Develop a 5-10 year strategic plan for achieving specific health care quality and safety improvements, based on the analysis you completed in Assessment 1. Use either an AI approach or your SWOT analysis and a chosen strategic planning model.
Introduction
Evaluation of strategic choices is important. The methods for selecting strategic alternatives help leaders organize significant issues to support decision making. However, it is important that the techniques do not make the decision. Rather, leaders should use the techniques to reveal the inherent situation and to organize their thought processes. This assessment provides you with an opportunity to evaluate and apply some of the techniques for successful strategy development and implementation.
Note: You will use your care setting environmental analysis as the basis for developing your strategic plan in this assessment.
Preparation
The feedback you received on your care setting environmental analysis has been positive. Consequently, you have been asked to select one of the potential improvement projects you noted in your analysis and create a full, 5–10-year strategic plan to achieve the desired quality and safety improvement outcomes. You will develop your strategic plan, using either an AI approach (addressing the design stage), or by building on your SWOT analysis and applying a strategic planning model of your choice.
How you structure your plan should be based on whether you are taking an appreciative inquiry approach or using a specific strategic planning model. Regardless of the approach you choose, the requester of the plan has asked that you address the key points outlined below in the strategic plan requirements. In addition, your plan should be 5–8 pages in length.
Which model would you choose to create goals and outcomes that could address the area of concern you identified in your Assessment 1 SWOT analysis?
Why is this model the best choice among alternatives?
How does goal setting through appreciative inquiry provocative propositions differ from goal setting in the strategic planning model you selected?
Additional Requirements
Note: The requirements outlined below correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide, so at a minimum, be sure to address each point. In addition, you are encouraged to review the performance level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed.
Writing, Supporting Evidence, and APA Style
Write clearly, with professionalism and respect for stakeholders and colleagues.
Integrate relevant sources of evidence to support your assertions.
Cite at least 3–5 sources of scholarly or professional evidence.
Format your document using APA style. Use the APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX]. Be sure to include:
A title page and reference page. An abstract is not required.
A running head on all pages.
Appropriate section headings.
Properly formatted citations and references.
Proofread your writing to minimize errors that could distract readers and make it more difficult to focus on the substance of your analysis.
Strategic Plan
Develop strategic goal statements and outcomes that reflect specific quality and safety improvements for your care setting. You should have at least one short-term goal (just-in-time to one year) and one long-term goal (five years or longer).
Determine realistic timelines for achieving your goals.
Explain how your short-term goals support your long-term goals.
Note: For plans based on an AI approach, the goal statements and outcomes are provocative propositions that may be refinements of the positive, yet attainable, goals that you proposed during the dream phase of your inquiry. For plans based on a SWOT analysis, the goal statements and outcomes are specific, measurable, and applicable to the area of concern in your analysis for which you proposed pursuing improvements.
Justify the relevance of your proposed strategic goals and outcomes in relation to the mission, vision, and values of your care setting.
Analyze the extent to which your strategic goals and outcomes, and your approach to achieving them, address:
The ethical environment.
The cultural environment.
The use of technology.
Applicable health care policies, laws, and regulations.
Explain, in general, how you will use relevant leadership and health care theories to help achieve your proposed strategic goals and outcomes.
Consider whether different theories are more applicable to the short-term or long-term goals of your strategic plan.
Evaluate the leadership qualities and skills that are most important to successfully implementing your proposed plan and sustaining strategic direction.
Identify those leadership qualities and skills that are essential to achieving your goals and outcomes and sustaining strategic direction.
Identify those leadership qualities and skills that will have the greatest effect on the success of your plan.
Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:
Competency 1: Evaluate qualities and skills that promote effective leadership within health care organizations.
Evaluate the leadership qualities and skills that will be most important to successfully implementing a strategic plan and sustaining strategic direction.
Competency 2: Apply strategies to lead high-performing health care teams to meet organizational quality and safety goals.
Develop strategic goal statements and outcomes that support the achievement of specific quality and safety improvements for a care setting.
Justify the relevance of proposed strategic goals and outcomes in relation to the mission, vision, and values of a care setting.
Competency 3: Apply cultural, ethical, and regulatory considerations to leadership decision making.
Analyze the extent to which strategic goals and outcomes address the use of technology and the ethical, cultural, and regulatory environments.
Competency 4: Integrate leadership and health care theories into the role of the nurse leader.
Explain how relevant leadership and health care theories will be used to help achieve proposed strategic goals and objectives.
Competency 5: Communicate with stakeholders and constituencies to build collaborative partnerships and create inclusive work environments.
Communicate analyses clearly and in a way that demonstrates professionalism and respect for stakeholders and colleagues.
Integrate relevant and credible sources of evidence to support assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style.
Strategic Planning
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliations
Strategic Planning
South Texas Health System (STHS) is committed to delivering quality and safe healthcare services to its patients. From the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis, the factors that are affecting health care quality and safety at STHS include high costs of medical care, nurse shortages, and lack of diversity among healthcare providers. This strategic plan will specifically focus on addressing nurse shortages. The plan will use the Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) strategic model to prepare a 5-year strategic plan for addressing nursing shortages to achieve health care quality and safety.
Model Overview
The specific strategic planning framework that has been chosen to create goals and outcomes to address the problem of nursing shortage identified in the SWOT analysis is the OKRs model. OKRs is one of the strategic models that are easy to use to address different organizational issues. The model has been designed to guide leaders to create specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound objectives together with key results that will be used to measure progress per objective. The OKRs model is the best choice for the current scenario among the alternatives because it will enable the organization to align its measurable goals with key results thereby ensuring that the problem of nurse shortage is effectively addressed (Gothelf, 2020). Goal setting through appreciative inquiry provocative propositions differs from goal-setting in OKRs model in that in appreciative inquiry, goals can be refined to enhance their applicability based on the phase of the project while in OKRs model, the goal statements must be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART) and must be aligned with the key results (Gothelf, 2020). Essentially, goals that are set using the OKRs model can be tracked continuously and re-evaluated to allow the organization to slowly adapt to the new changes. The figure below shows the OKRs strategic model.
Figure 1: OKRs Strategic Model
Strategic Plan
Strategic Goal Statements and Timelines
- Short-term goal: To hire additional nurses to fill the existing gaps within the next 6 months
- Long-term goal: To have a 0% nurse turnover rate by 2026.
The timelines that have been chosen for both the short-term and long-term goals are realistic. For example, when the organization begins the process of hiring new nurses immediately, it should be able to fill the existing gaps in the next six months. According to Llop-Gironés et al. (2021), nurse shortage is always associated with poor patient outcomes and it should be addressed with speed to prevent even more severe outcomes on patients. Five years is an appropriate timeline for achieving the long-term goal. Changes in the rates of nurse turnover are observed over a period of time (Dewanto & Wardhani, 2018). In this respect, a stable rate can best be seen in the organization after five years.
Alignment Between Short-Term and Long-Term Goals
The proposed short-term goal supports the long-term goal. Precisely, by hiring additional nurses, the organization will have adequate nurses to provide quality healthcare services to patients (Shah et al., 2021). A 0% turnover rate means that the organization will have 100% retention of all the nurses that had been hired in the previous years (Lockhart, 2020). Therefore, once additional nurses have been hired in the short run, the organization needs to go ahead to retain all the nurses to have a nurse turnover rate of 0% in the long run. Essentially, retention should follow hiring for the problem of nurse shortage to be addressed effectively.
Relevance of the Proposed Strategic Goals
The proposed strategic goals and outcomes are relevant in relation to the mission, vision, and values of STHS. The mission of the South Texas Health Clinic is to provide quality healthcare services that patients recommend to families, physicians prefer for their patients, purchasers select for their clients, and employees are proud of (STHS, 2021). The vision is to achieve the highest quality of compassionate care and advanced technology. The values that direct healthcare operations at STHS include exemplary patient care, technological advancements, patient safety, quality outcomes, and evidence-based nursing practice (South Texas Health System, n.d.). Nurse shortage is preventing the organization from realizing its mission, vision, and values. Therefore, the proposed strategic goals and outcomes will support the health system to achieve its mission, vision, and values by supporting the recruitment and retention of nurses.
Analysis of Strategic Goals and Outcomes
- The Ethical Environment
Patient safety is an important factor within the ethical environment that is affected by nurse shortage because it prevents adherence to the ethical principle of beneficence. The few nurses in the organization are overworked and they experience burnout. Burnout and work overload have been associated with medical/medication errors which undermine patient safety (Shah et al., 2021). Therefore, the proposed strategic goals and outcomes, as well as the chosen strategic model, will improve patient safety thereby enabling nurses to maximize benefits for patients.
- The Cultural Environment
The recommended strategic goals and outcomes adequately support the culture of the organization. STHS strives to embrace a culture of excellence and quality. It can best achieve this by recruiting and retaining adequate and highly qualified nurses (STHS, n.d.). The organization must first ensure that it employs adequate nurses before implementing appropriate strategies to retain them. Furthermore, by relying on its strength related to the provision of culturally-competent care, the organization will hire and retain nurses from diverse cultural backgrounds.
- The Use of Technology
STHS embraces the integration of modern technology into the healthcare delivery process. This enables it to provide quality health care to patients (STHS, 2021). The proposed strategic goals and outcomes will require the organization to utilize electronic health records technology to record and store staff data during recruitment. One of its strengths lies in the investment in electronic medical records systems and the proposed strategic goals, outcomes, and approach which strengthen this even further. Additionally, the organization will utilize technology to implement some of the employee retention strategies (Hodder, 2020). For example, it will ensure that employees have the technological tools that they require to complete tasks.
- Applicable Health Care Policies, Laws, and Regulations
Health care policies, laws, and regulations support staffing across healthcare systems and organizations. The proposed strategic goals, outcomes, and approach are adequately aligned with adequate staffing as supported by health policies, laws, and regulations. One of the policies that are guiding the activities of STHS is for healthcare providers to provide quality and safe care to all groups of patients (STHS, 2021). Besides, Nurse Practice Acts and American Nurses Association (ANA) regulations advocate for safe staffing as a strategy to improve patient outcomes in healthcare organizations (Department for Professional Employees, 2019). The proposed strategic goals, outcomes, and approach will ensure that these policies, laws, and regulations are met.
Leadership and Health Care Theories
Choosing the right leadership and health theories will help the organization to achieve the proposed strategic goals and outcomes. The most appropriate leadership theory to use is transformational leadership theory. Transformational leadership theory will help the organization to form strong relationships with stakeholders who will work together to ensure that the recommended goals and outcomes are met (Allen et al., 2016). The most appropriate healthcare theory to use is systems theory. Systems theory has successfully been used by health systems to address nurse shortages (Figueroa et al., 2019). The two theories apply to both the short-term and long-term goals of the strategic plan. The reason is that in both cases, the healthcare organization is viewed as a system whose success depends on the contributions of nurses. Again, the organization must form strong relationships with stakeholders to be able to achieve both short-term and long-term goals.
Leadership Qualities and Skills
Leaders of STHS need to possess certain leadership qualities and skills to successfully implement the proposed plan and sustain strategic direction. The most important leadership qualities and skills that they need to possess include courage, visionary leadership, and humility, decision-making abilities, critical thinking, the ability to adapt to changes. The specific qualities and skills that are essential to achieving the proposed goals and outcomes and sustaining strategic direction are visionary leadership, critical thinking, and the ability to adapt to changes (Allen et al., 2016). These three qualities and skills will have the greatest effect on the success of the plan. The reason is that the leaders must be able to set a clear vision, think critically, and direct actions that will enhance the integration of the changes into the organization’s policies and strategies.
Conclusion
Strategic planning helps healthcare organizations to achieve improvements in healthcare quality and safety. This strategic 5-year plan has focused on addressing the problem of nursing shortage at STHS. The nursing shortage is one of the issues affecting healthcare quality and safety in the organization as identified from the SWOT analysis. The proposed short-term and long-term goals to address the issue are; To hire additional nurses to fill the existing gaps within the next 6 months, and to have a 0% nurse turnover rate by 2026 respectively. Transformational leadership theory, systems theory, as well as effective leadership qualities and skills, will help the organization to achieve the proposed strategic goals and outcomes.
References
Allen, G. P., Moore, W. M., Moser, L. R., Neill, K. K., Sambamoorthi, U., & Bell, H. S. (2016). The role of servant leadership and transformational leadership in academic pharmacy. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 80(7), 113. https://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe807113
Department for Professional Employees. (2019). Safe staffing: critical for patients and nurses. https://www.dpeaflcio.org/factsheets/safe-staffing-critical-for-patients-and-nurses
Dewanto, A., & Wardhani, V. (2018). Nurse turnover and perceived causes and consequences: a preliminary study at private hospitals in Indonesia. BMC Nursing, 17, 52. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-018-0317-8
Figueroa, C.A., Harrison, R., Chauhan, A. & Meyer, L. (2019). Priorities and challenges for health leadership and workforce management globally: a rapid review. BMC Health Services Research, 19, 239. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4080-7
Hodder A. (2020). New technology, work, and employment in the era of COVID-19: reflecting on legacies of research. New Technology, Work and Employment, 10.1111/ntwe.12173. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12173
Gothelf, J. (2020). Use OKRs to set goals for teams, not individuals. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/12/use-okrs-to-set-goals-for-teams-not-individuals
Llop-Gironés, A., Vračar, A., Llop-Gironés, G., Benach, J., Angeli-Silva, L., Jaimez, L., Thapa, P., Bhatta, R., Mahindrakar, S., Bontempo Scavo, S., Nar Devi, S., Barria, S., Marcos Alonso, S., & Julià, M. (2021). Employment and working conditions of nurses: where and how health inequalities have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic? Human Resources for Health, 19(1), 112. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-021-00651-7
Lockhart, L. (2020). Strategies to reduce nursing turnover. Nursing Made Incredibly Easy, 18 (2), 56. doi: 10.1097/01.NME.0000653196.16629.2e
Shah, M. K., Gandrakota, N., Cimiotti, J. P., Ghose, N., Moore, M., & Ali, M. K. (2021). Prevalence of and factors associated with nurse burnout in the US. JAMA Network Open, 4(2):e2036469. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.36469
South Texas Health System. (n.d.). Make a difference. https://www.southtexwashealthsystem.com/careers/
South Texas Health System (STHS). (2021). About South Texas Health System. https://www.southtexashealthsystem.com/about