Change in the North Bay Hospital Change is a part of every profession, and is seen in the nursing field through new policies, advances in technology, and changes in the delivery of healthcare. There is planned and unplanned change and both have positive and negative impacts on the healthcare field as a whole. It can effect the people on a personal level and at an institutional level as well.
Trigger Event Over the course of my shadowing shifts at the hospital, the change that was occurring throughout the entire hospital was evident. I heard of budgeting cuts that lead to cancellations of programs, lay offs, and other factors that made the the staff on the floor feel uncertain as to the future of the hospital. A program that was cut on the Complex Continuing Care Unit was the “Breakfast Club” where volunteers and other staff would come and assist the patients in eating their patients. I was there during one of the first days after it was cancelled, and I saw how much more busy the nurses were and how they struggled as the majority of the patients have to be fed. Throughout my time there I heard of the potential for layoffs and on my last shift my nurse made me aware of the fact that she was one of the nurses being laid off. While the majority of this is a planned change, it is an unplanned change for those who received pink slips as they could not plan ahead of time for this change. My nurse told me that she was sad to have to leave the Complex Continuing Care Unit as she genuinely enjoyed working with dementia patients and the other staff in the unit. She told me though of the plans that she was making to adapt to this change which included a meeting with the union to properly word her letter so as to not lose any seniority when applying for other vacancies at the hospital. Running head: CHANGE 3 Appraisal The North Bay hospital is currently downsizing due to budgeting issues. Downsizing brings amy problems as it is an emotional and difficult process for all nurses involved (Young & Brown, 1998). It is a time of uncertainty and change that can be hard to work through. Studies show though that clear communication and carefully laid out plans help the process to proceed a lot smoother (Young & Brown, 1998). Nursing practice is also constantly undergoing change, so nurses need to be able to adapt to changes that are planned and unplanned. An example of this is the nursing shortage, and problems that arise from it (Deschamps, 2013). The biggest change that needs to be adapted too, is the integration of nurses that received training from other countries and the increase in less seasoned nurses, who have recently graduated (Deschamps, 2013). The nurses will have to adapt to different techniques and nurses who need help in gaining experience. While these changes can seem awkward and hard at first, if the healthcare field works together, changes can be implemented with more ease. Exploration Change is an important part of life and this is no different in nursing and the healthcare field as a whole. …show more content…
The negative and positive side effects though take time to get used too and can be difficult in the moment to deal with. When the “Breakfast Club” program was cancelled on the Complex Continuing Care Unit, it was hard for the nurses to initially adapt, as they had become reliant on this program to make make their mornings easier to manage. To compensate though, my nurse along with other nurses on the floor, came up with a new system to implement in the mornings. They have had to adjust when it was realized that some things work better in Running head: CHANGE 4 theory rather than in practice, but it made that portion of change easier to deal with. While my nurse was obviously saddened to receive her pink slip, she new what her options were to adapt to the change and she chose to get help from her union in order to get another’s input on what her best options are. The cancellation of the “Breakfast Club” program can be seen as planned change. The staff were