Change: Should We Embrace Change Inevitable?

According to Porter-O’Grady, 2016 et al p 324, our healthcare systems today are at the center of what is considered major change. Much of the change today is directly related to the foundational principles, concepts and associated with complexity in systems and relationships, and an understanding by nurse leader and follower; of what it takes to make meaningful change. Nurse Leaders, registered nurses, advance practice nurses, and other followers, at every level of our organizations must be increasingly aware of meaningful and sustainable changes that improves our healthcare systems (Porter-O’Grady, 2016 et al p 324).

These changes are then reinforced to employees by the Charge Nurses in Morning Huddles and in special called Safety Huddles throughout the week. While management is very open to change, implementation of the changes must be carried out by the actual hands-on personnel, and this often times leads to fear of the unknown. As Yoder-Wise (2015) states, “All changes, whether perceived as positive or negative, large-scale or simply, are scary and generate fear” (p. 307). In the short time I have worked in the ED, I have seen both support and resistance among co-workers regarding change processes. While some embrace change, others resist, and are set in their ways viewing change as inconvenient and an addition of time-consuming steps to an already stressful environment. Most whom I work with, when presented with the facts and evidence behind the change, view it positively and have no problem implementing it.

No matter which perspective the view is from, most everyone would agree that millions of nurses worldwide are involved in a profession that is constantly changing and changing at a very quick pace (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2011). This transformation is due to a number of factors like demographic changes, the shortage of health care professionals, economic downfalls on the health care system, and evolving technology (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2011). In an effort to support and promote the future of nursing and advancement in health care, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) took on a 2 year initiative that

It is transforming every day. During the past several years nurses have been involved in more than just direct care they have been involved in the management of reducing the safety risks and improving quality of care. For example the IOM report states that the research from the INQRI showed that it has lessened the medication error rates, by the nurse clarifying doctors’ orders and providing patient education. (Institute of Medicine, 2010, p. 90) By transforming our practice our scopes of practice will need to be redefined. This will allow the nurses to work at their fullest potential and increase patient satisfaction and to meet the needs of our patients. Expanding our knowledge in procedure and community based skills will be required. The most transformations will occur with are APRN’s but every change that will be occurring will have a major impact on the quality of care our patients are receiving. It is going to increase our opportunities to care for all that is in need.

It has grown from a non-educated nurse to one that has to be even more educated to keep up with the fast changing times with diverse topics and culture differences. It is a constant challenge for physicians and nurses to do their best in the fast changing nursing field. As nurses, we have to be constantly upgrading our education. We can’t expect anything to always be the same and to never change. Register nurses today work as a team, they work every day with physicians, pharmacists, speech and occupational therapists, just to name a few. Since nurses are primarily responsible for direct patient care and coordination, I believe that they should not be these educated on the health care

Every profession embraces change. Whether it is small, like a simple word addition to the important Patient Information document, or large, like a staff shift, the medical field is constantly changing. To fully understand the scope of what it means to change, I have been challenged to ask “Why?” The answers have helped me grow at Eastside Medical Center.

More specifically in my mind, I believe the nurses have to adapt to these changes more quickly than other medical employees. Nurses occupy a unique and powerful position in our health care system. They spend more time with patients than anyone else the majority of the time. They are often the first to know when our health care system does not meet patient needs, and they have a deep understanding of its overall failures. Therefore, they have to make sure they are educated on the changes that have been made so they are able to present the patient with the correct information regarding their

A classic definition of change is that of (Lippitt, 1973), who described change as any planned or unplanned alteration in status quo of an organism, situation, or process. Planned change is described as the deliberate, calculated and collaborative application of knowledge and skills by a leader to bring about improvements (Marquis & Huston, 2015). The NMC Code (NMC, 2015) states that nurses and midwives ‘deliver care based on the best available evidence or best practice ' this indicates the continual need to enhance practice through change. As well as the code of conduct

Change in general is needed for better practice or for better outcomes. This can apply to everyday life or our nursing practice. If one wants to make improvements, then change has to occur. It could be starting a diet and exercise plan or making new friends. Nursing is always changing to stay on top of new theories and research out there.

This week I read about chaos and disequilibrium in nursing. The healthcare system is experiencing significant changes. The reading made me realize that in times of change and disorganization, one can learn and grow in many ways. If we were to have a positive outlook and perceive times of change as opportunities to learn new skills and decision-making abilities, we would benefit more from it.

Hi Jenna, thanks for the questions. Yes you are right, change is really hard for some people sometimes. As an LPN, I see that a lot in my workplace. In my case, I am flexible with change. I look at it as positive and embrace it openly. I implement the change to improve my patient delivery to an optimum level. Other nurses are very reluctant to implement change because it’s not what they have been practicing. You will hear negativity and through actions. It takes

In his article “Can leadership help teachers deal with change-associated challenges?” Matthes analyses the extent to which school-leaders influence their teachers amidst change-triggered challenges. For this purpose the author collected qualitative data from 28 semi-structured interviews which served as the analytic base of this article. This article’s findings supported and complemented Matthes’ earlier quantitative-study findings about the same theme. Paraphrased with other words both articles found that teachers expect their leaders to focus more on people (than tasks) if they wish to aid properly during “change-associated challenges”. Teachers expected also from their leaders to address adequately all issues related to all teachers’

Change is constant for people who work in health information services. These changes come from federal, state and local reimbursement programs, new legislation, technology updates, information protection regulations and even changes in the demographics (age, disease, insurance, etc.) of the clientele they are servicing. Some of those changes are incremental and might not even be detected by upper management, simply because the new work is automatically absorbed by the organization 's employees. Some of those changes can be sudden and require sweeping changes to the organization that affect the immediate responsibilities of its employees. Although employees might be able to handle larger workloads and responsibilities in the short-term, it is not sustainable. Managers can 't simply add larger workloads and more responsibilities to employees without taking into consideration the effects it will

Noticing small changes early helps you adapt to the bigger changes that are to come.

There have been many changes (major and minor) in the nursing profession and the medical field, as a whole, over the years. Some of these changes include changing demographics and increasing diversity, technological explosion, the cost of health care, and significant advances in nursing science and research. Major socioeconomic changes created this drive to make transformations in nursing and institutions. These institutions are the ones that are responsible for educating the next generation of nurses, such as West Coast University.