Communication in the health care environment consists of an information-sharing experience whether through oral or written messages (Chard & Makary, 2015). As health care organizations and nurses strive to create a culture of safety and quality care, the importance of interprofessional collaboration, the development of tool kits, and the use of wikis become more relevant and vital. In addition to the dissemination of information and evidence-based findings and the development of tool kits, continuous support for and availability of such resources are critical. Among the most popular methods to promote ongoing dialogue and information sharing are blogs, wikis, websites, and social media. Nurses know how to support people in time of need or crisis and how to support one another in the workplace; wikis in particular enable nurses to continue that support beyond the work environment. Here they can be free to share their unique perspectives, educate others, and promote health care wellness at local and global levels (Kaminski, 2016).

Demonstration of Proficiency

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

• Competency 1: Analyze the elements of a successful quality improvement initiative.
  • Analyze the usefulness of resources to role group responsible for implementing quality and safety improvements.
• Competency 2: Analyze factors that lead to patient safety risks.
  • Analyze the value of resources to reduce patient safety risk or improve quality.
• Competency 3: Identify organizational interventions to promote patient safety.
  • Identify necessary resources to support the implementation and sustainability of a safety improvement initiative.
• Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly, evidence-based strategies to communicate in a manner that supports safe and effective patient care.
  • Present compelling reasons and relevant situations for resource tool kit to be used by its target audience.
  • Communicate in a clear, logically structured, and professional manner, using current APA style and formatting.

References

Chard, R., & Makary, M. A. (2015). Transfer-of-care communication: Nursing best practices. AORN Journal, 102(4), 329–342.

Kaminski, J. (2016). Why all nurses can/should be authors. Canadian Journal of Nursing Informatics, 11(4), 1–7.

Professional Context

Nurses are often asked to implement processes, concepts, or practices—sometimes with little preparatory communication or education. One way to encourage sustainability of quality and process improvements is to assemble an accessible, user-friendly tool kit for knowledge and process documentation. Creating a resource repository or tool kit is also an excellent way to follow up an educational or in-service session, as it can help to reinforce attendees’ new knowledge as well as the understanding of its value. By practicing creating a simple online tool kit, you can develop valuable technology skills to improve your competence and efficacy.

Scenario

For this assessment, consider taking one of these two approaches:

1. Build on the work done in your first three assessments and create an online tool kit or resource repository that will help the audience of your in-service understand the research behind your safety improvement plan and put the plan into action.
2. Locate a safety improvement plan through an external resource (your current organization, Institution for Healthcare Improvement, or publicly available safety improve initiative) and create an online tool kit or resource repository that will help an audience understand the research behind the safety improvement plan and how to put the plan into action.

Preparation

Google Sites is recommended for this assessment; the tools are free to use and should offer you a blend of flexibility and simplicity as you create your online tool kit. Please note that this requires a Google account; use your Gmail or GoogleDocs login, or create an account following the directions under the “Create Account” menu.

Refer to the following links to help you get started with Google Sites:

• G Suite Learning Center. (n.d.). Get started with Sites. Retrieved from https://gsuite.google.com/learning-center/products/sites/get-started/#!/
• Google. (n.d.). Google Sites. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com
• Google. (n.d.). Sites help. Retrieved from https://support.google.com/sites/?hl=en#topic=

Instructions

Using Google Sites, assemble an online resource tool kit containing at least 12 annotated resources that you consider critical to the success of your safety improvement initiative. These resources should enable nurses and others to implement and maintain the safety improvement you have developed.

It is recommended that you focus on the 3 or 4 most critical categories or themes with respect to your safety improvement initiative. For example, if your initiative concerns improving workplace safety for practitioners, you might choose broad themes such as general organizational safety and quality best practices; environmental safety and quality risks; individual strategies to improve personal and team safety; and process best practices for reporting and improving environmental safety issues.

Following the recommended scheme, you would collect 3 resources on average for each of the 4 categories. Each resource listing should include the following:

• An APA-formatted citation of the resource with a working link.
• A description of the information, skills, or tools provided by the resource.
• A brief explanation of how the resource can help nurses better understand or implement the safety improvement initiative.
• A description of how nurses can use this resource and when its use may be appropriate.

Here is an example entry:

• Merret, A., Thomas, P., Stephens, A., Moghabghab, R., & Gruneir, M. (2011). A collaborative approach to fall prevention. Canadian Nurse, 107(8), 24–29. Retrieved from www.canadian-nurse.com/articles/issues/2011/october-2011/a-collaborative-ap
  • This article presents the Geriatric Emergency Management-Falls Intervention Team (GEM-FIT) project. It shows how a collaborative nurse lead project can be implemented and used to improve collaboration and interdisciplinary teamwork, as well as improve the delivery of health care services. This resource is likely more useful to nurses as a resource for strategies and models for assembling and participating in an interdisciplinary team than for specific fall-prevention strategies. It is suggested that this resource be reviewed prior to creating an interdisciplinary team for a collaborative project in a health care setting.

Additionally, be sure that your plan addresses the following, which corresponds to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. Please study the scoring guide carefully so you understand what is needed for a distinguished score.

• Identify necessary resources to support the implementation and continued sustainability of a safety improvement initiative.
• Analyze the usefulness of resources to the role group responsible for implementing quality and safety improvements.
• Analyze the value of resources to reduce patient safety risk.
• Present compelling reasons and relevant situations for use of resource tool kit by its target audience.
• Communicate in a clear, logically structured, and professional manner that applies current APA style and formatting.