PICOT Question
In community clinic nursing staff, how does the introduction of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2016) guidelines within ten weeks affect the accuracy of diagnosing and quality of managing depression in the older population as compared to the staff’s performance before the intervention?
Leading Teams in Project Management and Professional Identity Formation
Some of the key leadership skills include interpersonal ones, those related to strategic planning and action, and those connected to innovation implementation; leaders typically perform change agents’ role (Snedaker, 2016). I have had some experience in leading other nurses, especially by sharing leadership with them, which I find to be the most appropriate nursing leadership approach (Houghton, Pearce, Manz, Courtright, & Stewart, 2015). However, I have been engaged in fewer leadership activities with interprofessional teams.
My interpersonal skills are well-developed; I engage my colleagues by prompting them to communicate with me. In my experience, it is not uncommon to overlook nurses; I do my best to ensure the opposite by encouraging them to discuss their perspectives and concerns. This activity proved to be helpful to my DNP project when it helped clarify the issue of inefficient depression management guidelines, which prompted me to plan the implementation of those developed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2016). Thus, this approach is helpful to a change agent.
Also, I attempt to employ certain aspects of visionary leadership, and I recognize the significance of the strategic and visionary alignment of activities. For example, I have had some practice in strategic and visionary alignment during the planning of my DNP project. Moreover, the project is going to be connected to promoting innovative and evidence-based approaches to depression management. I do not think that I have mastered implementation-related skills, but I feel prepared to implement the project due to my education and experience relevant to change management.
I believe that leadership skills require continuous development, in which my DNP project is another step. Some additional investigation of leadership and change theory and activities (through research and observation of other leaders) and the continuous application of relevant skills are the major elements of my plans for leadership role development (Sayers, Lopez, Howard, Escott, & Cleary, 2015). Given the significance of leadership for effective collaboration, I think that leadership skills development will contribute to my professional growth.
Use of IT for Project Management
Nowadays, information technology (IT) is used in healthcare extensively, which prompts nurses to develop IT skills (Lilly, Fitzpatrick, & Madigan, 2015; Snedaker, 2016). For example, in my DNP project, IT is necessary. I have been employing IT for research, planning, and drafting project-related works, and I will keep using IT to this end. Technology is likely to be applied during the implementation process for multiple purposes. For example, it is planned to offer the participants a messenger for the discussion of the issues and concerns that need an immediate response. The evaluation activities are also likely to involve IT for multiple purposes, including data collection and analysis. In summary, the project will be greatly assisted by IT.
In DNP-prepared nurses, IT skills are typically developed as a part of their education (Murphy, Staffileno, & Carlson, 2015), which is true for the courses that I have been taking. After the completion of my DNP degree, I intend to proceed to work as an ARNP, but I also will engage in research, and I hope to participate in teaching nurses. Nowadays, all these activities are connected to IT competencies, including basic computer literacy and the ability to use particular programs and platforms with maximized efficiency (Lilly et al., 2015). For example, to improve one’s ability to use search engines, a DNP nurse can become familiar with operators.
I have been employing computers and programs that are relevant to my field of activity for several years, but I am willing to develop as a professional should the need arise. In particular, I understand that it may be necessary to master new programs. For example, my ability to use statistical software is limited, and I intend to improve it for my role as a researcher. In order to achieve this goal, I will use my existing research skills to expand my knowledge on the required topic, solicit help from IT professionals if necessary, and practice the use of relevant skills.
References
Houghton, J. D., Pearce, C. L., Manz, C. C., Courtright, S., & Stewart, G. L. (2015). Sharing is caring: Toward a model of proactive caring through shared leadership. Human Resource Management Review, 25(3), 313-327. Web.
Lilly, K., Fitzpatrick, J., & Madigan, E. (2015). Barriers to integrating information technology content in Doctor of Nursing Practice curricula. Journal of Professional Nursing, 31(3), 187-199. Web.
Murphy, M., Staffileno, B., & Carlson, E. (2015). Collaboration among DNP- and PhD-prepared nurses: Opportunity to drive positive change. Journal of Professional Nursing, 31(5), 388-394. Web.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2016). Depression in adults: Recognition and management. Web.
Sayers, J., Lopez, V., Howard, P., Escott, P., & Cleary, M. (2015). The leadership role of nurse educators in mental health nursing. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 36(9), 718-724. Web.
Snedaker, S. (2016). Leading healthcare IT. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.