Discussion: Introduction to the Planning Process

Discussion: Introduction to the Planning Process

Discussion: Introduction to the Planning Process

Discussion: Introduction to the Planning Process

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Question Description
Heather Davis

RE: Discussion – Week 1

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NURS 6241: Strategic Planning in Health Care Organizations

Week One Initial Discussion: Introduction to the Planning Process

Introduction

The purpose of this week’s discussion is to explain how this writer views the similarities and differences between the nursing process and the strategic planning process. Next, share an example that demonstrates why it is beneficial for a nurse leader to be aware of the planning hierarchy. Finally, to identify why one should be engaged in the strategic planning in addition to and in contrast with operational planning.

Nursing and Strategic Planning Process

In 1958, Ida Jean Orlando started the nursing process that still directs nursing today. It can be defined as a system of approaches to care using the fundamental principles of critical thinking, client-centered treatment, goal orientation, evidence e- based practice and nursing intuition (Toney-Butler, 2019). It is holistic and scientific while integrating compassion, quality-based care. There are five steps to this process, which are assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation. It is based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs in which the individual needs of the patient must be met before other less significant needs (Toney-Butler, 2019). An example of this is that the safety of the patient can not be addressed first if the patient cannot breathe properly. The breath issue must be addressed first.

The strategic plan process is an organizational management activity that is used to set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen operations, ensure that employees and other stakeholders are working toward common goals. Establish agreement around intended outcomes and results and assess and adjust the direction of organization response to the changing environment (Wilsey, Sterling, Burton, & Boo). This process helps to articulate where the organization is going, the actions that need to be taken to progress, and how successful it will be. There are steps to the strategic planning process, which are assessment, strategy formulation, strategic execution, and evaluation. The association of strategic planning or ASP is dedicated to advancing thought and practice in this planning process. They have developed a lead- think-plan-act rubric(Wilsey, Sterling, Burton, & Boo).

The nursing and strategic process have both similarities and differences that exist. First is that both have a process; however, strategic planning is less organized, and doe not has a one method process as the nursing process that arises from evidence-based practice. Lastly, in the nursing process, the diagnosis must be determined before moving towards a plan, whereas in strategic planning, this is not a step. Both of these planning processes are used in the healthcare system. One striking similarity between the two is that they both assess the situation, then make a plan and implement it and finally evaluate it. This similarity should help a nurse who becomes a leader to use the nursing process as a start point in understanding and implementing the strategic process. They are both critical thinking approaches.

Example of Benefits to Nurse Leaders

In one example, this writer discovered was how to teach nurses to reach the board room level. Often in this, writers experience nurses have an opinion about a subject but cannot see the big picture and the skill set to articulate a plan for the problem at hand. These skills are what is need to be at the board room level. It is in a nurse nature that they are strategic thinkers, which means they use both sides of the brain, and they are both logical and creative. They also, in many respects, are life- long learners (Strategic Thinking: A Nurse’s Skill. (n.d.)). They possess specific competencies such as anticipating change, challenge assumptions, interpret their environment, make tough decisions, look for lessons learned, and finally to engage stakeholders. These competencies are similar to those who sit in a board room, which is gaining buy-in, conducting environmental assessments, developing both planning and financial assumptions, development of strategic frameworks, and establishment of performance measures (Strategic Thinking: A Nurse’s Skill. (n.d.)). One aspect that nurses who reach this level struggle with is thinking from a metaphorical perspective. However, if they look at the organization as they did their patients on a healing path seeking to improve itself and aligned with its mission and open to opportunities that smooth its journey along the route (Strategic Thinking: A Nurse’s Skill. (n.d.)), this approach to thinking and using their previous experience is precisely what will enable them to one day become a board member. There is a growing need to have nurses that are at the board level; a recent survey completed determined that only 2.3 percent of board members were nurses in comparison to 22.6 percent being physicians (Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing & Medicine, 1970).

Engagement in Strategic and Operational Planning

The last area in which to review is why a nurse leader should be involved in strategic and operational planning. Nurse leaders must see the the value that their position brings to the healthcare organization. Their involvement will allow them to take responsibility for identification of areas of waste, devising and implementing a plan for improvement, tracking the progress over time and then making the needed adjustments to establish goals (Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing & Medicine, 1970). Also, it will help them to become a partner in the healthcare policy area in which they can see that policy is not something that happens to them but rather something a nurse leader can shape and develop based on strategic and operational goals. The needs for nurse leaders who are comfortable with the strategic and operational process will only grow due to the enactment of such bills like the ACA which will require strong leadership among nurse leaders and physicians to implement the needed increase in quality, access, value and delivery of patient-centered care (Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing & Medicine, 1970).

Conclusion

The nursing process is similar to the strategic plan process in many ways. Nurse leaders can use their experiences, competencies, and critical thinking skills that they used in their bead side practice to the organizational level. If the nurse leader can identify this connection, it will help them to excel at the board room level

References

Toney-Butler, T. J. (2019, July 30). Nursing Process. Retrieved February 23, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499937/

Wilsey, D., Sterling, T., Burton, B., & Boo, M. (n.d.). Strategic Planning Basics. Retrieved February 23, 2020, from https://balancedscorecard.org/strategic-planning-basics/

Strategic Thinking: A Nurse’s Skill. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2020, from https://www.oregonnursesonboards.org/service/strategic-thinking-nurses-skill/

Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, & Medicine, at the I. of. (1970, January 1). Transforming Leadership. Retrieved February 23, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK209867/

APA format, 2 references, 2 paragraphs

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6^th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.