NURS 6052 EVIDENCE-BASED PROJECT, PART 4: RECOMMENDING AN EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE CHANGE

Mental health remains a public health issue with millions of Americans suffering from different conditions. However, accessibility to care remains a challenge for different populations and individuals experiencing mental health challenges, including individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. As such, access to psychiatry mental health is important to improve their wellbeing and mitigate effects of the conditions (Coombs et al., 2021). Organizations should be ready and willing to implement evidence-based practice (EBP) interventions to improve access to mental health care services for different population. The purpose of this presentation is to develop an EBP change project to improve access to psychiatric mental health services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities within the healthcare organization.

The organization is a diverse mental health facility that caters mainly to individuals suffering from intellectual and developmental disabilities. As a premier specialty facility for the population, the organization has a formidable culture based on values and traditions emanating from its vision and mission statements. These values include trust, honesty, transparency, a transformation approach to care, inclusion and diversity. As such, the vision of the organization is to be a premier mental health facility and transform access to care services for all individuals and populations suffering from mental health disorders (Smith et al., 2021). The organization is ready for change based on its mission and vision that focus on transforming the mental health care sector to improve access and quality. The organization accepts change because such interventions improve access to care services. Further, healthcare providers and entities can only attain transformation when they implement evidence-based practice interventions.

The current issue in the organization that needs change is inability to offer care for all patients, especially accessibility to psychiatry mental health care services for individuals with intellectual and development disabilities. Inaccessibility to psychiatry mental health services for this population increases their susceptibility to mental health conditions. Therefore, the proposed change seeks expansion of access to mental health services through collaboration with other counties and their facilities through a developed referral system. Long term collaboration and cooperation will enhance accessibility to mental health care services (Coombs et al., 2021).

The stakeholders include psychiatric mental health nurses, patients and their families, organizational leaders and managers, and the collaborating counties as well as healthcare facilities and systems. The risks entail increased cost of care, need for better coordination and collaboration and compliance to legal and ethical requirements related to patients like privacy and data sharing issues (Melnyk et al., 2022).

Introduction

This presentation will describe my healthcare organization, including the organizational culture and readiness for change. I will also identify an opportunity for change in the organization and discuss the circumstances surrounding the need for change and the scope of the issue. Besides, I will propose an evidence-based intervention to promote a change in practice that will help address the opportunity for change. In addition, I will describe the plan for knowledge transfer of the proposed change and dissemination strategies for the project’s results. Lastly, I will discuss the lessons learned from the appraisal of the peer-reviewed articles in the previous assignment.

Healthcare Organization and Culture

Our healthcare organization is an outpatient psychiatric facility. It offers extensive mental health and psychiatric services in child, adolescent, and adult behavioral health. Services offered include treatment and psychotherapy for psychiatric disorders, substance abuse disorders, addiction, sexuality issues, life transitions, and family issues. ​

The organization has a clan culture characterized by collaborative teamwork, and all employees feel like equals. Since there are few employees (10 medical and 7 non-medical staff), the organization is non-hierarchical. There is a strong focus on mentorship, and employees are encouraged to give honest and open feedback.​

The organization has a high level of readiness to change. Employees have a high individual and shared commitment to implement changes in the organizati