Value found in making this practice change, meeting with preceptor, and leading a team.

Value found in making this practice change, meeting with preceptor, and leading a team.

The experience of implementing this practice change has been valuable in many ways, including mitigating the negative effects of an insufficient number of preceptors as previously discussed. Meetings with my preceptor, Jennifer, have been advantageous because she is experienced in project management and change implementation. One of the things I appreciate the most about Jennifer is that she guides me through the resolution of problems instead of simply telling me what to do. For any given challenge she starts by asking me what all of the options are and which ones I feel are most viable. Then she has me list out pros and cons for the most promising solutions. If I miss something important, she asks questions that direct my thinking towards it. I know using this process is much more time consuming for her, but I believe I learn more working through things in this way.

Leading the project team has helped to increase my confidence with change management. Including capstone preceptors on the team was a good decision as this allowed the value of the project to be communicated to them. Nilsen et al. (2020) report that change is most successful when those affected by it recognize its value and have the ability to influence it. Being part of the project team allowed both of these things for the preceptors.

Additionally, acting as the team leader also made me focus on communication. When team members missed meetings, I found simply emailing information to them was not always effective. This was especially true for the capstone preceptors. They also do not use WebEx teams. This meant the best method of communicating plans or changes with them was face-to-face. Communicating the proposed change with nursing leadership was done in person at a nursing leadership meeting. This allowed the leaders to ask questions and have their concerns addressed.

This project is not yet complete because the pilot cannot be implemented until the next group of capstone students comes through in June. Three preceptors will be using PAL while the others will continue with the current married model. The results of the pilot will determine the next steps. Therefore, I know I will continue to learn from this experience.

References

Hansen, W. (2021). The perceptions of newly qualified nurses on the guidance by preceptors towards becoming experts in nursing. Curationis, 44(1), a2205, https://doi.org/10.4102/curationis.v44i1.2205

Nilsen, P., Seing, I., Ericsson, C. Birken, S. A., & Schildmeijer, K. (2020). Characteristics of successful changes in health care organizations: An interview study with physicians, registered nurses, and assistant nurses. BMC Health Services Research, 20(147), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-4999-8