Implementing Change in Nursing Practice: Topic 2 Response

Implementing Change in Nursing Practice

Adopting an effective change management model ensures the successful transition of people and processes from the old to the new way of completing tasks. Such transitions ensure that members of an organization’s workforce understand the new processes and are not confused between the old and new ways of doing things. In a healthcare setting, failure to adopt an effective change management process could increase internal costs of operations and limit the practitioners’ capacity to attend to the patients constructively. It is important to consider various steps for effective change management in practice to avoid such risks. One of the most important steps in change management is determining how the proposed change would affect people who will utilize the new process daily. If the organization’s management fails to evaluate the old process, it would be difficult to assess the effectiveness of the new process. The organization’s management should consider evaluating and documenting the current process to minimize resistance to change and accrue benefits associated with effective workflow analysis practices.

Failure to evaluate and document the current process could precipitate resistance among members of staff. Failing to assess the old way of completing tasks would make it hard for the management to determine the specific benefits of the new process and its impacts on the workforce. As a result, the management would run the risk of trying to force change on a reluctant staff (Behzad, 2020). Eventually, job satisfaction and the level of motivation among members of staff would significantly diminish, leading to a decline in the quality of services offered by the organization. Some staff members may also consider leaving their current, which would expose the entire organization to risks associated with high employee turnover rates. Moreover, if staff members are not made aware of the flaws associated with the current process, they would meet the new process with resistance, increasing the chances of errors occurring during the implementation process.

Disregarding the importance of the workflow analysis process would also limit the management’s ability to identify areas that need improvement. Evaluating the current process would help the organization identify and respond to workflow performance issues to improve operational efficiency objectively. By conducting such a procedure, the management would identify potential areas that need improvements, such as redundant processes, negative behaviors among the workforce, and inefficient workflow management structures. As a result, the healthcare organization would accrue multiple benefits associated with effective process management, which include improved patient satisfaction, greater staff motivation, and smooth transitions to new processes (Mastrian et al., 2019, pp. 173). Conversely, failing to evaluate the current process would result in inefficient change management as the organization would continue to experience workflow issues despite incurring costs associated with change implementation. The management should, therefore, examine the current state of affairs within the organization to confirm readiness to begin and sustain the implementation of new practices.

The management could expose the organization to resistance among staff members by failing to evaluate and document the current process. The organization could experience a decline in job satisfaction and motivation among its workforce, leading to an increase in the turnover rate. The management would also be incapable of identifying potential areas that need improvement. As a result, the organization would continue to experience workflow issues despite incurring costs associated with change implementation.

References

Mastrian, K., McGonigle, D., & Hammel-Jones, D. (2019). Informatics for health professionals. Jones & Bartlett Learning. pp. 173-174.

Behzad, T. (2020). Employee Cynicism and Organizational Change. Market Forces, 15(1). http://www.pafkiet.edu.pk/marketforces/index.php/marketforces/article/view/406