Implementation Plan of a Hospital

As an administrator, I am aware that the number of cases of post-op wound infections among surgical patients is increasing. This is due to a lack of timely application of certain medicines, which raises the risk of infection. According to the Center for Medicare and Medical Sciences (CMS), if antibiotics are provided by IV, patients will have a good recovery process; the wound infection rate will be reduced by 47% with the use of the newly found antibiotic. Furthermore, this new strategy will help the hospital save approximately $28,000 per year, which will be used to improve the facility's equipment usage. Thus, it is important to engage all the hospital stakeholders in adopting the change.

Stakeholders involved

There are key players in the hospital that must be included in the engagement process in order to ensure the implementation plan is successful. The pharmacist is the one who provide prescribed drugs to patients in the hospital; he must be informed about the new antibiotic so that he provides it to the patients and medics (Carr, Howells, Chang, Hirji, & English, 2009). The Pre-op nurse is also a key player; he/she prepares a patient for surgery session; it is important that the nurses are informed about the drug so that they inject it to patients. The surgeon who operates on patients must be informed of the drug to know about its significance. Another stakeholder included is the financial analyst who keeps records of costs incurred in drugs and equipment. He will be informed about the efficiency of the new antibiotic in reducing costs.

After informing the stakeholders of the needed change, they all had varied views. It was encouraging that the pharmacist and the financial analyst had a positive response towards the change. While the analyst recommended the change for its financial efficiency, the pharmacist was happy about the fact that the new antibiotic will reduce would infection in future, and as such, was important for consideration. The pre-op nurse and the surgeon, however, did not approve the proposed change. The nurse felt that more responsibility will be added to her schedule, and had great concern of possible delay of surgery if the drug is not delivered on time. The surgeon similarly disapproved the change feeling that the current system is okay.

In order to influence their perception and convince them of the significance of the change, my response to the stakeholders is that all their concerns were valid, and are taken into consideration but the new change is important since it will improve healthcare efficiency in the hospital (Carr, Howells, Chang, Hirji, & English, 2009). It will not only provide better care for the patients, but also reduce costs incurred by the hospital while conducting surgeries. All the players felt that it was actually important to use the antibiotic with all the benefits listed except for the surgeon. Thus, the nurse suggested the need to have pre-preparation of the IVs so that they only insert needles to patients; this will reduce the time needed for the new activity, and at the same time improve efficiency of surgery (Brailsford, Bolt, Connell, Klein, & Patel, 2009). The surgeon’s concern was that other surgeon may not adopt the change, especially for the fact that they are not aware of the benefits. In addition, he needed to see the data showing the benefits and how the previous surgery session resulted in increased wound infection.

Communication with stakeholders

The hospital will ensure that the players are informed about the change every day as well a provision of directions on how to administer the introduced antibiotic. This is important in order to increase their confidence towards adopting a new change. As an administrator, I will ensure I meet with all the stakeholders after every lunch break to discuss the change and its benefits. The players will also be provided with information regarding the previous cases of pot-surgery infections. The surgeon, in particular, will help me review the data from different hospitals within the same locality; this will easily convince him of the need for a change to improve care.

Evaluation criteria

In order to ensure that the change is adopted, and that the stakeholders consider the change, there will be a need enforce the change and establish accountability. Key enforcers will include metrics and reports (Carr, Howells, Chang, Hirji, & English, 2009). After the implementation of the change, every player will report their progress weekly, as well as the possible challenges faced while administering the new antibiotic. There will also be a need to meet every Friday evening with the players; the team meeting will address the concerns raised and any need for improvement while implementing the change. Another fundamental aspect of evaluating the change success is to measure progress (Brailsford, Bolt, Connell, Klein, & Patel, 2009). With a goal of reducing wound infection by 20% in the first year of implementation, a Net Promoter Score will be established to measure the progress of the stakeholders. There will be an annual celebration as well as reward of successful players when the goal is met.

Timeframes

Various activities will be engaged in the implementation process. Educating the players and influencing their perception of the new change will take approximately 3 months. Drafting a plan for implementing the change will take another 1 month. The introduction of the new antibiotic in the hospital for administration including training of the nurses and stocking them at the pharmacy will take three months. The monitoring period will be after 1 year of implementation. This is presented in the table below.

Activity

Timeframe

Soliciting the players towards the change

3 months

Drafting a plan for implementation

1 month

Soliciting funds for the project

3 months

Introduction of the antibiotic in the hospital

12 months

References

Carr, D., Howells, A., Chang, M., Hirji, N., & English, A. (2009). An integrated approach to stakeholder engagement. Healthc Q, 12, 62-70.

Brailsford, S. C., Bolt, T., Connell, C., Klein, J. H., & Patel, B. (2009, December). Stakeholder engagement in health care simulation. In winter simulation conference (pp. 1840-1849). Winter Simulation Conference.