NURS-FPX4010 Leadership Strategies that Could Lead to an Interdisciplinary Solution

Change Theories That Could Lead to an Interdisciplinary Solution

Kurt Lewin’s change model can be used as an interdisciplinary solution to the issue of understaffing in nursing. According to the recent and peer reviewed article, The Origins of Lewin’s Three-Step Model of Change, this “has become the best-known and, arguably, the most influential approach to organizational change (Burnes, 2019).” Adding support staff and current workers in healthcare working together, is a solution to the nursing staffing shortage. Lewin’s change model is an adaptive model that involves three stages including unfreezing, moving, and refreezing, and must draw on varied factors to be applied to an individual situation (Hussain, et al., 2017).

The first stage in this change theory is unfreezing which focuses on making stakeholders aware of the issue and educating on the forces that effect the issue to facilitate detaching from the current order to make necessary changes. Furthermore, this stage will make for less resistance to the change being implemented (Hussain, et. al, 2017). In pertinence to the staffing issue in nursing, there can be interdisciplinary solutions by educating all stakeholders, i.e all healthcare workers and up, in an organization on the issue, factors involved, and coming change.

The second phase of Lewin’s model is moving, which is when the implementation of actual change occurs. As discussed in the first stage, the staff should be educated at this point and understanding of the necessity for the change. Moving in this case would include a new sense of teamwork among all healthcare workers, management, and even executives, as well as providing more support to the team in the way of hiring up and out.

By this would mean to include positions that would offer support in patient care. Licensed practical nurses (LPN’s), volunteers, healthcare techs, and any profession that could help in the direct care of patients should be included. For example, though the scope of practice for an LPN is not exact to an RN’s, the amount within their scope of practice could heavily alleviate the amount an RN would need to manage in a short staffing situation (Perkins, 2021). With a new level of understanding between disciplines as far as necessary teamwork and the implementation of support staff goes, short staffing in nursing could have a probable outcome apart from only relying on hiring more Registered Nurses. The third stage of Lewin’s model is refreezing. This is the time when the changes will become the new normal for the organization as opposed to being a temporary situation. Positive reinforcement, and continued support are vital in this stage to not revert to the pre change climate.

Democratic leadership would be an effective approach leading to an interdisciplinary solution of staffing shortage in nursing. Democratic leadership is a style in which the leader allows the group to have an input of ideas and opinions, even though the leader will ultimately make the final decision (Crosby, 2020). This balanced style of leading often leads to high morale, high tension, and low conflict (Crosby, 2020). A democratic leadership style is relevant because it allows for interdisciplinary communication. Through this nursing staff can relay to management what sort of support would best help when staffing is short and how communication and teamwork can be changed to be more effective. With the input, the nurse manager can make suitable recommendations to executives and others who have a final say in implementing the change.

Collaborative Approaches for Interdisciplinary Teams

In healthcare interdisciplinary collaboration is necessary to provide safe and effective patient care and improve outcomes (Yammamoto, 2022). There are diverse ways in which interdisciplinary teams can collaborate. One way in teams can collaborate is through interdisciplinary rounding. Interdisciplinary rounds are when healthcare workers from multiple disciplines such as physicians, nurses, therapists, and more, meet to discuss plans of care for patients (Beaird, et. al., 2019). The results of these rounds can be increased communication and discussions on collaboration, both of which improve patient care and minimize lack of knowledge and extra work on another specialty. For example, if support staff, such as an LPN is present in rounding, an RN will not need to take on the responsibility of repeating plans and necessary actions for patient care. Furthermore, each team has an opportunity to tell how the other teams can help to establish good teamwork.

References

Beaird, G., Baernholdt, M., & White, K. R. (2020). Perceptions of interdisciplinary rounding practices. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(7-8), 1141–1150.