Clinical Case Scenario

Assessment task

Clinical Case Scenario

Weighting

40%

Word Count

Total 2000 words or equivalent +/- 10%

Relevance

Good leadership is essential to patient-centred care and staff satisfaction in the healthcare environment. All members of the healthcare team can be leaders and evidence-based theory should inform your leadership practice.

You dont have to wait until youre promoted to a senior position to prove youre willing and able to take on more responsibility. You can start developing and demonstrating your nurse leadership now to prepare for your career. You will not only gain respect, but also valuable experience tackling more important responsibilities that youll encounter in an advancing nursing career.

Happy Clinic, located in a large rural town in Western Australia, is a private mental health hospital with 50 beds. It runs a 3-week program where patients attend psychotherapy groups, have private psychology sessions and also a weekly review with a psychiatrist. The clinic is staffed by registered and enrolled nurses, a psychologist, a social worker, two psychiatrists, and kitchen, cleaning and administrative staff. A Director of Nursing, a Deputy Director of nursing and a business manager oversee the operations of the facility.

The clinic is about to undergo accreditation, and the Director of Nursing (DON) was asked to improve the documentation in the facility. The facility uses paper notes only, and the DON found that the nursing notes were very simplistic and contained minimal information. Some nurses had even written the same note daily. The DON also found that there were several different folders used: one for care plans, one for medication, one for medical notes, one for physical observations, one for nursing notes, and one for allied health. This lack of integration was identified as creating a risk to safety and quality. Clinicians were not looking at each others notes, meaning that care is not holistic, and changes in mental health could go undetected. Therefore, clinicians rely on verbal handovers to understand the clients health status and progress.

The Director of Nursing asked you to lead the change to implement an integrated record.

Instruction

You are to record your response to the Director of Nursing's request in a structured proposal. Your proposal must firstly explain clinical risk that is posed by this situation. Then, explain the steps you will take to lead the change to a new record system. In your proposal you are expected to demonstrate knowledge of leadership practice.

Structure

1. Introduction (150 words)

2. Explanation of clinical risks (300 words)

3. Strategies to implement the change (include 4-5 leadership strategies). Each strategy is to include a heading and must be explained and justified in relation to the scenario and supported by the literature. (1400 words)

4. Conclusion (150 words)

5. References

Notes:

-Word allocations for each section are approximate. If the length is outside +/- 10 there will be a reduction of 10% of the total mark available for the assessment.

-A video presentation will be made available to support your completion of this task.

- Refer to the marking rubric attached

-The paper must be developed in academic paragraphs, with no bullet points.

-Your focus is on leadership strategies to instigate the change. It is not to focus too much on the change itself.

-Font style Calibri, Arial or Times New Roman in size 12 minimum