Problem
The concept of surgical leadership is an important contributor to the effective management of processes within the Operating Theater (OT) setting. However, the lack of research on the types of leadership that can be applied to the OT context, the effective strategies that can be used in the OT environment, and similar issues complicates the process of leading for nurses (Hu et al., 2016). Currently, due to the lack of a coherent leadership framework, the process of interdisciplinary collaboration and, thus, effective management of surgery may be hampered, which is why the introduction of the principles of shared leadership (SL) is necessary.
Innovation
The concept of SL is far from being new, yet it offers an innovative perspective into the management of nurses’ responsibilities in the surgical environment of an OT due to the focus on interdisciplinary collaboration. Shared leadership in the OT environment will help to improve team coordination and manage information flow accordingly (Hu et al., 2016). Indeed, recent research mentions the positive effect that shared leadership has on cross-disciplinary collaboration (Hu et al., 2016). Due to the increase in information management, the effectiveness of training is bound to have a direct impact on nurses’ SL scores in the OT setting.
Resources Needed/Budget
To implement the suggested change and guide a team of nurses in the OT with the help of the SL strategy, one will need certain rearrangements to be made in the OT environment. Specifically, the tools for information sharing will need to be purchased so that nurses could use handoff devices for efficient communication. Therefore, IT and ICT tools are bound to become the key resources on which the budget will be spent.
In addition, training for nurses to develop the basic SL skills will be provided, with the key materials offered to maintain the education process running. It is believed that a total budget of $1,000,000 will be needed for this project (see Appendix A). Given the necessity to purchase rather expensive equipment and introduce staff members to numerous competencies that they will have to learn by the end of the training process, it is necessary to stretch the budget significantly.
People Needed
The implementation of the project for improving the coordination of nurses’ actions in the OT environment will require the support of several key people. A leader will have to motivate nurses and guide them toward the set results, thus representing a role model that nurses can view as the prime example to follow. In addition, a team of assistants that will offer nurses educational opportunities for learning to use the newly acquired devices for communication will be needed. Moreover, a coordinator, who will monitor the progress and report on the achievements made by the nurse will constitute an important part of the group. Finally, to make sure that the communication between nurses and leaders occurs naturally, the services of a line manager will be required.
Institutional Characteristics
Apart from creating new opportunities for nurses to learn additional skills and become a part of the interdisciplinary team in the OT setting, administrative changes should be administered to implement the intervention. The introduction of administrative support in the form of providing spaces for nurses’ training, offering appropriate changes in the schedule, and adjusting the current hospital hierarchy will be needed.
Moreover, adjustments based on the cultural specifics of the participants will have to be made to facilitate the faster development of appropriate skills. For instance, the fact that a substantial number of nurses come from other sociocultural backgrounds than American will define the form in which the key information will be taught. The specified factors are likely to influence the introduction of the LS framework into the OT environment, which is why changes are needed to encourage faster learning.
Environmental Factors
The target environment does not have a large number of factors that may potentially hamper the process of learning among nurses. However, the presence of rivalry within the team may become a problem once the participants start learning the basics of effective collaboration, conflict management, and negotiation. Given the tense environment of an OT, facilitating impeccable collaboration may be problematic unless tools for reducing the levels of competition in the specified nursing setting are introduced (Mattsson, 2018). In addition, drafting a policy that will focus on the promotion of cooperation in the OT will help in establishing the principles of SL in the target context.
Measures/Evaluation Plan
To evaluate the efficacy of SL as the means of improving the quality of services within the ST environment, a comparison of the performance delivered by nurses in the OT setting before and after the intervention will be needed. For this reason, the pre-and post-test framework of the experiment will be utilized (Bökberg, Behm, Wallerstedt, & Ahlström, 2019). The assessment will involve both the quantitative evaluation of the changes made on the specified time slot and the qualitative data in the form of nurses’ feedback. Thus, changes in nurses’ attitudes toward their job will be evaluated as well.
Procedures
To achieve the desired outcomes, one will have to set a series of lessons for nurses to gain proficiency in using IT and ICT tools for improved data management. In addition, tools and techniques for collaboration in the OT setting will be introduced to the learners. The proposed procedures are expected to cause a change in nurses’ behaviors and the effects of interventions on patients’ well-being.
Outcomes
It is believed that the SL-based technique will lead to a tangible improvement in nurses’ performance in the OT setting. Specifically, the rate of success is bound to increase by 25%, whereas the patient stay is believed to drop by 10%. The introduction of the SL framework will allow improving communication and compliance with the established standards of quality, leading to a shorter hospital stay. Thus, the general level of healthcare quality is expected to rise. Moreover, nurses are expected to learn the skills associated with the management of the tasks in the OT context. Specifically, the probability of medical errors made in the course of implementing key OT procedures is expected to drop.
Reference
Bökberg, C., Behm, L., Wallerstedt, B., & Ahlström, G. (2019). Evaluation of person-centeredness in nursing homes after a palliative care intervention: Pre-and post-test experimental design. BMC Palliative Care, 18(1), 44.
Hu, Y. Y., Parker, S. H., Lipsitz, S. R., Arriaga, A. F., Peyre, S. E., Corso, K. A.,… Greenberg, C. C. (2016). Surgeons’ leadership styles and team behavior in the operating room. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 222(1), 41-51. Web.
Mattsson, J. (2018). Team Training, A Prerequisite of Being Safe in a Technological Environment, A Pediatric Operating Theater. Acta Scientific Paediatrics, 1(4), 18-19.