Running head: IDENTIFYING A CHANGE PROJECT 1 IDENTIFYING A CHANGE PROJECT 4 Identifying a Change Project Name Institution What is the difference between leadership activities and management activities: Leadership can be described as the conduct of a person when guiding the activities of a given group towards a common goal. The main concept of roles of leadership is based on impacting group activities and adjusting to change Sullivan, E. J. (2013. There is a challenge when considering leadership in the healthcare context because most theories are not formed within the healthcare framework for they were normally established for business contexts and later applied to the healthcare. Management can simply be defined as the process that managers utilize to realize organizational goals. It’s the process of achieving organizational set goals through the available resources. How do management and leadership activities contribute to the success of change initiatives: The activities involved in this process include planning, staffing, organizing, directing, controlling, and making decisions in the operations of the system to attain anticipated result and improve its entire performance. Management involves a combination of steps to follow to achieve the set requirements. Leaders look for suitable ways of doing things for instance they will establish the goals and purposes for the people (American Nurses Association, 2010; Sullivan, 2013). Anyone can be a leader without necessarily being in an authority position. Transformational leadership is necessary along with good management of staff and resources. This entails committing individuals to action, converting those under you into leaders and converting the leaders themselves into change agents. It has less to do with use of power to pressure and suppress others in order to achieve result. Instead, it involves empowering them to understand and own the vision of the organization and trusting them to work towards the goals that profit not just themselves but the organization in general (Sullivan, 2013). In nursing empowerment would result to enhanced patient care, reduced sick days, and less attrition. Through this, the staff will have higher job satisfaction and there will be higher retention of staff amongst there nursing functions. What change projects are needed in your agency at this time? Among the changes required is to ensure nurses practice to the full capacity of their education and training and programs to be formed to ensure nurses attain higher training to much the growing demands in the sector. These can only be achieved through good leadership and proper management. The Company that I work for currently is an insurance company and as a registered nurse case management, there is always area of change especially in reaching pat.

1. Running head: IDENTIFYING A CHANGE PROJECT 1
IDENTIFYING A CHANGE PROJECT
4
Identifying a Change Project
Name
Institution
What is the difference between leadership activities and
management activities:
Leadership can be described as the conduct of a person when
guiding the activities of a given group towards a common goal.
The main concept of roles of leadership is based on impacting
group activities and adjusting to change Sullivan, E. J. (2013.
There is a challenge when considering leadership in the
healthcare context because most theories are not formed within
the healthcare framework for they were normally established for
business contexts and later applied to the healthcare.

2. Management can simply be defined as the process that managers
utilize to realize organizational goals. It’s the process of
achieving organizational set goals through the available
resources.
How do management and leadership activities contribute to the
success of change initiatives:
The activities involved in this process include planning,
staffing, organizing, directing, controlling, and making
decisions in the operations of the system to attain anticipated
result and improve its entire performance. Management involves
a combination of steps to follow to achieve the set
requirements. Leaders look for suitable ways of doing things for
instance they will establish the goals and purposes for the
people (American Nurses Association, 2010; Sullivan, 2013).
Anyone can be a leader without necessarily being in an
authority position.
Transformational leadership is necessary along with good
management of staff and resources. This entails committing
individuals to action, converting those under you into leaders
and converting the leaders themselves into change agents. It has
less to do with use of power to pressure and suppress others in
order to achieve result. Instead, it involves empowering them to
understand and own the vision of the organization and trusting
them to work towards the goals that profit not just themselves
but the organization in general (Sullivan, 2013). In nursing
empowerment would result to enhanced patient care, reduced
sick days, and less attrition.
Through this, the staff will have higher job satisfaction and
there will be higher retention of staff amongst there nursing
functions.
What change projects are needed in your agency at this time?
Among the changes required is to ensure nurses practice to the
full capacity of their education and training and programs to be
formed to ensure nurses attain higher training to much the
growing demands in the sector. These can only be achieved
through good leadership and proper management. The Company

3. that I work for currently is an insurance company and as a
registered nurse case management, there is always area of
change especially in reaching patients who had just been
discharge in a timely manner so that gap in their discharge
instructions, medications reconciliation and other issues can be
address to avoid readmission.
Which project will I select for my practicum change project:
I will select the benefit of reaching patient within 2 days of
hospital discharge in reducing chance of readmission
References
American Nurses Association (2010).Nursing: Scope &
standards of practice. Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses
Association. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases
Sullivan, E. J. (2013). Effective leadership and management in
nursing. (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall
Running head: QUALITY OR SAFETY ISSUE IN UNITED
HEALTHCARE SYSTEM 1
QUALITY OR SAFETY ISSUE IN UNITED HEALTHCARE
SYSTEM 2
Quality or Safety Issue in the United Healthcare System
Student’s Name
Institution
Course Instructor
Date
Safety Issue
The lack of knowledge of managing certain conditions reported
by patients in a health care institution can pose greater safety
hazard to both the affected and unaffected patients. This also
compromises the quality of the services offered by an institution

4. (Sullivan,2013).
One of the safety issues faced by United Health Care system is
that practicing nurses lacked knowledge on Skin and wound
care management. Because of this, they also did not know how
to operate wound care equipment.
What Data did you use to Identify the Safety Issue?
Collection of data is important in the process of identifying a
safety issue. Once data have been collected; evaluation is done
so as to identify a safety issue and thereafter come up with ways
of addressing the safety issue.
In this case, the data used to identify the safety issue was the
number of nursing staff that participated in the educational
activities involving skin care issues and wound care
management. In addition, nurses filled questionnaires in the on
skin and wound care management processes; skin and wound
care management systems and equipments. Results from the
evaluation of these questionnaires informed the conclusion that
lack of proper knowledge of skin and wound care management
was indeed a safety issue.
How will the Practicum Change Project Address the Safety
Issue?
The Practicum Change Project will address this safety issue
firstly by procurement of hospital equipment to be used for skin
care and wound management. The institution’s procurement
system would also be adjusted to involve the top management
more in the process.
Secondly, setting up a system through which all nurses and their
managers will report skin care and wound management cases

5. accurately and on time. This will assist in the close monitoring
and evaluation of these cases (Sullivan, 2013). Because of the
knowledge gap that exists in this safety issue, the hospital
management, through the change project will allocate resources
to source for qualified staff. The qualified staff will train the
nurses and their managers on the reporting system for some time
and then exit after the knowledge gap has been bridged.
Conclusion
Finally, clear and constant communication will be maintained as
this will be the most important step in addressing the safety
matter. This will ensure that the management keeps abreast on
matters of skin care and wound management. Thus, the nurses
will be constantly reminded and sensitized on the requirements
and importance of the issue to the success of the change
project. Current wound care expertise encompasses numerous
dressing-related skills including, treating the cause of the
wound and addressing patient centered concerns to set the stage
for local wound care, Properly assessing the wound and
identifying the dressing requirements, selecting dressings based
on their form and function for an individual wound’s need, and
meeting setting-specific requirements for dressing change
frequency and maintenance. There is always a safety risk if the
nurse is not able to follow the above step, when wrong dressing
changing material is used; when wound is not properly staged
and poor wound information is provided to the patient.
Dressings alone will not promote wound healing, unless the
underlying cause(s) for the wound are also addressed (e.g.
treatment of the wound cause, blood supply, nutrition, patient
centered concerns, local wound care etc.). As the wound
changes, the plan of care must change and dressing products
may have to be changed and this is where effective
communication
References

6. Course Text: Guide to the Code of Ethics for Nurses:
Interpretation and Application Retrieved from the Walden
Library databases.
Sullivan, E. J. (2013). Effective leadership and management in
nursing. (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall
Running Head: CHANGE PROJECT RESOURCES BUDGET
1
CHANGE PROJECT RESOURCES BUDGET
2
Change Project Resources Budget
Student’s Name
Institution
Course Instructor
Date

7. Change Project Resources Budget
Implementing a change that improves the way an organization
performs work may sometimes come with the requirement of
heavy resource inputs. Without the proper checks and balances,
the change may counterproductive in terms of economy. In the
light of this, this paper evaluates the budgetary estimates for the
proposed change at the United Healthcare Group.
In a bid to reduce the readmission rates in the United Healthcare
Group, it is imperative that follow-up calls are made to the
released patients. The successful implementation of the change
calls for additional resources in a number of areas. The
resources have to be allocated their respective amounts, which
should reflect in their different budgets, such as capital
budgeting, salary budget, and the operating budget (Sullivan,
2012).
The change project involves the implementation of post-
discharge calls to monitor patients, hence prevent readmissions.
Thus, the hospital needs resources that include personnel,
equipment, technology, and travel in some instances.
Additionally, Sullivan (2012) argues that employee motivation
and continual development helps improve the job performance.
As such, the hospital will be required to put additional
resources for the purposes of employee motivation and
education.
Telephone calls will require the installation of an additional
four telephone lines in the hospital, specifically for the follow-
up calls. The hospital will incur the purchase cost of $500 for
the phones. The installation cost will amount to $100. The
maintenance and the subscription fees for the phones will be
about $300 per year. Thus, the hospital will incur a capital
budget of $600 for the telephone lines, acquisition, and $300
operating budget for the telephones.
The change involves keeping in touch with discharge patients

8. through telephone calls. As such, the hospital will need to
employ additional staff, in the form of nurses, who will
supplement the existing body nurses in assessing the patients to
be put on the follow-up program and making the calls. In this
area, the hospital will need to add an additional two nurses.
These will reinforce the existing workforce, who will be used to
make the required follow-up calls and offer the necessary
instructions. Additional tasks require the addition of staff
(Sullivan, 2012). The salaries of the staff will be about $8400
for the additional staff. Thus, the hospital will incur an
additional $8400 salary budget for the program.
Education for the nursing staff will be required so as they are
acquainted with communicating with the patients, assessing
their condition remotely, making critical decisions and offering
the necessary instructions to the patients. Thus, a seminar to
educate the nurses on phone etiquette, the questions to ask and
the kind of information to guide on will be held. This exercise
will cost the hospital about $1000, for a week’s education of the
nurses at the hospital premises. The change entails the
introduction of tasks that the nurses were not accustomed to,
which requires the enrichment of their knowledge (Sullivan,
2012).
The major objective of the project is to reduce the instances of
hospital readmissions for the patients. As such, the nurses may
be called to task by visiting some of the patients in their homes,
depending on their conditions. Such cases are expected to be
very few. As such, the hospital will set aside $1000 per year for
such visits as the need arise.
Budget Summary
Category
Budget type
Cost
Telephone acquisition and installation
Capital Budget
$600
Phone maintenance and subscription

9. Operating budget
$400/year
Staff education
Capital budget
$1000
Salary for additional staff
Salary budget
$8400/month
Travel
Operating budget
$1000/year
Total
$11,400
This project is very interesting to me because as nurses, we face
are faced with the challenge preventing skin tear and breakdown
with incontinent patients. Continuous exposure to urine and
feces is one of the most common causes of skin breakdown. The
chemical present in these waste products have an effect on the
skin making it fragile and causing it to break and injure easily,
so changing patient’s position and keeping them dry is very
crucial in preventing this problem. But because of cost, proper
method are not utilize. Even though the chux are less expensive
but the frequent use of barrier ointment or moisture sealants
available in the market which are helpful for they form a
protective barrier on the skin can become expensive, retraining
staff members and new employees on skincare and prevention of
decubs can also incur some expenses.
References
Sullivan, E. J. (2012). Effective leadership and management in
nursing (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

10. Running Head: COLLABORATIVE AND COMMUNICATION
STRATEGIES 1
COLLABORATIVE AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
3
Collaborative and Communication Strategies
Student’s Name
Institution
Course Instructor
Date
Collaborative and Communication Strategies
Change in an integral process for any organization aiming to
continually the quality of its service delivery. This paper
presents how effective communication and collaboration with

11. other stakeholders are critical to the implementation of a change
at the United Healthcare Group, which entails the introduction
of post-discharge calls aimed at preventing further patient
readmissions.
At the multidisciplinary meeting to evaluate the hospital how
the institution could improve the inpatients’ experience at the
hospital teamwork. The institution’s medical director acted as
the meeting coordinator, who employed a democratic leadership
style. The leader allowed the input of every participant in the
discussion. Conflicts in the form of disagreements were solved
through compromise (Losa Iglesias & Bengoa Vallejo, 2012).
The decision and counterarguments were based on the principles
of nursing. At the end, the group proposed a plan to improve the
patient experience at the institution.
The interview with the director of the pharmacy division of the
institution proved much insightful. The director describes
himself as a servant leader, who is focused on the achievement
of the hospital goals and upholding of its values (Sullivan,
2012). The leader argued that communication is critical to
influencing the workforce, which is why he endeavors to pass
important messages through face-to-face communication. The
leader believes in the uniqueness of every member of his
department and works towards harnessing their different
strengths.
The proposed change at the institution calls for the involvement
of every stakeholder; from the top-level management, nursing
staff to the patients. The Rogers Theory will help implement the
change in phases, which will enable its evaluation and
modification (Sullivan, 2012). The theory enables the change to
be tried, and its benefits realized which would influence its
adoption (Sullivan, 2012). The multidisciplinary team will help
refine the change to make it compatible with every department,
which will help in its swift adoption. The best way to
communicate the project is through the multidisciplinary team
meetings. The leaders will then relay the change to their staff
after the discussions, which will facilitate its support by the

12. staff.
References
Losa Iglesias, M., & Becerro De Bengoa Vallejo, R. (2012).
Conflict resolution styles in the nursing profession.
Contemporary Nurse: A Journal For The Australian Nursing
Profession, 43(1), 73-80. doi:10.5172/conu.2012.43.1.73.
Sullivan, E. J. (2012). Effective leadership and management in
nursing (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Running Head: CHANGE IMPLEMENTATION
1
CHANGE IMPLEMENTATION
2
Change Implementation
Student’s Name
Institution
Course Instructor
Date

13. Change Implementation
Change is inevitable in any sphere of life. In the healthcare
sector, change is even more critical. The dynamic nature of
technologies, the healthcare sector, and health care
requirements necessitate for any healthcare institution review
its practice and adopt the best available. This paper addresses
change in a hospital setup.
Several change theories exist, which help implement varying
nature of changes in hospitals (Sullivan, 2012). The most useful
theory of change applied to my place of practice, The United
Healthcare Group, is the Roger’s theory. The Roger’s Theory,
also referred to as the Diffusion of Innovation Theory, was
advanced by Rogers and entails a description of the process by
which people in any setup respond to change (Sullivan, 2012).
The Theory describes five steps towards the adoption of a
change, which comprise the creation of awareness stage,
interest creation, evaluation of effectiveness, implementation
and the adoption stages (Sullivan, 2012).
My project entails the introduction of post-discharge calls to
monitor the patients and help prevent hospital readmissions.
The Roger’s Change Theory allows a stepwise evaluation of the
project progress. This helps the change process to be modified
as necessary during the implementation process.
The United Healthcare Group’s mission is to provide people
with healthier lives and make convenient the health care system
cost effectively. The Group seeks to uphold integrity,
compassion, relationships, performance and innovation as its
core values. The vision to provide a high value of service to
their clients and become the medical center of choice guides the
group. The change aims to improve the patients’ health while
reducing incidences of re-hospitalization. This is in line with

14. hospitals mission and values. Moreover, the follow-up leads to
an improved quality life, which is in line with the institution’s
vision.
References
Sullivan, E. J. (2012). Effective leadership and management in
nursing (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson