Description
Post 1
Clinical change and quality improvement projects are implemented with an aim to make healthcare systems safer and more efficient. How do you know that your specific clinical change project will have this type of an effect on the organization?
Burnout is not specific to nurses and nurse practitioners, burnout affects all members of the health care team, including physician assistants and physicians. Understanding what burnout means, identifying the causes, who is at risk, and the signs and symptoms are all very important when discussing burnout. After these items have been identified, we can look at how burnout can affect the individual experiencing it, how it can affect the patients being cared for by the burnt-out individual, and the quality of life, the medical organization, and healthcare as a whole (De Hert, 2020). According to research, burnout can have lasting effects on the individual: decreased career satisfaction, decreased empathy for patients, increased cynicism, decreased quality of sleep, negative effects on personal and professional relationships, and poor quality of life, leading to a higher risk for depression (De Hert, 2020).
If burnout goes undetected or without intervention, it will eventually cause adverse effects on the patients and healthcare organizations. Burnout has been shown to place the patient at risk for harm by increasing the risk of medical errors, missed diagnoses of important and deadly disease processes, increased risk of lawsuits, decreased patient reports of satisfaction, poor health management leading to nosocomial infections, and prolonged hospital admissions (De Hert, 2020). The effects burnout has on a healthcare origination are also significant; nosocomial infections, prolonged unnecessary admission cost the organization money, poor staffing, and increased turnover rates. Training new employees can cost an organization an average of $40,000 – $500,000, not including fines for medical errors and potential lawsuits (The Cost of Burnout in Healthcare | Symplr, n.d.). It has been reported that burnout can cost up to $5 billion every year (Lagasse, n.d.). Early detection, prevention, and reversal of burnout benefit all healthcare areas. Individual healthcare workers should work on self-awareness to advocate for themselves when symptoms present themselves, healthcare organizations should be vigilant of signs and symptoms and provide adequate working conditions, and together, the individual and organization should work together to identify strategies for preventing and managing burnout (De Hert, 2020).
Christine
Lagasse, J. (n.d.). Cost of burnout-related physician turnover totals $5 billion annually. Healthcare Finance News. https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/cost-burnout-related-physician-turnover-totals-5-billion-annually
De Hert S. (2020). Burnout in Healthcare Workers: Prevalence, Impact and Preventative Strategies. Local and regional anesthesia, 13, 171–183. https://doi.org/10.2147/LRA.S240564Links to an external site.
The Cost of Burnout in Healthcare | symplr. (n.d.). https://www.symplr.com/blog/the-cost-of-burnout-in-healthcare
Post 2
The implementation of my clinical change and quality improvement initiative, which aims to enhance the safety and efficiency of healthcare systems, is a complex endeavor that combines scientific rigor, evidence-based practice, and strategic frameworks. Fundamental to advancing healthcare delivery and optimizing patient outcomes, these initiatives are frequently informed by well-established theoretical and conceptual frameworks. My clinical change project, which examines the comparative efficacy of online cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) versus in-person CBT for treating depression in adults, serves as a compelling example of such endeavors in this context. This project’s conceptual framework is a synthesis of Lewin’s Change Theory and Diffusion of Innovations Theory, which were chosen to provide an analytical prism for understanding the complex dynamics of change, adoption, and implementation. This fusion permits a nuanced examination of the transformative mechanisms inherent to CBT, whether delivered online or in-person, and simultaneously explores the complex process of integrating telehealth innovations into the mental health care landscape. Utilizing these theories, given their established applicability to psychological interventions and organizational transformation, increases the project’s capacity to generate novel insights and impact the practice domain. Such theoretical frameworks cannot be overemphasized in terms of their significance. They provide a structured framework for research endeavors, allowing for the precise formulation of research questions while contextualizing inquiries within established knowledge paradigms. Lewin’s Change Theory, with its three-part model of “unfreezing,” “changing,” and “refreezing,” is utilized skillfully to deconstruct the cognitive transformation CBT patients undergo (Burnes, 2020). This theoretical anchor facilitates a fine-grained understanding of symptom alleviation in individuals with depressive disorders by capturing the intricate journey from existing cognitive patterns to healthier behaviors. Concurrently, the Diffusion of Innovations Theory is ideally suited to the investigation of the assimilation of online CBT as a pioneering therapeutic modality. For the purpose of analyzing the integration of telehealth into mental health care paradigms, provider readiness, patient acceptance, and organizational support emerge as points of interest. The application of this research project to the overarching framework is characterized by its meticulous alignment with patient-centered care, social equity, cultural appropriateness, evidence-based practice, health promotion, and disease prevention – all essential aspects of graduate nursing competencies. The emphasis on patient-centered care is evident in the thorough evaluation of treatment modes and their effects on symptom reduction and patient well-being. The effort to establish standard guidelines emphasizes the commitment to evidence-based practice, thereby facilitating the making of informed clinical decisions. The investigation of cost-effectiveness integrates health promotion and disease prevention while simultaneously addressing social equity through the potential of telehealth services to improve accessibility. In addition, the emphasis on patient preferences and factors influencing the spread of online therapy highlights the importance of cultural sensitivity in the development of healthcare practices that are sensitive to diverse contexts. To ensure the anticipated effects of this clinical change project on the safety and efficacy of healthcare organizations, a comprehensive framework comprising both theoretical constructs and robust methodologies is required. This research navigates the complex relationship between clinical outcomes and patient experiences by combining quantitative and qualitative methods, such as standardized depression assessment instruments and interviews and surveys, respectively. In addition, the scrupulously outlined goals and objectives, in concert with the project’s theoretical architecture, steer the research in a synergistic manner toward outcomes that have tangible implications for healthcare practice. These include the evaluation of treatment modalities, the assessment of cost-effectiveness, ethical considerations, and, most importantly, the dissemination of findings to policy-making arenas.
Reference
Burnes, B. (2020). The Origins of Lewin’s Three-Step Model of Change. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 56(1), 32–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886319892685Links to an external site.
