Who Moved My Cheese?

Implementing change among all organizations is necessary to achieve success; within the health care industry change is constant and it is the role of management teams to assess, plan, implement and evaluate change to ensure satisfaction. Considering this among the other aspects of running a successful organization it is essential to ensure that there is minimal resistance and familiarity to change. Demands of the consumers and staff as well as regulations are continuously changing. The responsibility of managers is to successfully lead these inevitable changes.

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.

Implementing a change in practice within these environments can produce anxiety or fear of failure in nurses, leading to a resistance to change. Several studies (Bozak, 2003; Lehman, 2008; Spetz, Burgess & Phibbs, 2012) expounded the need for a concise plan and clear communication between nurses and management when implementing a change of this nature. The use of Lewin’s Change Management theory can support nurses through the transitions and identify areas of strengths and resistances prior to implementing change. Without a framework for guidance, it can be difficult to keep on track.

Change is a hard concept for most, but change in the hospital setting can be beneficial for both staff and patients. According to Mclean (2011), “Every change begins with an ending” (p.79). How people respond to change can make the process easy or hard depending on how the change is presented.

A positive force for change centers on the nurse’s strong desire to change current practices. The combination of the turnover rate, low morale, and higher percentage of new nurses, is the driving

It is very true that lack of communication and not being honest with your staff can lead to frustration. It will be more appreciative if the manager will come and recognize that some of the new things are new for him/her to instead of just making it mandatory without any preparation. We understand that many times policies and procedures are coming from higher levels, but discussing with the ones which will be affected will have a better outcome in terms of accepting new changes. "The person who has to deliver the often unpleasant news determines whether to call the unit and leave a brief note on the assignment sheet or go to the nurse to talk directly about the change".

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.

Kotter’s (2012) 8-step model of organizational change was selected as the change theory for the proposed project. Kotter’s change model has been implemented in many different organizational settings and industries (Kotter, 2012). Kotter’s model is designed as a microsystem or organizational-level change program, not as an individual change theory or model. Kotter’s (2012) model has been frequently cited as the change theory used in nursing quality improvement projects and other healthcare organization-based change projects (Kotter & Schlesinger, 2008; Mate & Rakover, 2016). Kotter’s change theory was selected for use in the proposed study not only because it has been successfully used in various healthcare settings and change programs, but also because the model includes guidelines for program implementation as well as strategies for addressing resistance to change and other change

Change is an ongoing and never ending organizational process. Change is often planned because of conflict between the desired and actual state of affairs. Conflict may arise because of difficulties in reaching performance goals or because new goals have been created (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). Making these changes in the workplace is stressful for everyone involved including the staff, the management, and the consumer. The role of the staff is vital for the change process to be smooth and the staff may be resistant to the changes, causing a systematic breakdown. It is the

In the article entitled “Lewin’s Theory of Planned Change as a Strategic Resource”, the author, Shirey (2013) stated that Lewin’s approach to change involves looking at the forces that are needed to diminished or strengthened in order to bring about change within an organization. Burnes and Cooke (2012) added to Shirey’s point by noting that it is important to understand the psychological forces influencing peoples’ behavior at a given point in time before change can be made. Both authors main point of agreement is that there are a number of forces that drive, restrain or balance peoples’ behavior. These authors stated that organizational change is necessary to meet consumer needs. Also, as technology changes, such as the change from the paper medical record to the EMR, health care organizations have to adopt these changes to improve patient safety. In addition, change provides a learning opportunity for employees and allows

While many health care practitioners are willing to change, the issue is that change is often mismanaged by leaders whom are either incompetent or lack the resources to follow through in the implementation of change. An example was documented in a study of a California hospital unit where patient satisfaction scores rose and immediately fell. At the time, the hospital was going through transition. The nurses in the unit saw this as an opportunity to improve patient satisfaction score. They initiated the process by recommending that the new chief executive officer (CEO) change the current procedure to one that could led to the improvement of patients’ satisfaction. The result, in a few months

This book, by Spencer Johnson, reveals the truths about how we deal with change that happens in our lives which effects us in so many ways, either positively or negatively. The book takes an amusing approach to what happens when you don’t adapt to change and what happens when you do. In the book, cheese is used as a metaphor for what you want to have in life. All my life I wanted the nice house, the beautiful wife, the kids, money, the dog, the nice tuck to pull the nice boat, the great career, and so on , and so on. To me, it’s human nature to want those things and I eventually got all of those things and then some….. More on that later. There was another metaphor in the book, which was the maze.

By empowering the community of nurses and sustaining employee engagement, patient and employee satisfaction would remain the same, if not increase (6 Leadership strategies for navigating perpetual change in healthcare, 2015). Change is tough for most people and the time to adjust varies with each individual. Taking some time to acknowledge each individual and their needs is an important factor to being a great leader (6 Leadership strategies for navigating perpetual change in healthcare, 2015).

The book, Who Moved My Cheese? is a short story by Dr. Spencer Johnson. I related to the lessons from this book. A few of those lessons include; change is inevitable and change happens. What we let this change do to us how one responds to this change will either get us cheese or not. How change will help us grow if we allow experiences to teach us or how we can lose hope if we let change keep us down. It reminds me how fear has a way of either pushing us to succeed or holding us back to fail.