Change Implementation
The struggle within our organization regarding uninterrupted meal breaks centers around the coordination of who goes when and who covers who. Per Hospital Corporation of America policy (2010), meal periods must be at least thirty minutes, patient care needs permitting, and are considered unpaid time. If the meal break is interrupted to perform work-related duties, then the employee is to be paid for the entire meal break. This policy gives each unit leeway in how to schedule and coordinate these breaks while ensuring patient care needs are met. Each unit functions differently, basic guidelines regarding communication expectations between nurses when going on break should be developed to ensure patient care needs are met and patient safety remains the priority. Communication regarding when staff will go to break, who will be responsible for covering and a brief hand-off to the covering nurse should be expected at minimum on each unit. The use of “teams” has been effective in the intensive care unit in determining who covers who for breaks and when leaving the unit with a patient. The “team” or “buddy” concept is loosely used on several other units but ineffective in that there is a major lack of communication between these individuals. Something as simple as communication between individuals could greatly improve the frequency and actual likelihood of an …show more content…
Kotter’s Model of Change is based on Lewin’s theory of change, each step of Kotter’s model fits into a stage of Lewin’s theory. Steps one through four are considered stage one, steps five through seven are considered stage two and step eights is considered the stage three. (Grossman & Valiga, 2013) Kotter’s and Lewin’s theories focus on communication with those affected by the change and generating buy-in to make a change successful and part of the
The struggle within our organization regarding uninterrupted meal breaks centers around the coordination of who goes when and who covers who. Per Hospital Corporation of America policy (2010), meal periods must be at least thirty minutes, patient care needs permitting, and are considered unpaid time. If the meal break is interrupted to perform work-related duties, then the employee is to be paid for the entire meal break. This policy gives each unit leeway in how to schedule and coordinate these breaks while ensuring patient care needs are met. Each unit functions differently, basic guidelines regarding communication expectations between nurses when going on break should be developed to ensure patient care needs are met and patient safety remains the priority. Communication regarding when staff will go to break, who will be responsible for covering and a brief hand-off to the covering nurse should be expected at minimum on each unit. The use of “teams” has been effective in the intensive care unit in determining who covers who for breaks and when leaving the unit with a patient. The “team” or “buddy” concept is loosely used on several other units but ineffective in that there is a major lack of communication between these individuals. Something as simple as communication between individuals could greatly improve the frequency and actual likelihood of an …show more content…
Kotter’s Model of Change is based on Lewin’s theory of change, each step of Kotter’s model fits into a stage of Lewin’s theory. Steps one through four are considered stage one, steps five through seven are considered stage two and step eights is considered the stage three. (Grossman & Valiga, 2013) Kotter’s and Lewin’s theories focus on communication with those affected by the change and generating buy-in to make a change successful and part of the