Write a 4-7 page analysis of your care setting that supports development of a strategic plan and includes both the discovery and dream phases of an appreciative inquiry (AI) project and a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis of the care setting.
Introduction
Identifying analysis techniques for assessing competitive advantage is important for building health care strategy. Sustaining health care competitive advantage requires that leaders understand environmental demands to assist with minimizing weakness and threats from the external environment. This assessment provides you with an opportunity to examine your health care environment to determine whether what is being accomplished in your organization, department, team, community project, or other care setting is making a positive difference.
Preparation
You have been asked to conduct an analysis of your care setting that will result in two potential pathways toward a strategic plan to improve health care quality and safety in your organization, department, team, community project, or other care setting. To accomplish this, you will take two approaches to the analysis:
Complete the discovery and dream phases of an appreciative inquiry (AI) project.
Conduct a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis.
To help ensure that your analysis is well-received, the requester has suggested that you:
Present your analysis results in four parts:
Part 1: Appreciative Inquiry Discovery and Dream.
Part 2: SWOT Analysis.
Part 3: Comparison of Approaches.
Part 4: Analysis of Relevant Leadership Characteristics and Skills.
Your analysis should be 4–7 pages in length.
Analysis 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
Communicate professionally when conducting interviews and collecting data.
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.
Include relevant interview information.
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.
Part 1: Appreciative Inquiry Discovery and Dream
Synthesize stories and evidence about times when a care setting performed at its best with regard to quality and safety goals.
Collect stories from your care setting. You may collect stories through interviews or conversations with colleagues or provide your own.
Explain how your stories are related to quality and safety goals.
Describe the evidence you have that substantiates your stories.
Identify the positive themes reflected in your stories.
Describe other evidence (for example: data, awards, accreditations) that validates your care setting\’s positive core.
Propose positive, yet attainable, quality and safety improvement goals for your care setting.
Explain how accomplishing these goals will lead to ethical and culturally-sensitive improvements in quality and safety.
Explain how your proposed goals align with your care setting\’s mission, vision, and values.
Part 2: SWOT Analysis
Conduct a SWOT analysis of your care setting, with respect to quality and safety goals.
Provide a narrative description of your analysis.
Identify the assessment tool you used as the basis of your analysis.
Describe your key findings and their relationships to quality and safety goals.
Describe one area of concern that you identified in your SWOT analysis—relevant to your care setting\’s mission, vision, and values—for which you would propose pursuing improvements.
Explain how this area of concern relates to your care setting\’s mission, vision, and values.
Explain why you believe it will be necessary and valuable to pursue improvements related to this area of concern.
Part 3: Comparison of Approaches
Compare the AI and SWOT approaches to analysis and reflect on the results.
Describe your mindset when examining your care setting from an AI perspective and from a SWOT perspective.
Describe the types of data and evidence you searched for when taking an AI approach and a SWOT approach.
Describe the similarities and differences between the two approaches when communicating and interacting with colleagues.
Part 4: Analysis of Relevant Leadership Characteristics and Skills
Analyze the leadership characteristics and skills most desired in the person leading potential performance improvement projects, taking both an AI and SWOT approach.
Explain how these characteristics and skills would help a leader facilitate a successful AI-based project and a successful SWOT-based project.
Comment on any shared characteristics or skills you identified as helpful for both AI and SWOT approaches.
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.
Analyze the leadership characteristics and skills most desired in the person leading potential performance improvement projects, taking both an appreciative inquiry (AI) and a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) approach.
Competency 2: Apply strategies to lead high-performing health care teams to meet organizational quality and safety goals.
Synthesize stories and evidence about times when a care setting performed at its best with regard to quality and safety goals.
Conduct a SWOT analysis of a care setting, with respect to quality and safety goals.
Describe an area of concern identified in a SWOT analysis—relevant to a care setting\’s mission, vision, and values—that should be improved.
Compare the AI and SWOT approaches to analysis with regard to data gathering and interactions with others.
Competency 3: Apply cultural, ethical, and regulatory considerations to leadership decision making.
Propose positive, attainable quality and safety improvement goals for a care setting.
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.
Care Setting Environmental Analysis
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course
Instructor’s Name
Date
Care Setting Environmental Analysis
Introduction
Healthcare is one of the workplaces where safety and quality are highly regarded. A healthcare setting represents a broad range of services and places where healthcare happens, including urgent care centers, acute care hospitals, nursing homes, and others (STHS, 2021). The objective of this paper is to provide an analysis of a healthcare organization, including an appreciative Inquiry (AI), SWOT analysis, comparison of appreciative Inquiry (AI) and SWOT analysis, and relevant leadership characteristics. This analysis will focus on the South Texas Health Clinic.
Appreciative Inquiry Discovery and Dream Phase
South Texas Health System (STHS) is a regional multi-hospital system that has earned a reputation for excellence in providing quality healthcare to residents of the Rio Grande Valley. The appreciative inquiry (AI) discovery phase allows the staff to reflect on the past skills and policies that have enabled them to attain knowledge (Hung et al., 2018). The discovery phase of appreciative inquiry allows the professionals to be more familiar with the organization. At South Texas Health Clinic, an interview session was held for its employees. During the session, employees told stories and experiences related to working conditions. All healthcare professionals including nurses, paramedics, physicians, technicians, and administrators were involved (STHS, 2021). The employees were happy about their working environment as well as leadership and cultural activities.
Employees agreed that the care setting has out in place measures to reduce medication errors through the use of an electronic health record system, and supervision, and medication reconciliation. These practices are elements of quality healthcare. Medication error is one of the quality indicators in a healthcare organization (STHS, 2021). The goal of these best practices is to enhance the quality and safety of care. The organization improved holds employee staff meetings to brief them on any quality improvement measurements and new systems introduced in the setting (STHS, 2021). The goals for the meetings and other mentioned practices are to have zero medication errors and have interviews and education information every four months on medication error prevention.
SWOT Analysis
| Strengths
· Investment in electronic medical record system. · Qualified physician · Highly skilled nurses · Provide culturally competent care. |
Weakness
· High cost of medical care. · Nurse shortages · lack of diversity among care providers. |
| Opportunities
· Growing healthcare programs in the community. · Collaboration with other healthcare networks. |
Threats
increase in 24-hour minor emergency clinics opening across the community. Lower cost of care from other hospitals. |
Continuous improvement is important in a healthcare setting to make it function effectively. Weakness, opportunity, and threat (SWOT) analysis help organizational leaders to make decisions towards addressing the main problems that the business or the organization faces. South Texas Health Clinic has been operational since 2001 and has served diverse communities (STHS, 2021). Open-ended questionnaires were used to assess employees to come up with a more accurate SWOT analysis. Employees were able to state what they thought are organizational Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
The answers were analyzed and most repeated points were considered more accurate. For instance, if two-third of the respondent mentioned nurse shortage as a weakness, then it would be selected as a weakness. The findings related to the SWOT analysis are that the healthcare organization is committed to reducing medication errors which is why it has invested in an electronic health record system (STHS, 2021). It also provides compassionate, culturally diverse care. Furthermore, the care setting has highly skilled healthcare providers. These findings promote the quality of care provided at the clinic. Based on these findings, it is correct to conclude that the healthcare facility provides quality care.
Concerns identified that affect the mission, vision, and values of South Texas Health Clinic include high cost of care and nurse shortages. 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. High medical costs and nurse shortages may hinder the hospital from achieving these goals. Improving these areas of concern is important to help the organization achieve its vision and mission. It will help improve both patients’ and employees’ satisfaction.
Comparison of AI and SWOT
Appreciative Inquiry in comparison to SWOT analysis takes different approaches. SWOT analysis provides the bigger picture of the strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the company or organization (Vlados & Chatzinikolaou, 2019). It focuses on a balanced approach of the positives and the negatives, embracing both and analyzing itself inside and out. Appreciative inquiry allows one to look at what is already working within the organization. AI doesn’t allow the team to dwell on what is going wrong but encourages forward-thinking (Hung et al., 2018). SWOT analysis reflects the organization’s benefits and deficits, while appreciative inquiry focuses on the current and asks more specific questions, such as how the hospital deals with safety issues or medication errors.
Carrying out appreciative inquiry will help South Texas Health Clinic to improve policies and processes to retain current employees as well as their positive attitude towards the organization (STHS, 2021). As a result, more employees will apply as more patients register at the center. SWOT analysis will also help plan for the future of the organization by managing both internal and external environments.
Analysis of Relevant Leadership Characteristics and Skills
The healthcare facilities under the South Texas Health Clinic System set expectations, policies, standards, and goals, to ensure the smooth running of the organization. In every organization, there are leaders to help the whole organization achieve its objectives (STHS, 2021). Leaders at the South Texas Health Clinic must have three qualities, such as courage, vision, and humility to help the organization achieve its goals. Other leadership competencies that are required include critical thinking, the ability to make sound decisions, and the ability to adapt to changes. Leadership qualities should not differ when taking on AI or SWOT approach because both are important in initiating a positive change in the organization (Vlados & Chatzinikolaou, 2019). The South Texas Health Clinic encourages its employees to embrace continued education to boost their skills. The leadership must motivate employees and listen to their concerns to improve retention (STHS, 2021). Leaders are developed through education, experience, and desire to become mentors, role models, and inspire change.
Conclusion
Analysis of care setting environment is important to improve quality of care. This paper focuses on the South Texas Health Clinic. The appreciative inquiry and dream phase analysis revealed that the organization does much effort to prevent medication errors. SWOT analysis revealed some strengths, such as investment in electronic medical record systems, qualified physicians, highly skilled nurses, and others. SWOT analysis provides the bigger picture of the organization while AI asks more specific questions. The healthcare organization requires important leadership competencies to achieve its goals.
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