Nursing Utilization Project, Research Paper Example

Implementation Plan

Implementation of eMAR in the critical care unit of the hospital will take place over a two month time period. This will be strictly on a research basis and the results will be used to assess whether or not the hospital will benefit from an institutional implementation as well as how cost effective this could be over time. Four eMAR carts will be purchased for this evaluation on a lease option and two specialists will be included (one each for day and night shifts) to assist with proper training of personnel. Each nurse will be instructed in the mechanics of the machine, all of the basic functions, the proper way to input patient data, the correct sequence in which to chart information, and how to relay messages to and from the pharmacy in order to ensure orders are being delivered accurately. In addition to this, the routine manual method will also be used concurrently as it has been in the past so that no patient’s safety will be compromised.

The plan will be observed on a daily basis at various intervals throughout the day by researchers whom will not make themselves known to the nurses or patients. This will ensure no bias in the study and increase the validity of results. All observation results will be recorded on a chart and notes will be made, as needed, pertaining to events during the observations. The eMAR method will be evaluated for the two-month period and afterward things will return to their previous state.

Overall, this is a feasible plan for qualitative research purposes because the original method of patient charting and medication administration will not be interrupted; therefore, no harm will be brought to any patient due to the study. Only one unit will be included in the study (because only the critical care unit will be assessed), so there will only be 15 employees involved in the training and this will not cause a problem in the budget for the hospital because of the work schedule maintained in the unit. The survey questions will be distributed after the entire process is complete.

Evaluation Plan

As previously stated, 15 nurses in the critical care unit will be surveyed as part of this project in addition to anonymous random observations concurrently collected. The surveys will be passed out after the two-month period of testing the eMAR procedure and the nurses will be asked to complete the surveys and place in a box in the break room. The surveys will be qualitative in nature due to the fact they are open-ended questions and, along with the observations, will use the grounded theory to assess whether the implementation of eMAR might be a good choice for this hospital based on the assessment of the critical care unit (ICU).

The survey will consist of six questions pertaining to the nurses’ usage of the eMAR devices and their comments regarding adaptation to the machines and attitudes thereof. A copy of the questions is attached to the end of this document. The hope is, as explained in the literature review, that the implementation of eMAR will benefit the nurses after the initial learning curve has been mastered. The machines will be more reliable as far as counterchecks for medication interactions and issuing ‘red flag’ warning if there might be a problem; thus, the eMAR is expected to be beneficial to the nursing staff as well as cost effective for the hospital.

The information collected from critical care nursing staff participants will be used as a baseline to assess what small changes, if any, will be needed for the machines to be a valuable asset to the hospital. If the survey is successful, any necessary small adaptations may be made to the machines in order to personalize them specifically according to the hospital’s specifications. This will help other units with implementation if the project moves forward.

References

Shedenhelm, H., Hernke, D., Gusa, D., & Twedell, D. (2008, July). EMR implementation

and ongoing education. Nursing Management, 39(7), 51-53.

Murphy, J. (2011). Leading from the Future: Leadership Makes a Difference during Electronic Health Record Implementation. Frontiers of Health Services Management, 28(1), 25-30.

Trossman, S. (2006, Sept/Oct). Preventing errors: IOM report offers strategies throughout the medication process. The American Nurse, (38)5, 14-15.

Whitham, J., & Davis, S. (2007, May/June). Effectively integrating your EMR initiative. The Physician Executive , 56-59.