Free Essay: Practicum Project Plan to Increase Engagement in Staff Meetings

Engagement of members within staff meetings has been identified by scholars to be an aspect that increases the quality of professional outcome. For instance, according to Kyeko (2014), professional engagement enhances the quality of organizational outcomes positively. Through honoring the factor of relational ethics, nurses within a departmental meeting can be able to engage each other positively, working for the greater benefit of registering positive patient outcomes (Salanova, Lorente, Chambel & Martinez, 2011). In another relatable study, Bargagliotti (2011) through the concept analysis of work engagement emphasizes that staff engagement decreases the mortality rate in the case of hospitals and increases profitability for other organizations collectively. The present project is driven by the fact that engagement, as a unique factor towards success, has been ignored by nursing leadership structures affiliated with the surgical department of the hospital. It is, therefore, the primary agenda of this research proposal to try and project a precise method that can be used to increase professional engagement of nurses affiliated with the surgical department during staff meetings. The given proposal will first begin by goal statement. It will then move forward to cover relevant literature on the subject matter before presenting the objectives to be achieved by the project. After that, the proposal will then provide methodologies for the achievement of each objective before moving forward to conclude with a formative and summative evaluation of listed the methods.

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Goal Statement

The immediate practicum plan intends to increase engagement of clinicians in their respective staff meetings. As one of the prevailing gaps and the acting precursor towards limited potentiality of clinicians to deliver quality outcomes, it remains to be the main goal of the current project to oversee increased interaction and participation of relevant professionals during staff meetings. The existing gap is that the available leadership has failed to provide the correct incentives for increased involvement of clinicians during departmental meetings. Therefore, to increase professional engagement for the greater outcomes of clinicians affiliated with the surgical department during staff meetings; the facility has to restructure its leadership team to enable;

Nurses in the department to be involved in the decision-making process.

Nurses to perform beyond their stipulated duties, including getting involved in other hospital affairs.

Review of Literature

Creating Worthwhile Staff Meetings is an article by Cohen (2013). This scholarly material that explores more on the relevant issue of enabling the flourishing of team meetings was retrieved from the CINAHL database using keywords staff and meetings. Within the article, Cohen (2013) explores the case of Hank, a stranded departmental leader into developing some of the useful recommendations for productive staff meetings. For leaders within various nursing departments to be successful in maximizing the output of their staff meetings, Cohen (2013) simply starts by highlighting simple maneuvers such as letting the team members do most of the talking during the meetings. Following the footsteps of Hank, most leaders usually make staff meetings their affair, thereby ignoring staff members, an occurrence that always results into less productive meetings. Hence, to make the most out of staff meetings, Cohen (2013) recommends that the gathering must remain everybodys affair and not the leader only. Besides giving staff members more airtime, Cohen (2013) goes ahead to expound more on the issues of the leaders fully engaging members in other activities. Decision making on relevant issues such as the agenda and mode of delivery can help yield productive staff meetings. Productive staff meetings are an indicator of satisfied employees who aim high regarding service delivery.

Experienced Nurses Level of Engagement is a scholarly research article by Kuykendall, Marshburn, Poston and Mears (2014). Using the keywords nurse, work, and engagement, this particular material was retrieved from the CINAHL database. The main issue presented by the four scholars is about work engagement for nurses operating within a clinical environment. According to Kuykendall et al. (2014), work engagement is defined as a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of the mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption (p.546). Based on the provisions of this scholarly material, work engagement for nurses combined with the element of experience plays a huge role in defining the level of outcome. Engaged nurses are expected to deliver up to the designated standards while the vice versa remains to be true for disengaged nursing professionals. Within their particular study, Kuykendall et al. (2014) can point out the gap created by detached professionals. As such, the study emphasizes the need for leaders to conduct surveys on the level of nurse engagement within respective hospital departments. For the disengaged nurses, Kuykendall et al. (2014) propose the need for motivation as an appropriate response mechanism by departmental leaders.

How to Complete a Successful Staff Supervision Meeting is an article by Ashurst (2013) retrieved from the CINAHL database through the use of keywords staff and meeting. Within this particular scholarly article, Arshust (2013) provides ten major elements that staff leaders need to adopt for adequate supervision. The whole process is underpinned on the aspect of leaders being able to plan ahead and perpetuating open communication. The ten simple steps that Ashurst (2013) points out include; leaders knowing their responsibilities, establishing regular communication, being prepared, providing relevant documentation, being SMART, choosing a private venue, encouraging reflection, disseminating plans for the future, and making sure that the staff is prepared. All these are aspects centered towards maximizing the engagement of all professionals during staff meetings; an element that Arshust (2013) insists maximizes the output of nurses. For instance, shading more light on the aspect of establishing regular communication, Arshust (2013) indicates that leaders have to incorporate feedback from the junior members completing the scheme of a two-way communication mechanism. Staff leaders that are not able to include the element of efficient communication usually end up holding inefficient staff meetings due to the limited participation of all members (Arshust, 2013).

How to Energize your Staff Meetings is an article by Steinwedel and Lawkoski-Jones (2014) retrieved from CINAHL database by searching keywords energize and staff meetings. Within this particular scholarly material, Steinwedel and Lawkoski-Jones (2014) illuminate and strongly agree with what other scholars have already put in place (Arshust, 2013; Kuykendall et al., 2014; Cohen, 2013). One main aspect that leaders need to highlight as an initiative of revamping their staff meetings is re-engaging gatherings (Steinwedel & Lawkoski-Jones, 2014). By re-engaging the entire audience, departmental leaders provide nurses with opportunities to nurture their leadership skills. Besides this, Steinwedel and Lawkoski-Jones (2014) also indicate that leaders need to set the bar and to get more people involved in staff meetings. A real leader can only identify the potential of junior members in staff meetings by letting them contribute to the meeting. Setting the bar as indicated by Steinwedel and Lawkoski-Jones (2014) is all about providing proper conditions that make sure everybody can participate freely without being obstructed by others. In making sure that everybody contributes, these two scholars go ahead to propose simple aspects such as the use of questions by leaders directed towards all members of the group.

By combining the scholarly contributions of steinwedel and Lawkoski-Jones (2014), Arshust (2013), Kuykendall et al. (2014), and Cohen (2013), it becomes apparent that increased engagement of staff members during departmental meetings is a key factor in fueling positive outcomes. The present project plan intends to use the same intellectual underpinnings to advocate for a leadership overhaul and restructuring of staff meetings to members affiliated with the surgical department. By being able to convince the leadership teams in the surgical department to engage nurses more during staff meetings, the project plan predicts a more positive result which will directly affect service delivery in a right way.

Project Objectives

The current practicum project plan consists of three objectives. The first objective of this project plan is that the learner will gather data to determine a mechanism for improving staff engagement in the surgical department staff meetings by the end of the practicum project. With this being the primary objective of the project plan, the learner has developed other specific project objectives that will oversee the smooth achievement of the first one. The second objective, therefore, will see the learner examine data from the 2015 NDNQI and the Avatar employee satisfaction survey to determine any gaps in engagement, communication, and or satisfaction by the end of the practicum project. The third and final objective will see the learner implement an initiative to improve the nursing engagement, specifically in the surgical department staff meetings after approval from the management team by the end of the practicum project.

Methodology

Objective 1: The learner will gather data to determine the mechanism for improving staff engagement in the surgical department staff meetings by the end of the practicum project.

In methodology 1a, the learner will review relevant literature on staff engagement and ways to increase participation in staff meetings. Ramford, Wong and Laschinger (2013) provide a perfect opportunity and a good coverage of the subject matter for the learner to review various principles of work engagement. Another subsequent study that will be used for determining the best practice on staff engagement is an article by Laschinger, Wilk, Cho and Greco (2009), which talks about empowerment, engagement, and effectiveness. It is significant to note that the review of literature will not be limited to these two sources, but rather it will be carried out thoroughly. In methodology 1b, the learner will determine documented best practice methods for engaging staff to participate in meetings. The developed initiatives will all mainly owe their deduction on the evidence reviewed in methodology 1a.

Objective 2: The learner will examine the data from the 2015 NDNQI and the Avatar employee satisfaction survey to determine any gaps in engagement, communication, and or satisfaction by the end of the practicum project.

In methodology 2a, the learner will review data from the 2015 National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) RN survey. This will be accomplished through the meta-analysis of available data to deduce relevant loopholes; thus, marking the completion of the analysis of the first subset of data. In methodology 2b, the learner will review data from the 2015 employee satisfaction Avatar to determine areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction.

Objective 3: The learner will design an initiative to improve the nursing engagement specifically in the surgical department staff meetings upon approval of the management team by the end of the practicum project.

In methodology 3a, the learner will create an initiative designed to reflect the data identified in the NDNQI and Avatar to assist staff in active engagement within su...