Running Head: PRACTICUM 1
PRACTICUM 6
Week Three Discussion
Practicum, project Goals, and Objectives
Amanda Swenty
Capstone 6600
Walden University
Academic institutions through the country struggle on a daily basis to make sure that they are preparing student nurses that are competent to function as a nurse. One point of contention that academic institutions face is where to place students for hands on clinical and how and when will the sites be approved. Throughout the world a roadblock often seen is the fact that many academic settings are looking for placements and those needs outweigh the actual sites. Bay Area Nursing Resource Center (2006) created a plan that allowed for a standardized approach for clinical placement for multiple academic institutions and sites. In that plan it is stated that “by centralizing and standardizing the clinical placement process, untapped capacity at clinical agencies will be identified and made available to schools”. The premise of this discussion is to provide an explanation of why this students feels a passion and value of creating a program that can be used in the Northeast portion of Wisconsin.
Current Situation
The current situation that Northeast Wisconsin is facing is multiple academic institutions all trying to secure placement for clinical in a limited amount of facilities. The area of Northeast Wisconsin that will be addressed in the project encompasses approximately six counties, five academic institutions, eight acute healthcare facilities, and numerous other healthcare facilities (such as clinic’s, nursing homes, schools etc.). Because of the increase of enrollment the nursing programs are growing, thus employment rates are increasing, limiting the amount of approved clinical sites in the healthcare facilities. This has become a problem that needs attention sooner rather than later.
Greater Breen Bay Health Care Alliance
Currently the academic institutions and healthcare facilities are work together through a committee known as the Great Green Bay Healthcare Alliance (GGBHCA). This team meets monthly with a mission of standardizing processes to enhance compliance, safety, and documentation. This team has recently researched the issue of a standardized approach to clinical placement. The first step was receiving information from the state of Minnesota who currently uses a standardized approach. The information seems applicable however there was a $20,000 cost associated for startup and then a $10,000 yearly fee for use of the software. This student feels that if the proper attention, collections of resources, and direction by a mentor a plan can be created that would meet the needs with no cost and managed by the GGBHCA after the plan is created.
The Plan
The plan for this project will consist of the following step:
· Gathering data- this student will work with the mentor who is currently a member of the GGBHCA. This information gathering will shed light on who the key players will be at both the academic settings and the healthcare facilities. The desire would be to meet in person with the thirteen placement coordinators that represent the healthcare facilities/ academic institutions that will be involved.
· Gather statistical data around admission numbers and current students needing placement.
· Gather data about what is current course needs (example- college A needs three med/surg placements, college B needs five med/surg and one OB, etc.)
· Research current software available for review and creation of a home grown version that will meet the needs of this situation.
· Presentation of the plan to the GGBHCA
· Schedule a meeting where all key players will be invited to create an implementation plan and handoff of product and process to the GGBHCA
Resources
Just like any other project, resourcing are important aspects upon which the success of the project is anchored. The resources that are thought to be necessary will be the technology department. Being that the faculty mentor for this project is fulltime faculty at one of the key academic settings the technology will be available. The program director will play an integral part in the creation of the software.
Evaluation
Monitoring and evaluation of the progress of the project will be assessed at the end of every task that is oriented towards attainment of the objectives and therefore the performance of the different implementation levels can be gauged against the laid down plans at the onset of the project. The need for this process is to ensure that the project does not deviate from the objectives it set out to achieve. Summative evaluation will be done at the completion of each and every quarter to validate effectiveness. The GGBHCA will tabulate all evaluations and thus have the subgroup in charge of changing any processes, adding or ending any other initiatives.
Expected Roadblocks
Factors that are seen as concerns are timeliness of requesting data by the academic institutions and then timeliness of approval or denial back to the academic institutions. The fear is that reluctance to use the tool may stem for lack of knowledge and thus an increase in denials will be seen. Education will need to occur to all players involved in clinical placement to see the value of this tool.
Linking Objectives
You need to add 2-3 specific, measurable, attainable, results focused, time focused, objectives…..
After you add the objectives do a quick conclusion that basically restates the introduction.
References:
Bay Area Nursing Resource Center (2006). Centralized Clinical Placement System. Retrieved March 17, 2016 from: bayareanrc.org/files/OperatingManual.pdf