care patients receive. It is a process that is highly dependent on the quality of information nurses exchange with each other, which in turn determines the quality of decisions made to ensure that there is continuity of care from one shift to another. There are different shift reporting approaches that healthcare facilities use. However, each approach has its own merits and demerits. Currently, the target healthcare facility is using a traditional shift reporting approach where the transaction of information is done away from the bedside.
While the traditional approach has been cited to save time during shift reporting, several challenges have emerged as a concern to patient quality, including the accuracy of the information documented and the inclusion of the patient in the care process. For this reason, a quality improvement initiative will be formulated to improve the handover communication process.
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Project Implementation Plan
Having an elaborate implementation plan is crucial for the successful implementation of an evidence-based change initiative. The purpose of this paper is to describe the change implementation plan that will be used for a quality improvement capstone project. The plan will include the objectives and outcome for the capstone initiative and the implementation methodology.
Summary of Problem
The current problem within the practicum site is poor handover communication. Poor handover communication leads to poor patient outcomes, and low patient satisfaction, and affects interprofessional collaboration, thus necessitating the implementation of an evidence-based change initiative (Bukoh et al., 2020).
Solution
The identified change issue that the capstone aims to address is poor handover communication. To deal with this, the evidence-based proposal is to implement a bedside handover approach as the preferred shift reporting system. Studies have shown bed-side shift reporting as a suitable handover communication approach that helps enhance patient outcomes, reduces documentation errors, and increases patient satisfaction (Forde et al., 2020).
The inclusion of patients as part of the handover process makes it a suitable form of shift reporting that captures the spirit of patient-centered care, including their cultural considerations, ensuring that patients receive high-quality and satisfactory care.
Implementation of Intervention
To ensure the evidence-based capstone change project is successfully implemented a project team will first need to be formed. The mandate of the project team will be to first come up with an implementation plan for the change initiative. Ideally, the project team will use a change model for example Lippitt’s change model to ensure that the implementation is successful with little resistance from the stakeholders (Adelman-Mullally et al., 2023). The implementation team will also be responsible for engaging with stakeholders, ensuring that the stakeholders have bought the change ideal to reduce resistance to change.
After coming up with the implementation plan, the team will then come up with a mode of evaluation, to assess whether the capstone change project has met its objectives or not. Continuous reviews held every week will help to ensure that the milestones agreed upon by the team towards implementing the capstone are met. The implementation of the capstone will create an impact on nursing practice by highlighting the importance of handover communication in care delivery. Additionally, the change initiative will create an impact by emphasizing the need to include patients and their family members as part of the handover communication process.
Objectives
For the capstone project, the first objective would be to increase patient satisfaction. Studies have shown that engaging in bedside shift reporting has a positive impact on patient engagement and by extension satisfaction (Forde et al., 2020), making it an ideal choice as the first objective. The second objective is to reduce medical errors related to poor documentation.
Documentation errors often occur during handover, where patient information is not captured. Often these issues end up causing clinical errors affecting patient outcomes (Bukoh et al., 2020). The third objective is to improve the level of interprofessional collaboration, by involving other care providers and the patient during the handover reporting process.
Measurable Outcomes
From the three objectives, the measurable outcomes that will help to evaluate the capstone project include the following: The first outcome is increasing patient satisfaction by at least 10% within the evidence-based change implementation period. The second outcome is reducing medical errors related to poor documentation by 15% during the implementation period.
The final outcome is improving interprofessional engagement by 5% at the end of the implementation period. These outcomes are going to be measured after the intervention period using surveys, where the data collected will compared to the results before implementation of the new handover method.
Rationale
One of the ethical aspects that should be adhered to when implementing evidence-based change projects is respecting patient autonomy. The objectives and outcomes identified incorporate patien