NURS FPX 4010 Assessment 3 Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal

Name

Capella university

NURS FPX 4010 Leading in Intrprof Practice

Prof. Name

Date

Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal

 This assessment entails the development of an interdisciplinary plan proposal to address the prevailing issue of medication errors at Tampa General Hospital. This organization has been experiencing significant medication errors impacting patient safety and the healthcare organization’s reputation. The desired outcome of this plan will be enhanced patient safety, reduced length of stay at the hospital, and improved patient satisfaction and job satisfaction by minimizing medication errors.

Objective

To reduce the number of medication errors and patient harm by integrating Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in Tampa General Hospital. The plan aims to enhance patient safety, minimize adverse events, and foster a culture of continuous improvement, aligning the organizational outcomes of patient satisfaction.

Questions and Predictions

 

• How can the implementation of EHRs be tailored to address medication errors specifically?

 

Implementation of EHRs can contribute to a targeted approach for reducing medication errors by customizing the EHR features such as medication reconciliation tools, automated alerts or notifications for potential drug interactions, and dose-checking features (Gildon et al., 2019). 

 

• What training methods and resources will be provided to healthcare professionals to ensure effective utilization of the EHR system for medication safety?

 

The successful implementation of the EHR system within the organization will require adequate training programs, including hands-on workshops, educational brochures, online modules, and ongoing support from nurse informaticists. This will enhance their proficiency in EHR systems to prevent medication errors (DiAngi et al., 2019). 

 

• How can EHR facilitate communication and collaboration among healthcare professionals involved in medication management?

 

The EHR integration within the system promotes seamless communication by adding customized features of secure messaging, real-time updates on medication changes, and a centralized platform for communication (Vos et al., 2020). 

The literature has provided several methods to determine the success of the interdisciplinary plan for integrating EHR. For instance, comparing an organization’s performance or dashboard metrics of medication errors with national benchmarks can help evaluate the efficacy of using EHRs to reduce medication errors (Son et al., 2020). Similarly, utilizing the established outcome measures such as mortality rates, rate of adverse events, patient satisfaction, and average length of stay at hospital scores can assess the impact of interdisciplinary teams (Lake et al., 2019).

Change Theories and Leadership Strategies

Kotter’s 8-step Change Model (KCM) and transformation leadership can result in effective collaboration and increased buy-in for the plan. Sharing data and case studies highlighting the impact of medical errors on patient outcomes will trigger urgency among healthcare professionals to reduce these errors with enhanced collaboration and communication. (Gottwald & Lansdown, 2021). It will also help identify the key influences and leaders and foster the guiding coalition to ensure broad support. The KCM will create cross-functional teams to work on different aspects of the project plan to minimize medication errors and support safe medication management (Rampersad et al., 2023).

Similarly, transformational leadership will inspire and motivate all interdisciplinary team members by articulating a shared vision of improving patient health outcomes and safety (Brown-Deveaux et al., 2021). It will leverage their ability to inspire and empower others and actively engage in its implementation by encouraging others. These strategies also address individual concerns and foster a culture of open communication about medication safety within the hospital. Ultimately, they help remove barriers to change and ensure a smoother implementation (Kim et al., 2019).

The transformational leaders in three Finnish hospitals created a sense of urgency among all team members to provide patient-centered care and build a guiding coalition for safe medication management. The leaders then generated a pilot program after EHR integration and showcased improvements in patient experience scores (Lappalainen et al., 2019). 

Team Collaboration Strategy

To effectively integrate and implement the EHRs within the organization, interdisciplinary team collaboration will be paramount. The information technologist and nurse informaticist will be responsible for vendor selection and integration of the EHR system within the hospital. The hospital administrator will be responsible for arranging adequate training sessions for other members and ensuring everyone is proficient in the use (Robertson et al., 2022).

Physicians, pharmacists, and nurses will be active users of this technology in safely managing medication in all phases, from prescribing to administration. The specific collaboration approach necessary to achieve efficient working and the objective of this plan include joint training programs and regular collaborative meetings. The training program will focus on patient safety and reducing medication errors by providing education on using EHR effectively (Wilbanks & Aroke, 2020).

Moreover, it will promote open communication to prevent misunderstandings regarding patient medication. This collaboration approach is undoubtedly relevant to the team’s need for education on using EHR and how to conduct open communication with team members on medication safety. Healthcare professionals require strategies to learn about clear and transparent communication to deliver medication to patients safely and minimize medication error (Reddy & Gupta, 2020).

Interdisciplinary collaboration will drive success in the organization by providing coordinated care in medication management in the prescription, dispensing, and administration phases. This will reduce the likelihood of medication errors as all healthcare professionals utilize communication features on EHRs, enhancing patient safety (Runtu et al., 2019). This collaboration strategy was implemented in an inpatient eating disorder unit to prevent medication errors (Dukart, 2023).

Required Organizational Resources  

The successful implementation of the proposed plan will require human and material resources. The staffing needs for EHR integration and implementation include roles and responsibilities of the project manager who oversees the entire integration of EHR, nurse informaticists for collaborating with IT specialists in customizing EHR, and assisting in training healthcare professionals in its efficient use.

The quality assurance team will be required to monitor the effectiveness of EHR in reducing medication errors. Furthermore, administrators in the healthcare system will be required to disseminate policies on safe and secure sharing of patients’ health data (Rogers et al., 2022). The organization will also require hardware supplies such as computers, tablets, and other devices to support EHR systems.

Additionally, internet connections with robust bandwidth will be essential for the seamless working of EHR. The software necessary for EHR integration will also be needed, and supplies include educational materials to ensure adequate training on the effective use of EHR. The costs for these supplies and equipment will vary depending on the type and quality of resources needed. Access to patients and departments will be extended for free as it is the right of every patient to acquire safe care treatment. The financial budget required to integrate and implement EHR successfully in clinical trial research was estimated to be $5,026,000 (Mc Cord et al., 2019). 

Conclusion

This assessment created an interdisciplinary proposal to integrate EHR in Tampa General Hospital. The goals and objectives were to reduce medication errors and enhance patient safety. Kotter’s change model and transformational leadership are helpful tools to enhance the buy-in of interdisciplinary members. Moreover, training and open communication collaboration strategies are essential for effectively applying the proposal. Lastly, organizational resources that must be obtained to implement the strategy are identified.

References

Brown-Deveaux, D., Kaplan, S., Gabbe, L., & Mansfield, L. (2021). Transformational leadership meets innovative strategy: How nurse leaders and clinical nurses redesigned bedside handover to improve nursing practice. Nurse Leader, 20(3). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2021.10.010 

DiAngi, Y. T., Stevens, L. A., Halpern – Felsher, B., Pageler, N. M., & Lee, T. C. (2019). Electronic Health Record (EHR) training program identifies a new tool to quantify the EHR time burden and improves providers’ perceived control over their workload in the EHR. JAMIA Open, 2(2), 222–230. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamiaopen/ooz003 

Dukart, S. (2023). Reducing medication errors on an inpatient eating disorder unit. Cdr.creighton.edu. https://cdr.creighton.edu/handle/10504/140295 

Gildon, B., Condren, M., & Hughes, C. (2019). Impact of electronic health record systems on prescribing errors in pediatric clinics. Healthcare, 7(2), 57. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare7020057 

Gottwald, M., & Lansdown, G. (2021). Clinical governance: Improving the quality of healthcare for patients and service users. In Google Books. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=s85CEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA84&dq=kotter%27s+8+step+model+in+medication+error+reduction+and+enhancing+buy-in+&ots=3mRckHjE__&sig=lVnmavwzchS-rwfT-X4yidfnMR0

NURS FPX 4010 Assessment 3 Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal

Kim, M. S., Seok, J. H., & Kim, B. M. (2019). Mediating role of the perceived benefits of using a medication safety system in the relationship between transformational leadership and the medication-error management climate. Journal of Research in Nursing, 25(1), 174498711882462. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744987118824621 

Lake, E. T., Sanders, J., Duan, R., Riman, K. A., Schoenauer, K. M., & Chen, Y. (2019). A meta-analysis of the associations between the nurse work environment in hospitals and 4 sets of outcomes. Medical Care, 57(5), 353–361. https://doi.org/10.1097/mlr.0000000000001109 

Lappalainen, M., Härkänen, M., & Kvist, T. (2019). The relationship between nurse manager’s transformational leadership style and medication safety. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 34(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/scs.12737 

Mc Cord, K. A., Ewald, H., Ladanie, A., Briel, M., Speich, B., Bucher, H. C., & Hemkens, L. G. (2019). Current use and costs of electronic health records for clinical trial research: A descriptive study. CMAJ Open, 7(1), E23–E32. https://doi.org/10.9778/cmajo.20180096 

Rampersad, S., Rampersad, S. E., & Katz, C. B. (2023). Patient safety and quality improvement in anesthesiology and perioperative medicine. Cambridge University Press. https://books.google.com.pk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=tp6tEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA123&dq=kotter+8+step+change+model+in+reducing+medication+errors&ots=XeGmgJp97T&sig=k6aXsXcF2nk6ujmLjDEmTjkftLg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false 

NURS FPX 4010 Assessment 3 Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal

Reddy, Bv., & Gupta, A. (2020). Importance of effective communication during COVID-19 infodemic. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 9(8). NCBI. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_719_20 

Robertson, S. T., Rosbergen, I. C. M., Burton-Jones, A., Grimley, R. S., & Brauer, S. G. (2022). The effect of the electronic health record on interprofessional practice: A systematic review. Applied Clinical Informatics, 13(03), 541–559. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0042-1748855 

Rogers, C. K., Parulekar, M., Malik, F., & Torres, C. A. (2022). A local perspective into electronic health record design, integration, and implementation of screening and referral for social determinants of health. Perspectives in Health Information Management, 19(Spring), 1g.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9123531/ 

Runtu, T. M., Novieastari, E., & Handayani, H. (2019). How does organizational culture influence care coordination in hospitals? A systematic review. Enfermería Clínica, 29(2). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enfcli.2019.04.119 

Son, T. T., Phong, L. B., & Loan, B. T. T. (2020). Transformational leadership and knowledge sharing: Determinants of firm’s operational and financial performance. SAGE Open, 10(2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020927426 

Vos, J. F. J., Boonstra, A., Kooistra, A., Seelen, M., & van Offenbeek, M. (2020). The influence of electronic health record use on collaboration among medical specialties. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1), 676. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05542-6 

Wilbanks, B. A., & Aroke, E. N. (2020). Using clinical simulations to train healthcare professionals to use electronic health records. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 38(11). https://doi.org/10.1097/cin.0000000000000631