As the country focuses on the restructuring of the U.S. health care delivery system, nurses will continue to play an important role. It is expected that more and more nursing jobs will become available out in the community, and fewer will be available in acute care hospitals.

1. Write an informal presentation (500-700 words) to educate nurses about how the practice of nursing is expected to grow and change. Include the concepts of continuity or continuum of care, accountable care organizations (ACO), medical homes, and nurse-managed health clinics.
2. Share your presentation with nurse colleagues on your unit or department and ask them to offer their impressions of the anticipated changes to health care delivery and the new role of nurses in hospital settings, communities, clinics, and medical homes.
3. In 800-1,000 words summarize the feedback shared by three nurse colleagues and discuss whether their impressions are consistent with what you have researched about health reform.
4. A minimum of three scholarly references are required for this assignment.

While APA format is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA documentation guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

Discussion: Process Flow Analysis

Have you ever encountered a process that had too many steps or was overly complicated? Perhaps you examined the process and looked for areas where you could remove steps or simplify its flow. If you did, you were conducting a process flow analysis. Process analysis is an important step in determining the financial well-being of an organization and pinpointing areas where changes could help improve the bottom line. In this Assignment, you will create a process flow analysis (also known as workflow diagramming) for an activity in your own organization (or one with which you are familiar).

To prepare:

• Review the information in the Learning Resources (including the Media) for this week dealing with how to perform a process flow analysis.
• Identify a process that is completed on a consistent basis in your organization (or one with which you are familiar). Examples of a process include such things as how a patient is moved through the system, or what must occur to prepare an examination room or hospital room for the next patient.
• Create a simple flow analysis map detailing the process using Microsoft Word using one of the methods below:
• Select SmartArt from the Insert menu and select a diagram that matches the flowchart structure you would like to use.
• Select Shapes from theInsert menu and select the shape that matches the flowchart piece you would like to use. Continue inserting shapes and connect them using the arrow shapes.
• Reflect on the ease or difficulty of obtaining the necessary information to create your flow analysis map.
• Identify “white space” as defined in the article, “Hospital Operating System: Unleashing Throughput Potential” found in the Learning Resources for this week.
• Determine strategies for improving the process flow.
• Reflect on the role of the process flow analysis in financial decision making and how it can have positive impacts on the process. Attach your Flow Analysis Map to your Discussion post.

Describe the process you analyzed and how you went about gathering the necessary information to create your flow analysis map. Identify specific areas of white space that need to be addressed and propose strategies for improving the process. Analyze how process flow analysis can be a useful tool in financial decision making and the ramifications of not using it. Be sure and include your flow analysis map when you turn in your paper.

Reminder: This Discussion assignment serves as your Portfolio Assignment for this course. Be sure to save this Discussion Assignment on both your hard drive and on an external drive.

By Day 3

Describe the process you analyzed and how you went about gathering the necessary information to create your flow analysis map. Identify specific areas of white space and propose strategies for improving the process. Analyze how process flow analysis can be a useful tool in financial decision making and the ramifications of not using it. Be sure and include your flow analysis map as part of your post.