing new initiatives. This involves establishing a sense of urgency, building a guiding coalition, and empowering broad-based action through short-term wins. Shared leadership approaches like relational coordination can also foster collaboration across disciplines.
When explaining resource needs, consider both financial and human resources. A sample budget may project expenses for materials, training, additional staffing if needed, etc. Explain how the current allocation of resources contributes to the issue and how reallocation could help address it.
Finally, interdisciplinary collaboration requires open communication, role clarification, and mutual respect between team members from different backgrounds. Consider including representatives from nursing, administration, quality improvement, and other relevant departments to gain diverse perspectives and ensure all aspects of the issue are addressed.
