Project Management Tool and Plan

Project Management Tool and Plan

 

Project Management Tool and Plan

Practice change is highly engaging and requires a systematic approach to achieve the desired outcomes. A project management approach can help nurses and nurse leaders achieve concrete, clear deliverables within detailed timelines. To achieve this, change proponents should embrace the project management process concepts relevant to nursing, such as assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation (Sipes, 2020). Various project management tools can be used depending on the project’s phase and objectives. The purpose of this paper is to explore the best project management tool to use to lead the project management plan for the practice problem.

Project Management Tool: Project Timeline Gantt Chart

 

Project Title

Addressing Nursing Shortage

March

April

May

Task No.

Name

Assigned to

Progress

Start

End

Wk 1

Wk 2

Wk 3

Wk 4

Wk 5

Wk 6

Wk 7

Wk 8

Wk 9

Wk 10

Wk 11

1

Identifying a clinical problem

Project leader

100%

3-Mar

17-Mar

2

Identifying evidence-based practices (consulting and appraising research)

Project leader

100%

18-Mar

31-Mar

3

Presenting the proposed strategies to stakeholders for approval.

Project leader

100%

1-Apr

14-Apr

4

Adopting the proposed strategies as organizational policy.

The management

50%

15-Apr

5-May

5

Monitoring and evaluation

Project leader, management

50%

6-May

12-May

 

The change project is an eleven-week exercise involving identifying a practice problem, evidence search, presentation, adoption, and evaluation. Like many other projects, change leaders should have detailed project timelines outlining when an activity should start and end. Gantt charts help project teams to plan the scheduled work around definite deadlines (Davidson, 2019). They are also essential tools that project leaders can use to allocate resources properly.

Strategic Project Management Plan

The change project involves identifying, presenting, and adopting evidence-based strategies to address the nursing shortage in the practicum site. As Davidson (2019) posited, project planning is critical in project management and illustrates how to complete a project in stages and with designated roles and resources. The current project involves five main steps: goal setting, analysis, forming the strategy, implementing the strategy, and evaluation.

Goal setting: the primary goal for goal setting is to elaborate the project’s vision. The project leader and stakeholders should understand the intended objectives. The chances to earn stakeholder support also increases when the goals are clear and beneficial to the organization.

Intended Objectives

1. Increase nurse retention by 50% by supplementing nurse motivation with resilience strategies in six months.
2. Reduce nurse turnover by 50% and reduce recruitment and placement costs proportionately by implementing nurse resilience programs in six months.

Analysis and strategy formulation: the main task during analysis is collecting relevant information to achieve the project’s vision. Such information is sourced from evidence-based resources. For this project, the evidence primarily focuses on the effectiveness of resilience-building in addressing the nursing shortage. Suitable resources include articles by Wei et al. (2019) and Kelly et al. (2021) that recommend resilience-building as an effective strategy for preventing burnout and preventing nurse turnover, respectively. Strategy formation involves reviewing the information obtained and determining the most effective intervention/strategy to implement.

Strategy implementation and evaluation: as illustrated in the Gantt chart, the final stages of the project involve adopting the proposed strategies as organizational policy and monitoring and evaluation. Successfully adopting and implementing resilience programs is expected to prevent turnover, hence addressing the nursing shortage. Monitoring and evaluation are necessary for assessing any unaddressed areas to guide further practice changes.

Conclusion

Practice change projects apply many project management concepts and tools. Gantt charts are among the widely applied tools for project scheduling. As described in this paper, a Gantt chart shows the relationship between project activities and time. It helps project leaders to work within the outlined deadlines and use resources appropriately.

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References

Davidson, J. (2019). Everyday project management. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Kelly, L. A., Gee, P. M., & Butler, R. J. (2021). Impact of nurse burnout on organizational and position turnover. Nursing Outlook, 69(1), 96-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2020.06.008

Sipes, C. (2020). Project management for the advanced practice nurse (2nd ed.). Springer Publishing Company.

Wei, H., Roberts, P., Strickler, J., & Corbett, R. W. (2019). Nurse leaders’ strategies to foster nurse resilience. Journal of Nursing Management, 27(4), 681-687. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12736

 

Week 6: Evidence Critique and Appraisal

In Module 2, you began to explore sources and gather evidence related to your practice problem. The evidence you have gathered will need to be critiqued and appraised to develop recommendations that will support a proposed practice change.

This week will serve as your opportunity to begin this process of evidence critique and appraisal. You will also review the work completed thus far related to your practice problem in developing recommendations for a proposed practice change, which you will develop throughout the remainder of the course. This work will begin in Week 6 and culminate in recommendations offered in Week 11.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Critique and appraise evidence related to practice problems*

*Assigned in Week 6 of Module 3 and submitted in Week 11 of Module 5.

Learning Resources

Required Readings (click to expand/reduce)

 

Dang, D., Dearholt, S. L., Bissett, K., Ascenzi, J., & Whalen, M. (2021). Johns Hopkins evidence-based practice for nurses and healthcare professionals: Model and guidelines (4th ed.). Sigma Theta Tau International.

• Chapter 6, “Evidence Appraisal: Research” (pp. 129–162)
• Chapter 7, “Evidence Appraisal: Nonresearch” (pp. 163–188)

Hickey, J. V., & Giardino, E. R. (Eds.). (2021). Evaluation of quality in health care for DNPs (3rd ed.). Springer Publishing.

• Chapter 10, “Evaluation of Patient Care Based on Standards, Guidelines, and Protocols” (pp. 247–266)

Melnyk, B. M. (2016). Level of evidence plus critical appraisal of its quality yields confidence to implement evidence-based practice changes. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 13(5), 337–339. https://doi.org/10.1111/wvn.12181

 

Practicum Resources (click to expand/reduce)

 

Document: Practicum Time Log and Journal (Microsoft Word document) 

Walden University Practicum Guidelines

https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/DNP/Manuals

Meditrek. (n.d.). https://edu.meditrek.com/Default.html 

• Note: Use this website to log in to Meditrek to report your clinical hours and patient encounters.

 

Optional Resources (click to expand/reduce)

 

Benson, L. A. (Ed.). (2021). The DNP professional: Translating value from classroom to practice. Slack Incorporated.

Sipes, C. (2020). Project management for the advanced practice nurse (2nd ed.). Springer Publishing Company.

White, K. M., Dudley-Brown, S., & Terhaar, M. F. (Eds.). (2021). Translation of evidence into nursing and healthcare (3rd ed.). Springer Publishing Company.

What’s Coming Up in Weeks 7 and 8?

Photo Credit: [BrianAJackson]/[iStock / Getty Images Plus]/Getty Images

In the next 2 weeks, you will continue your work on your practice problem by selecting and creating a project management plan. You will also explore the best tools and strategies that you might use to implement your change management plan.

Next Week

To go to the next week:

Weeks 7-8