Running head: CAPSTONE PROJECT 1 CAPSTONE PROJECT 3 Capstone Project Topic Selection: Improving Workflow for Nurses Working in Primary Care Settings Capstone Project Topic Selection and Approval Problem or Issue One of the major problems that affect nurses is improving workflow in a busy environment. When nurses are few and, healthcare professionals often face work overload. This has the potential to affect the quality of care given to patients in busy environments. When workload is high, efficiency reduces, thus making nurses vulnerable to errors (Cain & Haque, 2009). The healthcare sector has often faced a lot of demands to develop or reestablish its workflow. In many situations, the desire for evaluating workflow is the need to respond to new ways in which tasks are completed. There are various workflow issues that continue to face nurses in their working environments. They include challenges related to providing services to critically ill patients, and emergence of multidisciplinary teams in care. In such environments, all healthcare professionals struggle with the need to implement change that makes the care team more patient-centered. Setting/ Context The context under which this problem is common is primary care setting. Primary care settings are those that provide medical and psychological diagnosis and treatment. Primary healthcare settings are also involved in the provision of personal support for patients of all backgrounds, and in all stages of illness (Goroll & Mulley, 2012).  In primary healthcare settings, nurses and other professionals are involved in the communication of information about prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis, as well as the prevention and care of chronic disease and disabilities through risk evaluation, health education, and early disease detection. High-Level Detail of the Problem Nurses operating in primary healthcare settings are often overburdened with many tasks that interfere with the workflow. This is particularly true when they are working in multidisciplinary teams that require coordination and cohesion. In such cases, it might be difficult to clearly determine each professional’s roles and responsibilities (Hickey & Kritek, 2011).  At the same time, when the number of nurses is few, the available one’s face stress and physical strain that might interfere with the quality of care given to patients and increase likelihood of errors. In an environment where technological interventions do not sufficiently meet the objectives of healthcare groups, it might also cause workflow issues. Such alternative flows arouse worries since the non-formal mechanisms depend upon the health professionals’ memory and may overlook the safety systems that might be offered. Impact of the Problem Workflow issues often generate vinous negative impacts on both the nurses and the patients. For instance, poor coordination among healthcare professionals can result in errors that pose many harms to the pa ...

1. Running head: CAPSTONE PROJECT 1
CAPSTONE PROJECT 3
Capstone Project Topic Selection: Improving Workflow for
Nurses Working in Primary
Care Settings
Capstone Project Topic Selection and Approval
Problem or Issue
One of the major problems that affect nurses is improving
workflow in a busy environment. When nurses are few and,
healthcare professionals often face work overload. This has the
potential to affect the quality of care given to patients in busy
environments. When workload is high, efficiency reduces, thus
making nurses vulnerable to errors (Cain & Haque, 2009). The
healthcare sector has often faced a lot of demands to develop or
reestablish its workflow. In many situations, the desire for
evaluating workflow is the need to respond to new ways in
which tasks are completed. There are various workflow issues
that continue to face nurses in their working environments.
They include challenges related to providing services to
critically ill patients, and emergence of multidisciplinary teams
in care. In such environments, all healthcare professionals
struggle with the need to implement change that makes the care
team more patient-centered.
Setting/ Context

2. The context under which this problem is common is primary
care setting. Primary care settings are those that provide
medical and psychological diagnosis and treatment. Primary
healthcare settings are also involved in the provision of
personal support for patients of all backgrounds, and in all
stages of illness (Goroll & Mulley, 2012). In primary
healthcare settings, nurses and other professionals are involved
in the communication of information about prevention,
diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis, as well as the prevention
and care of chronic disease and disabilities through risk
evaluation, health education, and early disease detection.
High-Level Detail of the Problem
Nurses operating in primary healthcare settings are often
overburdened with many tasks that interfere with the workflow.
This is particularly true when they are working in
multidisciplinary teams that require coordination and cohesion.
In such cases, it might be difficult to clearly determine each
professional’s roles and responsibilities (Hickey & Kritek,
2011). At the same time, when the number of nurses is few, the
available one’s face stress and physical strain that might
interfere with the quality of care given to patients and increase
likelihood of errors. In an environment where technological
interventions do not sufficiently meet the objectives of
healthcare groups, it might also cause workflow issues. Such
alternative flows arouse worries since the non-formal
mechanisms depend upon the health professionals’ memory and
may overlook the safety systems that might be offered.
Impact of the Problem
Workflow issues often generate vinous negative impacts on both
the nurses and the patients. For instance, poor coordination
among healthcare professionals can result in errors that pose
many harms to the patients. In addition, work overload for
nurses can result in stress and strain, thereby reducing their
level of performance and productivity. In some primary care
settings, nurses spend time in non-valuable activities that only
reduce the time for attending to patients (Nelson & Watson,

3. 2011). This can also result in poor quality of health delivered to
patients.
Importance of improving workflow
Workflows influence how specific tasks are carried out. How a
given task is organized and structured affects the way in which
nurses deliver their duties. Therefore, improving the workflow
can be important in facilitating a positive working environment
for nurses and other healthcare professionals (Renolen et al.
2018). When nurses operate in efficient processes, they increase
their possibility to improve the health outcomes and quality of
care.
Proposed
Solution
One of the major steps that can be taken to improve workflow in
primary healthcare setting is to break down the tasks. The
nurses’ tasks should be broken down in details and recorded on
the task breakdown sheets (Isono et al. 2017). Nurses should
also be trained to improve their performance and satisfaction
(Burnard, Morisson & Gluyas, 2011) In addition, technologies
should be introduced to support efficiency in workflow and
coordination among different healthcare professionals (Cain &
Haque, 2009).There is need for professionals to use technology
to interact and build on each other’s contribution to patient are
(Hoy & Frith, 2017). Examples of these technologies may
include health information systems, and communication

4. technologies.
References
Burnard, P., Morrison, P., & Gluyas, H. (2011). Nursing
Research in Action: exploring,
understanding and developing skills. London: Palgrave
Macmillan.Cain, C., & Haque, S. (2009). Organizational
workflow and its impact on work quality. Patient Safety and
Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses.
Goroll, A. H., & Mulley, A. G. (2012). Primary care medicine:
office evaluation and
management of the adult patient. New York: Lippincott
Williams & Wilkins.
Hickey, M., & Kritek, P. B. (2011). Change leadership in
nursing: How change occurs in a
complex hospital system. New York: Springer Publishing
Company.
Hoy, H., & Frith, K. (2017). Applied clinical informatics for
nurses. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett
Learning.
Isono, H., Suzuki, S., Ogura, J., Haruta, J., & Maeno, T. (2017).
Improving the workflow of
nursing assistants at a general hospital in Japan. BMJ Open
Qual, 6(2), e000106.
Nelson, J., & Watson, J. (2011). Measuring caring: International

5. research on caritas as healing.
New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Renolen, Å., Høye, S., Hjälmhult, E., Danbolt, L. J., &
Kirkevold, M. (2018). “Keeping on
track”—Hospital nurses’ struggles with maintaining workflow
while seeking to integrate
evidence-based practice into their daily work: A grounded
theory study. International
journal of nursing studies, 77, 179-188.