Reference no: EM133280352

Bluebird home is an aged care facility located in a rural township (population 8,000) in NSW. The town is located 50 km from the nearest larger town. The facility provides care for 100 aged residents, many of whom are some distance from their families and friends. The facility is staffed by registered, enrolled nurses and assistants in nursing, kitchen, cleaning and administrative staff. A Director of Nursing, a Deputy Director of nursing and a business manager oversee the operations of the facility.

The services of a diversional therapist, a physiotherapist, a pharmacist and several doctors from the local general practice are employed by the facility.

In response to facility accreditation, the Director of Nursing was compelled to upgrade the facility's documentation practices. The accreditation team found that entries in each resident's record were infrequent and contained minimal information. Moreover, each resident's record was divided between six different folders: a medication folder, a wound care folder, a nursing notes folder, a medical notes folder, an allied health folder and acare plan folder. The lack of integration was identified as creating a risk to the safety and quality of resident care as an holistic and up to date picture of each resident's health status was impossible to ascertain. Visiting providers often had no knowledge of the residents' health status or responses to treatment, and depended on verbal recounts provided by staff. The Director of Nursing asked you to lead the change to implement an integrated (paper based) record.

You are to record your response to the Director of Nursing's request in a structured proposal. Your proposal must firstly explain clinical risk that is posed by this situation. Then, explain the steps you will take to lead the change to a new record system. In your proposal you are expected to demonstrate knowledge of leadership practice.

Structure

Introduction

Explanation of clinical risk

Strategies to implement the change (include 4-5 leadership strategies). Each strategy is to include a heading and must be explained and justified in relation to the scenario and supported by the literature.