Strategic Plan for Change Recommendations Leadership in nursing Write a 5-6 page paper that includes the following sections. Guidelines are provided for how long sections should be—they are only guidelines; please do not fret over length of sections. Examples provided in Italics do not mean that you must state it exactly the way I suggest. I simply hope to provide you an example. Statement of the Problem- this it is actually your first paragraph and the title of the paper is used —remember it is not bolded and title case used. Improving Patient Safety: The Effect of Professional Nurse Certification This section should be ½ page long. Introduce your problem. As an example problem, you determine that not enough staff nurses at your organization have professional certification. In the introduction paragraph, you will state the background of your problem and explain why it is important. In other words, for this problem you would need to explain why nurses should have professional certification. You may also describe why it is important to the organization. Perhaps the research shows that nurses who have professional certification have better patient outcomes. In addition, perhaps it is important to achieve magnet status. This section should include some references that support the problem as being important. These references do not count as your minimum number for your literature review (see review of literature section below). Patient safety is a high priority for healthcare. Research has shown that organizations with higher numbers of nurses with professional certification have increased patient safety indicators (citation here). You would expand here which your assertions that it is an important problem. End your paragraph with a thesis or purpose statement. The purpose of this paper is to examine the problem of an insufficient © 2015 Laureate Education Inc. 2 number of nurses who hold professional certification within the ABC organization and to plan a recommendation for change to address the problem. Review of Literature In the actual literature review section, I want to see some scholarly support on how other organizations successfully addressed the problem. My caveat is that we always start with a problem and go to the literature for evidence on the best way to solve the problem. Many students begin with what they think will be the solution. Although, when you read in the literature about your problem, you may find evidence that supports what you think needs to be done, do not as soon the answer before you complete your literature review. Remember in a literature review you are simply reporting the evidence you find (think of it as it is just the facts). Some articles many in support a different tactic than the one you want to recommend. It is good to weigh the evidence both for and against any intervention. The review of literature section requires at least five current scholarly peer reviewed articles. Reports of research are a stronger base for your argument than an opinion article. If you find research studies that determines what works to overcome your stated problem— that is the best type reference to use in this section. I suggest that this section is 2-3 pages in length. Synthesis of the Evidence In this section, you will assimilate and synthesize the findings from your literature review. You should not introduce additional references in this section. You are taking all that you have read and putting into your own words, giving credit to the authors for their ideas, the recommendations. Opposing opinions are a good choice. It demonstrates you considered several possibilities. This section should be a clear,  © 2015 Laureate Education Inc. 3 concise, summary of what you learned in your evidence review and a succinct statement of your plan. Based upon the literature review and synthesis of evidence, I recommend that the organization offer financial reimbursement for nurses obtaining or maintaining their professional certifications. This section should be approximately ½ page. Suggested Courses of Action In this section, you will use the leadership skills we learn this term to plan a change based on EBP. Strategic planning, using tools such as SWOT, Balanced Scorecard, or Six Sigma will help you determine a clear plan of action. You will consider change theories and leadership skills to define how you would recommend implementing this change in your organization. Apply the theory you choose, do not just name a theory, or describe it in global terms—tell me how you will apply it had the page to page student. This should be detailed and specific to your unique situation. Consider your organizational mission and vision statements and be sure to align your recommendation for change to them. Consider barriers to change and plan for them. If your recommendation creates a financial burden, include an argument for funding this suggestion. This section should be 1 to 2 pages long. Summary or Conclusion (1/2 page) A conclusion provides closure for the reader while reminding the reader of the contents and importance of the paper. It accomplishes this by stepping back from the specifics in order to view the bigger picture of the document. In other words, it is reminding the reader of the main argument. For most course papers, it is usually one simple, succinct paragraph that restates the main ideas and arguments, pulling  © 2015 Laureate Education Inc. 4 everything together to help clarify the thesis of the paper. A conclusion does not introduce new ideas and rarely needs any references; instead, it should clarify the intent and importance of the paper. It can also suggest possible future research on the topic. An Easy Checklist for Writing a Conclusion 1. Is the thesis of the paper accurately restated here (but not repeated verbatim)? It is important to remind the reader of the thesis of the paper so he is reminded of the argument and solutions you proposed. 2. Are the main points of the paper addressed and pulled together? Think of the main points as puzzle pieces, and the conclusion is where they all fit together to create a bigger picture. The reader should walk away with the bigger picture in mind. 3. Do you remind the reader of the importance of the topic? Make sure that the paper places its findings in the context of real social change. 4. Is there a sense of closure?