Benchmark – Evidence-Based Practice Proposal Final Paper

Benchmark – Evidence-Based Practice Proposal Final Paper

Sample Answer for Benchmark – Evidence-Based Practice Proposal Final Paper Included After Question

Assessment Description

For this assignment, you will synthesize the independent evidence-based practice project proposal assignments from NUR-550 and NUR-590 into a 4,500-5,000-word professional paper.

Final Paper

The final paper should:

1. Incorporate all necessary revisions and corrections suggested by your instructors.
2. Synthesize the different elements of the overall project into one paper. The synthesis should reflect the main concepts for each section, connect ideas or overreaching concepts, and be rewritten to include the critical aspects (do not copy and paste the assignments).
3. Contain supporting research for the evidence-based practice project proposal.

Main Body of the Paper

The main body of your paper should include the following sections:

1. Problem Statement
2. Organizational Culture and Readiness
3. Literature Review
4. Change Model, or Framework
5. Implementation Plan
6. Evaluation Plan

Appendices

The appendices at the end of your paper should include the following:

1. All final changes or revisions for the drafts that will be included in the appendices of your paper.
2. Complete the “APA Writing Checklist” to ensure that your paper adheres to APA style and formatting criteria and general guidelines for academic writing. Include the completed checklist as the final appendix at the end of your paper. In each preceding course you have been directed to the Student Success Center for assistance with APA style, and have submitted the APA Writing Checklist to help illustrate your adherence to APA style. This final paper should demonstrate a clear ability to communicate your project in a professional and accurately formatted paper using APA style.

General Requirements

You are required to cite 10-12 peer-reviewed sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.

Benchmark Information

This benchmark assignment assesses the following programmatic competencies:

MBA-MSN; MSN-Nursing Education; MSN Acute Care Nurse Practitioner-Adult-Gerontology; MSN Family Nurse Practitioner; MSN-Health Informatics; MSN-Health Care Quality and Patient Safety; MSN-Leadership in Health Care Systems; MSN-Public Health Nursing

1.1: Translate research and knowledge gained from practice, while adhering to ethical research standards, to improve patient outcomes and clinical practice.

5.1: Design ethically sound, evidence-based solutions to complex health care issues related to individuals, populations, and systems of care.

A Sample Answer For the Assignment: Benchmark – Evidence-Based Practice Proposal Final Paper

Title: Benchmark – Evidence-Based Practice Proposal Final Paper

Abstract

Today, nursing professionals experience extraordinary stressors in their clinical practice. The bulk of these stressors have existed in the nursing practice for long such as death of patients, emotional suffering, coping with pain, supporting patients’ families, working for long hours, and caring for dying patients. However, in the present health care system, there are additional stressors in among nursing practitioners emanating from various factors such as acute shortage of nursing workforce, financial problems, intricacy in patients, and evolving technologies. Often nurses are needed to deal with challenging situations that need timely, accurate decisions that directly impact patient lives.

However, the stress negatively impacts top cognitive functions, particularly memory and attention, which worsens the already stressed nurses. In turn, the intricate, highly stressful, and technologically advanced health care system hinders the ability of nurses to be entirely present at the moment, especially when providing care to patents. The inability to present at the moment implies lack of attention or mindlessness, which is dangerous because it creates an environment where nurses can make decision without thoughtful, conscious involvement in the task at hand. Moreover, drift in attention is likely to lead to severe consequences such as failure to identify life-threatening signs and symptoms, medication errors, and other critical safety concerns in patients. Moreover, stress inherent in nurses can lead to lower job satisfaction, depression, disruption in personal relationships, and psychological stress, which can lead to a risk of patient harm. Therefore, this EBP project sought to advance stress among nurses by proposing the implementation of training on mindfulness mediation among nurse to improve overall attention, empathy, and presence of nurses with patients and their families. Prior to the commencement of the project, the readiness to adopt the project was determined using the Norwegian version of the Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale (EBPAS). The outcome demonstrated that the organization was willing to accept the project. In addition, the Trans-Theoretical Model of behavior change was adopted to foster change adoption among nurses. The implementation plan was formulated and duration of six months set to conduct the follow up and establish the outcomes.

Section A: Organizational Culture and Readiness Assessment

Evidence-based practices (EBP) are increasingly adopted by the health care organizations to help in maximizing patient outcomes and ensure provision of patient-oriented, quality care. Essentially, a meaningful adoption of EBP can be realized when the health care organization is ready and able to recognize the limitations and facilitators that may influence the process of EBP implementation (Schaefer & Welton, 2018).Therefore, to foster the implementation of the current EBP project at the VA healthcare system, the Norwegian version of the Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale (EBPAS) will be used as a tool to assess the organizational readiness for EBP (Egeland et al., 2016). The assessment revealed that VA healthcare system was ready for new EBP implementation.

Barriers and Facilitators

The major project barriers included lack of commitment to EBP adoption by the health care staff. Moreover, time limitation impeded the implementation of the project. This is due to overwhelming workload, which cannot allow the staff to review the emerging evidence. As a result, there was inadequate experience in EBP application. Conversely, the facilitators of the project included availability of existing providers who were ready to promote the EBP. Moreover, the project enjoyed management support.

High Scores and Low Scores

Concerning the high scores, the EBPAS assessment tool comprises of 19 categories and the VA healthcare system showed exemplary performance in 12 categories. Among the best scored categories included management support and the willingness by the health care providers to adopt EBP (Egeland et al., 2016). Contrarily, low scores were demonstrated in six categories, with major one being inadequacy of leading professionals in EBP implementation such as librarians to direct nurses and other providers on EBP implementation.

Integration of Clinical Inquiry

To optimize application of EBP, healthcare providers in VA health care system will be provided with training on EBP to encourage them and increase their confidence. The training will be crucial in identifying and working on areas that need improvement. Moreover, a study will be performed on the areas that need improvement to identify potential solutions to improve in them. Accordingly, the organization will formulate a policy to act as a blueprint to the project implementation and help in executing the proposed solutions.

Section B: Proposal/Problem Statement and Literature Review

Refining PICOT into Problem Statement

This project delved into the training on mindfulness meditation in nursing. Currently, the health care environment is complex, technologically laden, and highly stressful, which interferes with the ability of nurses to fully discharge their duties. This intricate nature of nursing practice and the adverse working conditions leads to risk of stress and burnout among nurses. In particular, the stress in nurses is attributed to many factors such as poor shift rotation, heavy workload, failing to reward or acknowledge nurses, intricate interpersonal relationships, and continuous need of knowledge. Consequently, the complex, technologically laden, and highly stressful environment reduces the ability of nurses to fully operate as required, especially during patient interactions. As a result, nurses lose attention (mindlessness) in provision of patient care, which leads to an environment where a nurse can make clinical decision without a thoughtful, conscious determination of the situation at hand (Sankoet al., 2016). As such, this EBP project sought to advance cultivation of mindfulness mediation among nurse professionals. Mindfulness mediation is believed to have capability to enhance nurses’ empathy, overall attention, and presence with patients and families. Since this paper sought to synthesize the research on mindfulness mediation into problem statement and literature review and create a refined PICOT statement. The refined PICOT statement would be:

In nurses (P), does training on Mindfulness meditation (I), compared to no intervention (C), reduce stress levels (O) within six months (T)?

Several studies have been conducted to support the position of the identified PICOT statement. For instance, Janssen et al. (2018) conducted an exploratory study that sought to get detailed perceptive of the impact of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) on the employees’ mental health. The study incorporated systematic review of databases such as CINAHL, PubMed, and PsycINFO to identify articles about the influence of MBSR and MBCT on various facets of mental health. The findings demonstrated that MBSR results in minimized stress, anxiety, occupational stress, depression, and psychological distress. The findings also revealed positive changes in employees who implemented mindfulness, personal achievement, quality sleep, relaxation, and self-care. However, the limitation of the study is the use of different methodological quality study levels.

Kriakous et al. (2020) sought to inform the current evidence-based practice and enhance knowledge on the value of MBSR on enhancing the psychological functioning of health care professionals. The study used systematic review to investigate controlled clinical trials, randomized controlled trials, pre-post designs, and qualitative studies with follow-up that lasted for 12 months. The major finding in this study is that MBSR significantly reduces the experiences of depression, stress, and anxiety among the health care professionals and also increases their levels of self-compassion and mindfulness. However, the study also revealed that MBSR cannot effectively minimize burnout or enhance resilience. There were various limitations in this study such as the use of small sample size, poor systematic literature review, non-quality articles, and self-selected samples.

The other was study conducted by Lin et al. (2019) to establish the impact of a customized MBSR program on the level of stress, affect, and the resilience among nurses working in general hospitals in mainland China. The study utilized randomized controlled trial by randomly assigning 110 nurses into intervention and control groups. The results indicated that intervention group showed lower levels of stress, and improved positive affect, high levels of resilience. The limitations of the study include utilization of small sample size, which can result in challenges in validity of the study. The convenient sampling method used in identifying hospitals can also limit the representation of sample population.

Penque (2019) also conducted a study to evaluate the influence of MBSR on factors associated with nursing practice such as work satisfaction, burnout, empathy, self-care, serenity, incidental overtime, and mindfulness. The study involved the use of mixed methods including quasi-experimental, longitudinal, pre-test and post-test, and correlational methods. The study involved 61 RNs working at a 619-bed tertiary health care setting based in the upper mid-western US. The key outcome in this study is that MBSR lowers burnout and improves specific psychological factors such as serenity, self-compassion, and mindfulness among nurses. The limitation of the study included lack of comparison group and limitation of sample population in one geographical area, which limits generalizability.

Van der Riet et al. (2018) sought to critically evaluate the literature on the value of mindfulness mediation programs on nurses and nursing students. Various databases were used to review literature including SCOPUS, EMCORE, CINAHAL, ERIC, EMBASE, and PsycINFO. The findings revealed that mindfulness mediation have positive impact on nurses and nursing students by improving anxiety, welfare, empathy, depression, burnout, and stress. However, the limitation included review of studies that used small sample size, thus, compromised generalizability and representativeness of the results.

Section C: Solution Description

The Proposed Solution

The proposed solution for this project was training on mindfulness meditation in nursing. The technologically advanced, intricate, and stressful nature of health care has greatly compromised the ability of nurses to diligently discharge their duties due to risks of burnout and stress. Stress and burnout in nurses are contributed by various factors such as overwhelming work burden, complex interpersonal relationships, poor shift rotation, evolving nature of nursing practice that need continuous education to stay abreast with current practices, and failure to reward or acknowledge the efforts by nurses. In turn, the ability of nurses to diligently provide care during patient interactions is significantly compromised as a result of these stress-related factors (Kriakous et al., 2020). As a result, nurses tend to portray mindlessness by losing attention to patient care provision leading to various risks such as medical errors and failure to make informed and conscious nursing decision. Therefore, this project advanced the adoption of mindfulness mediation among nursing workforce to assist in enhancing the general attention, presence, and empathy of nurses with patients and the patients’ families.

This proposed solution is consistent with earlier studies done on the topic. New Jersey State Nurses Association (2021) found that mindful mediation is a big way of engaging in peaceful balance and self-care among nurses and it is associated with improved problem-solving and planned action since it strengthens brain region responsible for attention. Mindful mediation also enhances coping skills, reduces burnout, reduces stress, improves self-understanding, enhances compassionate care, improves relationships with colleagues, and increases relaxation. Zeller et al. (2021) affirms that comparison of mindfulness and control groups after mindful training indicates difference in clinical performance with mindfulness indicating high performance and improved listening skills. Kriakous et al. (2020) also found that Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) greatly minimized the incidences of stress, depression, and anxiety among clinicians and improved their self-compassion and mindfulness levels. Lin et al.  (2019) also affirmed that MBSR lowered stress, enhances positive affect, and increased levels of resilience.

Essentially, the proposed solution of mindfulness meditation in nursing is practical in the VA Healthcare System since it strives to introduce solutions that strive to improve attention, empathy, resilience, and stress among nurses while providing care. Although the project may require substantial financial resources to be implemented, it can still be considered cost effective to health care system because of benefits associated with such as reduction in medical errors and the associated effects and as cost of damages for medical malpractices and improving care delivery and patient outcomes. Moreover, the organization tends to set supplementary budgets to cater for emerging issues such as the implementation of quality improvement initiatives such as the current project. Therefore, the organization has the capacity to implement the project.

Organizational Culture

It is critical for the proposed solution to be in line with the organizational culture (Ariza Aguilera, 2018). One of the outstanding organizational cultures of VA Healthcare System is supporting of change initiatives and innovations. As such, the organization is likely to support this change initiative. Moreover, the proposed imitative seeks to facilitate EBP in implementation of mindfulness mediation, thus, consistent with organizational culture of using EBP interventions.

Expected Outcomes

The anticipated outcomes of the proposed intervention include assisting nurses to enhance their capability to manage clinical stress and improve their health, overall attention, empathy, work satisfaction, and enhance presence with patients and patients’ families. Other anticipated outcomes include improved serenity, mental health, and reduction in incidental overtime and burnout.

Method to Achieve Outcomes

Training on mindfulness mediation will be conducted among all nurses in the organization. Nurse educators will be asked to act as the agents to promote the proposed intervention among nurses. Nurse educators will also be required to conduct follow-ups to establish whether or not the nurses adhere to intervention. Potential barriers include different literacy levels among nurses, resistance to change, and abandoning of the project by the nurses. However, these barriers can be mitigated through active involvement of nurses in the project, fostering free communication, and creating awareness. The fundamental assumption in this project is to achieve positive outcomes.

Outcome Impact

The proposed solution will impact the relationship between nurses in the organization by ensuring collaboration with relevant stakeholders such as the management to effect the proposed solution. The intervention will also impact the patient health outcomes since the intervention to enhance mindfulness levels will improve emotional states of nurses and put them in a position to provide best nursing care.

Section D: Change Model

Change Model

The Trans-Theoretical Model of behavioral change is the selected change model that will be used in this project. This model gives an in-depth analysis on how people can make decisions to inform their behavior change. The model presupposes that behavior change does not happen instantly but happens consistently by incremental enhancement of behaviors (Haghi et al., 2018). The Trans-Theoretical Model of behavioral change is deemed appropriate to this project because it appreciates the fact that behavioral change is never an instant event but requires sequential process (Sharma, 2017: Hayden, 2019). In the current project involving training on mindfulness meditation in nursing, there is need of sequential interventions to enable the target population who are nurses to attain the desired goal. Nurses should be made aware of the essence of change, the behaviors that they need to adopt, the manner of sustaining the desired changes. As such, the focus on Trans-Theoretical Model of behavioral change, which is critical in stimulating behavior change in individuals, is poised to be a valuable framework for this project since it is linked to gradual yet effective modeling of behavior changes in people by guiding every step in the process of behavior change.

Stages of Change in the Model

According to Hashemzadeh et al., (2019), Trans-Theoretical Model of behavior change comprises six different stages of behavior changes including precontemplation, contemplation, Preparation, action, maintenance, and termination.

Precontemplation Stage

Here, the target population has no intention or motivation to assume the new behavior any time soon. In the present project, nurses do not have the understanding of the essence on engaging in training on mindfulness meditation. Therefore, they do acknowledge the benefits of involving in behavior change (Tseng et al., 2017).

The Contemplation Stage

Here, the target population begins to contemplate instigating changing their behavior in the near future. The individuals already have understanding of the dangers in their present behaviors. However, they are still unprepared for behavioral change. In the present case, nurses are already aware of the benefits of mindfulness meditation but are still unwilling to adopt mindfulness mediation (Tseng et al., 2017).

Preparation Stage

Here, the nurses have resolved to change their behavior and initiates initiatives to adopt the new behavior change. That is, the nurses are set to go on training on mindfulness mediation to attain the desired change (Tseng et al., 2017).

Action Stage

At the action stage, the target nurses who recently accepted to adopt the new behavior put more effort to nurture the behavior. In this case, the target nurses make suitable adjustments in behavior to ensure they apply the change and perfect the acquired behavior, which is mindfulness mediation (Tseng et al., 2017).

Maintenance Stage

The maintenance stage is characterized by effort by the nurses who recently assumed new behavior change to maintain the acquired behaviors and taking caution not to fall back to the old behaviors (Tseng et al., 2017).

Termination Stage

This is the final stage in the Trans-Theoretical Model of behavior change where the nurses who have completely adopted mindfulness mediation do not wish to go back to the old behaviors. At this stage, relapse is not expected and the target nurses are willing to get more information about the essence of the newly assumed behavior(Tseng et al., 2017).

Application of Each Stage on Proposed Implementation

Precontemplation Stage

Here, the target nurses have no plan to go on training on mindfulness mediation. They have no idea about the benefits of mindfulness mediation.

Contemplation Stage

Here, the target nurses start to acknowledge the essence of training on mindfulness mediation. They begin to consider attending training on mindfulness mediation in the near future. But, they are still unwilling to change their behaviors.

Preparation Stage

At this stage, the target nurses are set to get training on mindfulness mediation and learn about the benefits associated with it. They initiate different actions to attain the desired goals.

Action

Here, the nurses continue with training program to get more information about mindfulness mediation to help in improving nurses’ empathy, overall attention, and presence with patients and families.

Maintenance

At this stage, are putting more effort to continue with training on mindfulness mediation as needed and take caution not to fall back to the old behaviors.

Termination

This is the final stage where the target nurses have mastered the new behavior of mindfulness mediation. Here, relapse is not expected and so, the project is terminated.

Section E: Implementation Plan

Setting and Access to Potential Subjects

The setting is characterized by a technologically advanced, intricate, and stressful nature of health care that greatly compromises nurses’ ability to discharge their duties diligently. In such a state, nurses are usually overwhelmed, burdened, and stressed. Such conditions among other issues such as poor shift rotation, complex interpersonal relationships, and lack of motivation increase the nurses’ vulnerability to burnout and stress (Dall’Ora et al., 2020). Accordingly, the nurses are the primary subjects for the EBP project whose primary role is increasing their focus and readiness to provide patient by mindfulness meditation training.

Accessing the VA healthcare system’s nurses is not complicated as long the reasons for accessing them are clear and the necessary administrative protocols are followed.  With the management being pro-change, a change agent should present the EBP project proposal and explain how it will enhance outcomes. Next, the change agent should work closely with the management to search for the resources necessary to implement the change fully. In this case, nurses’ training and progressive evaluation should be done collaboratively with the management. The management provides several appointees depending on the type and scope of the project to serve as members of the project team. They also monitor how the change process occurs to ensure that all procedures are correct and subjects are not harmed.

Time Needed to Complete the Project

The entire process should take a maximum of six months. The first month should be about preparation for change. Nuño-Solinís (2018) postulated that change readiness depicts a scenario where health care organizations can initiate and respond to change with minimal risk and in a way that creates advantage and sustains excellent performance.  Here, the change agent alongside the management should share the vision for change with the nurses. Preparation for change is necessary to ensure that the health care staff understands the type of change coming and its reasons (Miake-Lye et al., 2020). Doing so is vital to minimize resistance to change and achieve the desired goals within the projected timelines.

The second month involves searching for resources necessary to implement the EBP project. Human, material, and required financial resources should all be available by the end of the second month. The training should occur in the third month. As the training takes place, all questions about the training and its implications should be answered at this stage. The main activity in the fourth month should be a detailed assessment of how nurses react to change and whether some improvements are necessary. If differently stated, it is the piloting stage before adopting the new practice in the fifth month. The last month should be for compiling a report and disseminating information for use in other practice settings. Dissemination spreads knowledge about EBP interventions on a wide scale (Derman & Jaeger, 2018). Its primary aim is to ensure that other health care organizations and providers have a reference when faced with a similar problem.

Resources Needed in the Implementation

The project requires nurse educators as change promoters, trainers on mindfulness mediation, and management as a partner. Professional assessment of the progress also requires human facilitation (external) to avoid bias. Financial resources are also required to purchase training materials, payment for the training venue, and payment for facilitators. Communication, refreshments, and training miscellaneous expenses also require some budgetary allocation. Some materials such as projectors can also be hired instead of purchasing. Generally, human and financial resources are the most needed to make the project a success.

Methods and Instruments

EBP projects require close monitoring to track and assess the outcomes of the proposed interventions. A monitoring plan represents a living document that should be updated regularly as the project’s implementation progresses. Questionnaires will be used to measure how nurses perceive the process and whether they are ready to apply the new knowledge to enable them to work more productively. Activity logs are also necessary, and data will be collected through attendance sheets. The other vital instrument is track indicators which will compare the project’s progress against the set timeline weekly. Track indicators will rate the project against expectations to determine whether any adjustments are required at some point.

The Process of Delivering the Solution

The required solution will be delivered via mindfulness meditation training of nurses. In this training, nurses will be shown how to focus on being intensely aware of what they are experiencing (sensing and feeling) at the moment without interpreting or judging the situation. Kriakous et al. (2020) supported the approach as among the most effective to enable nurses to provide diligent care amid stressful situations such as overwhelming work burden and poor shift rotation. Some of the strategies to be taught include guided imagery and breathing methods that relax the nurse’s body and mind and improve concentration (Gilmartin et al., 2017). The primary aim is to ensure that nurses are more informed about stress reduction in highly demanding situations.

Many benefits are associated with mindfulness meditation training of nurses. Firstly, mindfulness meditation helps nurses engage in peaceful balance and self-care by strengthening the brain region responsible for attention (New Jersey State Nurses Association, 2021). It also improves coping skills, relationships, self-understanding, and relaxation. According to Zeller et al. (2021), mindfulness meditation is associated with high clinical performance and excellent listening skills among nurses.  Accordingly, the training is critical for creating an empowered workforce that can cope with stress, understands issues, avoids reacting, and has high resilience levels (Lin et al., 2019). The impacts are profound and justified.

The Data Collection Plan

EBP projects’ implementation should be data-centered. There should be data to evaluate whether the project’s outcomes achieve the desired outcomes. Data should be collected at every phase as described in the timeline. It should be both manual and automated as situations obligate and to enhance safety. The project manager will work alongside data analyst to manage and maintain the data. Electronic data will be stored in password protected devices and only availed when authorized by the project manager. Data analysis will be primary comparing what has been achieved against the set timelines. It will also involve an in-depth analysis of nurses’ overall behavior change against the set objectives. The difference in what is achieved compared to the expectation will inform whether the process is a success or not.

Dealing with Barriers, Facilitators, and Challenges

EBP projects are not immune to barriers and implementation challenges. Lack of resources, resistance to change, and the organizational culture are common barriers to change (Tappen et al., 2017). In the current project, potential barriers and challenges include different literacy levels among nurses, resistance to change, and abandoning of the project by the nurses. Facilitation will be managed by looking for expert trainers at a cost. These barriers can be mitigated through active involvement of nurses in the project, fostering free communication, and creating awareness. The fundamental assumption in this project is to achieve positive outcomes.

Feasibility of the Implementation Plan

Generally, the implementation requires substantial financial services, but its overall impact makes it cost-effective. Personnel, consumable supplies, equipment to facilitate training would cost up to $7,700. Computer-related costs to support data access, data management, and communication would cost up to $1,500. Other costs such as travel, presentation, remuneration, and miscellaneous expenses would go up to $4,500. Each resource is needed to make the training effective and achieve the desired effects.

Maintaining, Extending, Revising, and Discontinuing the Training

The training will improve patient health outcomes by ensuring that nurses are physically and mentally ready to provide health care services. After implementation, progressive evaluation is necessary every three months. If nurses’ capacity to work improves, the training program should be maintained and extended to other workforces, such as new nurses joining the organization. Progressive evaluation should also guide revisions if some areas need improvement or other methods to facilitate mindfulness meditation emerge and should be included. Discontinuation is justified if there is no significant difference between the trained and untrained nurses or there are no resources to facilitate continuous training.

Section F: Evaluation of Process

The rationale for Methods used in Collecting Outcome Data

As noted in the implementation plan, the project should depend on data and its evaluation to ascertain if its outcomes will meet the desired goals. Data collected at each stage through questionnaires will be both manual and automated based on the situation and the need to enhance safety. The questionnaires will enable nurse participants to answer set questions about mindfulness mediation, especially the effects of the training and implementation of the intervention to reduce stress, burnout, and enhance overall performance. This approach will allow for a set value where the researchers will use inferential statistical analysis to determine the outcome. Data analysis will compare what will be achieved against the set timelines. Through questionnaires, the researchers will assess the overall behavior change among nurses against the set objectives. The in-depth analysis will help in determining the effectiveness of the EBP intervention in enhancing overall performance among the nurses.

Outcome Measures Evaluation

The main outcome in implementing this project will be a reduction in stress levels among nurses in healthcare facilities within its stated period, six months. This implies that outcome measures’ evaluation will be critical to determining if the project will meet the desired goals. The project will follow the participating nurses through its timelines to determine the level to which the outcome measures meet the intended results of the proposal. The questionnaires will be used in determining is there is a positive or negative influence of mindfulness mediation on the nurses’ perception and their ability to perform and deliver quality care to patients (Kriakous et al., 2020).Outcome measures will look at how project barriers, facilitators, and challenges were tackled effectively to deliver the intended goals or objectives. Evaluation tools will assist in determining if the use of mindfulness mediation training is appropriate to create a safety culture and improve overall service delivery and better performance with reduced levels of stress and burnout.

How Outcomes Will Be Measured

All measured outcomes and used tools will be assessed to ascertain validity, reliability and applicability. The initial process for evaluation includes the applicability of the tools and measurement. Each questionnaire will highlight the needs and appropriateness of the intervention, mindfulness mediation training for nurses and its use in healthcare organizations and settings to enhance performance and reduce burnout and stress (Janssen et al., 2018). The questionnaires will be specific for the program, the participating nurse, and the significance of the activities being implemented. Evaluation of the applicability will continue during the program and changes enacted to the interventions based on feedback from the nurse practitioners and other professionals.

The validity or “appropriateness” of data collection will be assessed throughout the EBP project. This will entail monitoring the different variables used in the program to ensure that approaches being use are appropriate. The reliability of the methods will be verified using actual results of the program. For instance, if the training will lead to consistent outcomes, then the reliability of the if EBP intervention will be verified. However, if there will be inconsistency in the findings, then the EBP project will reevaluate the tools and methods being deployed in the change initiative.

Strategies for Tackling Poor Results

Poor results or outcomes from implementing the mindfulness mediation training may arise due to the changes that nurses will be required to undertake during the process. For instance, the activities of actual mindfulness mediation may not align with the ordinary perception and way of reflective thinking by nurses (Lin et al., 2019). Therefore, resistance to the program may occur leading to poor results. The process will evaluate this through the initial interviews and implement mitigation measures to prevent ineffective deployment of the intervention.

Implications for Practice

The project’s overall implementation will have positive and long-term beneficial implications for nurses and organizations. The need to have efficient and highly performing nurses cannot be overemphasized (Zeller et al., 2018). However, stress and other strains emanating from workload and other workplace factors impact the ability of these practitioners to offer better care leading to quality patient outcomes (Schaefer & Welton, 2018). Therefore, the study will ensure that practitioners have better information on the use of the intervention to improve performance and reduce stress among nurses. The EBP project will demonstrate the need to integrate mindfulness mediation into best practices to help nurses navigate increased demand that lead to burnout and poor performance.

Benchmark – Evidence-Based Practice Proposal Final Paper Conclusion

The technologically advanced, intricate, and stressful nature of health care has greatly compromised the ability of nurses to diligently discharge their duties due to risks of burnout and stress. Stress continues to create dire problems among nurses including portraying mindlessness by losing attention to patient care provision leading to an environment where nurses can make decision without thoughtful, conscious involvement in the task at hand. In turn, this can result in serious adverse consequences such as medication errors, failure to recognize critical signs and symptoms, and other grave safety issues in patients. Moreover, stress inherent in nurses can lead to lower job satisfaction, depression, disruption in personal relationships, and psychological stress, which can lead to a risk of patient harm. Consequently, this project advanced the adoption of mindfulness mediation intervention among nurses to help in improving overall empathy, attention, and presence when attending to patients and their families. The readiness assessment that was conducted at the VA healthcare system showed that the organization is ready adopt the change. The readiness could be deduced from cultural practices such as availability of existing providers who were ready to promote the EBP, management support, shared decision making, and teamwork. The literature review indicated that training on mindfulness mediation among nurse have positive influence on stress among nurses. The Project used the Trans-Theoretical Model of behavior change to help in achieving the desired outcomes in planning change. The model is appropriate for this project because it guides every step in the process of behavior change. Finally, the evaluation was performed on the project to establish if the desired goals were achieved. The evaluation of process will be critical to making necessary changes for the project to attain its overall goals.

Benchmark – Evidence-Based Practice Proposal Final Paper References

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Van der Riet, P., Levett-Jones, T., & Aquino-Russell, C. (2018). The effectiveness of mindfulness meditation for nurses and nursing students: An integrated literature review. Nurse education today, 65, 201-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2018.03.018

Ariza Aguilera, D. A. (2018). Designing an Organizational Culture Model in the Projects Environment: a Constructivist Approach. CES Psicología, 11(1), 118-133. https://doi.org/10.21615/cesp.11.1.9

New Jersey State Nurses Association. (2021). Mindfulness: Meditation. Retrieved from https://njsna.org/mindfulness-meditation/

Zeller, J. M., Johnson, A. M., Hoffman, A., Hoyem, R. L., Alexander, M. B., Yudkowsky, R., & Hicks, F. D. (2021). Mindfulness Training to Improve Nurse Clinical Performance: A Pilot Study. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 43(3), 250-260. https://doi.org/10.1177/0193945920964938

Haghi, M., Mazloomy Mahmoodabad, S. S., Mozaffari-Khosravi, H., Eslami Shahrbabaki, H., & Fallahzadeh, H. (2018). Analysis of Weight Control among Overweight and Obese Iranian Adolescents: Application of the Trans-theoretical Model. International journal of pediatrics, 6(2), 7013-7022. 10.22038/ijp.2017.23310.1959

Hashemzadeh, M., Rahimi, A., Zare-Farashbandi, F., Alavi-Naeini, A. M., & Daei, A. (2019). Transtheoretical model of health behavioral change: A systematic review. Iranian journal of nursing and midwifery research, 24(2), 83.doi: 10.4103/ijnmr.IJNMR_94_17

Hayden, J. (2019). Introduction to health behavior theory. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Sharma, M. (2017). Theoretical foundations of health education and health promotion. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Tseng, H. M., Liao, S. F., Wen, Y. P., & Chuang, Y. J. (2017). Stages of change concept of the transtheoretical model for healthy eating links health literacy and diabetes knowledge to glycemic control in people with type 2 diabetes. Primary care diabetes, 11(1), 29-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcd.2016.08.005

Dall’Ora, C., Ball, J., Reinius, M., & Griffiths, P. (2020). Burnout in nursing: a theoretical review. Human Resources for Health, 18, 1-17.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-020-00469-9

Derman, R. J., & Jaeger, F. J. (2018). Overcoming challenges to dissemination and implementation of research findings in under-resourced countries. Reproductive Health, 15(1), 121-126. doi: 10.1186/s12978-018-0538-z

Gilmartin, H., Goyal, A., Hamati, M. C., Mann, J., Saint, S., & Chopra, V. (2017). Brief mindfulness practices for healthcare providers–a systematic literature review. The American Journal of Medicine, 130(10), 1219-e1.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2017.05.041

Miake-Lye, I. M., Delevan, D. M., Ganz, D. A., Mittman, B. S., & Finley, E. P. (2020). Unpacking organizational readiness for change: an updated systematic review and content analysis of assessments. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1), 1-13.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-4926-z

Nuño-Solinís, R. (2018). Are Healthcare Organizations Ready for Change? Comment on “Development and Content Validation of a Transcultural Instrument to Assess Organizational Readiness for Knowledge Translation in Healthcare Organizations: The OR4KT”. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 7(12), 1158–1160. https://doi.org/10.15171/ijhpm.2018.95

Tappen, R. M., Wolf, D. G., Rahemi, Z., Engstrom, G., Rojido, C., Shutes, J. M., & Ouslander, J. G. (2017). Barriers and Facilitators to Implementing a Change Initiative in Long-Term Care Using the INTERACT® Quality Improvement Program. The Health Care Manager, 36(3), 219–230. https://doi.org/10.1097/HCM.0000000000000168

Lopes Write Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.

Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.

Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?

Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.

Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.

If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.

I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.

As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

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Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:

Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.

Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• Student paper example
• Citing Sources
• The Writing Center is a great resource

As we begin this session, I would like to take this opportunity to clarify my expectations for this course:

Please note that GCU Online weeks run from Thursday (Day 1) through Wednesday (Day 7).

 

Course Room Etiquette:

• It is my expectation that all learners will respect the thoughts and ideas presented in the discussions.
• All postings should be presented in a respectful, professional manner. Remember – different points of view add richness and depth to the course!

 

Office Hours:

• My office hours vary so feel free to shoot me an email at Kelly.[email protected] or my office phone is 602.639.6517 and I will get back to you within one business day or as soon as possible.
• Phone appointments can be scheduled as well. Send me an email and the best time to call you, along with your phone number to make an appointment.
• I welcome all inquiries and questions as we spend this term together. My preference is that everyone utilizes the Questions to Instructor forum. In the event your question is of a personal nature, please feel free to post in the Individual Questions for Instructor forum I will respond to all posts or emails within 24 or sooner.

 

Late Policy and Grading Policy

Discussion questions:

• I do not mark off for late DQ’s.
•  I would rather you take the time to read the materials and respond to the DQ’s in a scholarly way, demonstrating your understanding of the materials.
• I will not accept any DQ submissions after day 7, 11:59 PM (AZ Time) of the week.
• Individual written assignments – due by 11:59 PM AZ Time Zone on the due dates indicated for each class deliverable.

Assignments:

• Assignments turned in after their specified due dates are subject to a late penalty of -10%, each day late, of the available credit. Please refer to the student academic handbook and GCU policy.
• Any activity or assignment submitted after the due date will be subject to GCU’s late policy
• Extenuating circumstances may justify exceptions, which are at my sole discretion. If an extenuating circumstance should arise, please contact me privately as soon as possible.
• No assignments can be accepted for grading after midnight on the final day of class.
• All assignments will be graded in accordance with the Assignment Grading Rubrics

Participation

• Participation in each week’s Discussion Board forum accounts for a large percentage of your final grade in this course.
• Please review the Course Syllabus for a comprehensive overview of course deliverables and the value associated with each.
• It is my expectation that each of you will substantially contribute to the course discussion forums and respond to the posts of at least three other learners.
• A substantive post should be at least 200 words. Responses such as “great posts” or “I agree” do not meet the active engagement expectation.
• Please feel free to draw on personal examples as you develop your responses to the Discussion Questions but you do need to demonstrate your understanding of the materials.
• I do expect outside sources as well as class materials to formulate your post.
• APA format is not necessary for DQ responses, but I do expect a proper citation for references.
• Please use peer-related journals found through the GCU library and/or class materials to formulate your answers. Do not try to “Google” DQ’s as I am looking for class materials and examples from the weekly materials.
• I will not accept responses that are from Wikipedia, Business dictionary.com, or other popular business websites. You will not receive credit for generic web searches – this does not demonstrate graduate-level research.
• Stay away from the use of personal pronouns when writing. As a graduate student, you are expected to write based on research and gathering of facts. Demonstrating your understanding of the materials is what you will be graded on. You will be marked down for lack of evidence to support your ideas.

Plagiarism

• Plagiarism is the act of claiming credit for another’s work, accomplishments, or ideas without appropriate acknowledgment of the source of the information by including in-text citations and references.
• This course requires the utilization of APA format for all course deliverables as noted in the course syllabus.
• Whether this happens deliberately or inadvertently, whenever plagiarism has occurred, you have committed a Code of Conduct violation.
• Please review your LopesWrite report prior to final submission.
• Every act of plagiarism, no matter the severity, must be reported to the GCU administration (this includes your DQ’s, posts to your peers, and your papers).

Plagiarism includes:

• Representing the ideas, expressions, or materials of another without due credit.
• Paraphrasing or condensing ideas from another person’s work without proper citation and referencing.
• Failing to document direct quotations without proper citation and referencing.
• Depending upon the amount, severity, and frequency of the plagiarism that is committed, students may receive in-class penalties that range from coaching (for a minor omission), -20% grade penalties for resubmission, or zero credit for a specific assignment. University-level penalties may also occur, including suspension or even expulsion from the University.
• If you are at all uncertain about what constitutes plagiarism, you should review the resources available in the Student Success Center. Also, please review the University’s policies about plagiarism which are covered in more detail in the GCU Catalog and the Student Handbook.
• We will be utilizing the GCU APA Style Guide 7th edition located in the Student Success Center > The Writing Center for all course deliverables.

LopesWrite

• All course assignments must be uploaded to the specific Module Assignment Drop Box, and also submitted to LopesWrite every week.
• Please ensure that your assignment is uploaded to both locations under the Assignments DropBox. Detailed instructions for using LopesWrite are located in the Student Success Center.

Assignment Submissions

• Please note that Microsoft Office is the software requirement at GCU.
• I can open Word files or any file that is saved with a .rtf (Rich Text Format) extension. I am unable to open .wps files.
• If you are using a “.wps” word processor, please save your files using the .rtf extension that is available from the drop-down box before uploading your files to the Assignment Drop Box.

Grade of Incomplete

• The final grade of Incomplete is granted at the discretion of the instructor; however, students must meet certain specific criteria before this grade accommodation is even possible to consider.
• The grade of Incomplete is reserved for times when students experience a serious extenuating circumstance or a crisis during the last week of class which prevents the completion of course requirements before the close of the grading period. Students also must pass the course at the time the request is made.
• Please contact me personally if you are having difficulties in meeting course requirements or class deadlines during our time together. In addition, if you are experiencing personal challenges or difficulties, it is best to contact the Academic Counselor so that you can discuss the options that might be available to you, as well as each option’s academic and financial repercussions.

Grade Disputes

• If you have any questions about a grade you have earned on an individual assignment or activity, please get in touch with me personally for further clarification.
• While I have made every attempt to grade you fairly, on occasion a misunderstanding may occur, so please allow me the opportunity to learn your perspective if you believe this has occurred. Together, we should be able to resolve grading issues on individual assignments.
• However, after we have discussed individual assignments’ point scores, if you still believe that the final grade you have earned at the end of the course is not commensurate with the quality of work you produced for this class, there is a formal Grade Grievance procedure which is outlined in the GCU Catalog and Student Handbook.