Describe the lasting impact of the practice change on the organization.

 

Changing to the PAL model will allow the facility to accommodate more capstone students, which should substantially mitigate the effects of the problem. The ability to accommodate the students will ease tension between the facility and its academic partners and decrease the potential for students to develop negative feelings towards the hospital. Additionally, when capstone students have a good experience at the facility while in their final semester, they often choose to seek employment with the facility upon graduation. Many students choose to complete their capstone on units they are interested in working. This is ideal because it allows them to meet other staff members and helps determine if they are a good fit for the unit. Increasing the number of capstone students seeking employment at the facility will also help decrease staffing shortages. Finally, transitioning to the PAL model will leave some experienced preceptors available to train nursing new hires. This will be especially beneficial to new graduates needing the support of a qualified preceptor to help them transition into the role of a professional nurse (Hansen, 2021).

The facility’s overall goal is to increase the number of trained and competent preceptors. To meet this goal, preceptor certification training classes are held every month. There is also a preceptor development series that consists of six courses to be taken after the initial preceptor training has been completed. Finally, a preceptor council is being formed. This will allow those working as preceptors to have a platform to discuss challenges, barriers, and opportunities for improvement. As the preceptor group grows, the facility may decide to return to the married preceptor model. This, of course, will depend upon the success of PAL.

Value found in making this practice change, meeting with preceptor, and leading a team.

The experience of implementing this practice change has been valuable in many ways, including mitigating the negative effects of an insufficient number of preceptors as previously discussed. Meetings with my preceptor, Jennifer, have been advantageous because she is experienced in project management and change implementation. One of the things I appreciate the most about Jennifer is that she guides me through the resolution of problems instead of simply telling me what to do. For any given challenge she starts by asking me what all of the options are and which ones I feel are most viable. Then she has me list out pros and cons for the most promising solutions. If I miss something important, she asks questions that direct my thinking towards it. I know using this process is much more time consuming for her, but I believe I learn more working through things in this way.

Leading the project team has helped to increase my confidence with change management. Including capstone preceptors on the team was a good decision as this allowed the value of the project to be communicated to them. Nilsen et al. (2020) report that change is most successful when those affected by it recognize its value and have the ability to influence it. Being part of the project team allowed both of these things for the preceptors.

Additionally, acting as the team leader also made me focus on communication. When team members missed meetings, I found simply emailing information to them was not always effective. This was especially true for the capstone preceptors. They also do not use WebEx teams. This meant the best method of communicating plans or changes with them was face-to-face. Communicating the proposed change with nursing leadership was done in person at a nursing leadership meeting. This allowed the leaders to ask questions and have their concerns addressed.

This project is not yet complete because the pilot cannot be implemented until the next group of capstone students comes through in June. Three preceptors will be using PAL while the others will continue with the current married model. The results of the pilot will determine the next steps. Therefore, I know I will continue to learn from this experience.