Evaluating and Sustaining Improvement, Essay Example

The selected measurement mechanism for evaluating my quality improvement initiative involves the use of a survey that will determine the opinions that people generally have concerning breastfeeding in public. In addition, surveys will be utilized to assess the general knowledge that new mothers have of the breastfeeding process. A survey will be issued to new mothers both as a pre-assessment and post-assessment evaluation to determine whether the intervention, breast feeding education, proved effective in changing their ability to care for their newborn child in addition to the impact that these education programs had on their opinions on breastfeeding in public.

Since this project intends to assess a qualitative understanding of an improvement in breastfeeding, issuing a survey is the most relevant evaluation method (Savin-Baden et al., 2013). Participants will be asked a series of questions related to their understanding of the breastfeeding process in addition to whether or not they believe they will feel social stigmas related to breastfeeding in public. Some questions will ask participants to rate responses to questions on a scale of 1 through 5. In addition, other questions will ask participants to provide written responses. These responses will be coded to determine the meaning of the answer, and this will be used to represent like responses during the data analysis component of the project (Saladana, 2013).

To ensure that the results for this study are meaningful, a minimum of 20 participants will be needed. This will allow the results to be internally valid for my health care institution, which will enhance practice that is done at the local level. Ultimately, this research is expected to change nursing practice because it will indicate that it is necessary to provide new mothers with an enhanced understanding of breastfeeding to ensure that their children will remain healthy after being released from the institution.

The influence of leadership and improvement teams is a necessary component in sustaining improvement efforts. Ultimately, for changes in nursing practice to occur at the unit or institutional level, all members of staff need to become involved. Therefore, it is necessary for the senior leadership to motivate his or her team members to ensure that the research protocol could be properly carried out. Effective leadership could contribute to the success of a project, while ineffective leadership could lead to its failure.

One of the strategies that a leader could utilize to ensure the success of a project is transformative leadership (Tafvelin, 2013). This style of leadership allows members of the team to grow and feel that they are contributing directly to the success of a project. As a consequence, they tend to feel more motivated and are therefore willing to work harder to ensure that the project goals will be achieved. In addition, teams could work together to make major decisions, which is representative of democratic leadership (Vesternarian et al., 2012). Because team members are directly responsible for the success of the project, implementing this style of leadership will allow them to gain a greater understanding of the work that it being done and the implications for its success will be clearer. Last, members of staff could be provided with education programs that will ensure that they are capable and aware of the improvement efforts that are occurring. It would be reasonable for managers to provide these employees with assessments to determine the level of understanding that has been achieved as a consequence of this training. A combinations of these techniques could be reasonably used in different instances to ensure that success is always within reach.

References

Saladana, Johnny (2012). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Sage.

Savin-Baden M, Major C. (2013). Qualitative Research: The Essential Guide to Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.

Tafvelin S. (2013). The Transformational Leadership Process Antecedents, Mechanisms, and Outcomes in the Social Services. Retrieved from http://www.diva- portal.org/smash/get/diva2:640843/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Vesterinen S,Suhonen M, Isola A,Paasivaara L. (2012). Nurse Managers’ Leadership Styles in Finland. Nursing Research and Practice. Retrieved from http://www.hindawi.com/journals/nrp/2012/605379/