The Use of Kotter 8-Step Change Model to Promote Scholarship Pertaining

Introduction

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is known to be an efficacious method for ensuring that nurses use innovative models for patient care to achieve the best patient outcomes. This is especially important if patients have serious health conditions, for instance, and ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI); in this particular case, the reduction of door-to-balloon time (DTB) is crucial (Stowens, Sonnad, & Rosenbaum, 2015). This research paper addresses the need for nurses not only to use EBP but also to participate in its creation. A review of literature pertaining to the topic is provided, and concrete steps for the promotion of scholarship in nursing are offered.

Methods

This research paper is based on a literature review. The key criterion for the literature selection was that the materials only had to include scholarly, peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2016.

• Data Collection. The materials were gathered via an online search in a number of electronic databases such as ProQuest, EBSCOHost, PubMed, etc.
• Data Analysis. The articles were thoroughly read and analyzed in order to find the information pertaining to the topic and the possible recommendations related to the promotion of participation in scholarship among nurses.

Results

The review of the literature shows that for nurses, it is important to keep up with research and EBP to supply the highest-quality care for their patients (Hoe & Hoare, 2012/2013). Both quantitative (Lysy, 2013) and qualitative (Thomas & Magilvy, 2011; Anderson, 2010) studies may supply nurses with the innovative information that is necessary if they are to provide the best care for their clients. In addition, openness is crucial in research, and both scholars and practitioners need to share their findings with others (Elman & Kapiszewski, 2014). However, the need for openness is not always fulfilled; in nursing, this is sometimes due to the fact that nurses often have new ideas and insights pertaining to their practice, but may believe that publishing them is an impossible task (Rees, Payne, & Houlahan, 2015). Therefore, it is important to create a culture for publication, i.e., one where nurses would not hesitate to publish their findings (Rees et al., 2015).

It is known that DTB for STEMI patients may reduce death rates and significantly improve patient outcomes (Stowens et al., 2015). Thus, the insights regarding this problem that nurses may have should be published. In order to promote publishing of the new findings pertaining to this topic, it is possible to utilize the Kotter 8-step change model (Rees et al., 2015) as follows:

1. Increase urgency. It is essential that nurses realize that the utilization of EBP leads to better patient outcomes and that this is especially important in a situation when a patient’s condition is critical. Therefore, the nurse practitioners who may have insights on how to reduce the DTB for STEMI patients should be encouraged to share their ideas, for doing so as early as possible may save some people from death.
2. Build the guiding team. In the clinical setting, the nurse leaders should encourage the rest of the nursing staff to publish their ideas. It is possible to do so by creating a team specially directed at promoting publishing. It is recommended that such a team includes the nursing director and a clinical nurse specialist for EBP (Rees et al., 2015, p. 189).
3. Get the vision right. It is essential to clearly understand the aims of the culture of publication. The fact that publishing the new ideas, insights and methods related to nursing practice, in particular, ones aimed at reducing the DTB for STEMI patients, may save many people from death, must be explicitly realized by the leader.
4. Communicate for buy-in. After establishing the importance of the culture of publication, it should be communicated to the nursing personnel (for instance, in nurse staff meetings). It should be done often so that the staff keeps it in mind. It is also recommended to embed the vision in as many activities as possible.
5. Empower action. It is possible to create special events related to the discussion of new methods, findings, and insights, such as monthly scholarly nursing forums. New staff members should be provided with mentoring; in particular, guidance pertaining to the writing process and to the publication issues ought to be offered. In addition, providing rewards for new findings should stimulate nurses to generate them.
6. Create short-term wins. Short-term wins will encourage the staff not to abandon the long-term goals. New ideas ought to be implemented in practice at the workplace; better patient outcomes should become evident. It is possible to publish new ideas of the staff in some hospital publications (such as brochures, newspapers, and posters) so as to gradually accumulate materials for a full-fledged scholarly publication.
7. Don’t let up. Once the dynamics have become positive, it is essential to preserve them. Nurses who have accumulated a number of ideas should be assisted in publishing their findings in a scholarly source.
8. Make change stick. The new activities should become a part of the routine. Nursing staff should be provided with the opportunity to write and publish their ideas as a part of their job rather than an overtime activity.

Conclusion

To sum up, it should be stressed that the literature review shows the importance of nurses’ participation in the creation of evidence-based knowledge and that such knowledge may significantly improve patient outcomes. In particular, it might help reduce DTB among STEMI patients. The concrete recommendations for the use of Kotter’s 8-step change model to promote scholarship among nurses are provided.

References

Anderson, C. (2010). Presenting and evaluating qualitative research. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 74(8), 141.

Elman, C., & Kapiszewski, D. (2014). Data access and research transparency in the qualitative tradition. Political Science & Politics, 47(1), 43-47.

Hoe, J., & Hoare, Z. (2012/2013). Understanding quantitative research: Part 1. Nursing Standard, 27(15-17), 52-57.

Lysy, C. (2013). Developments in quantitative data display and their implications for evaluation. New Directions for Evaluation, 2013(139), 33-51.

Rees, S., Payne, J., & Houlahan, B. (2015). Creating a culture for publication through education and mentoring. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 30(2), 187-192.

Stowens, J. C., Sonnad, S. S., & Rosenbaum, R. A. (2015). Using EMS dispatch to trigger STEMI alerts decreases door-to-balloon times. The Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, 16(3), 472-480. Web.

Thomas, E., & Magilvy, J. K. (2011). Qualitative rigor or research validity in qualitative research. Journal for Specialist in Pediatric Nursing, 16(2), 151-155.