Project management tools, techniques, and strategies have become more visible in healthcare organizations due to the complex and dynamic health system that requires health leaders to continuously implement improvement initiatives with the help of appropriate management tools and strategies (White et al., 2021). These management tools and strategies often assist in project planning, which is instrumental in improving the financial ratio of investment return, efficiency, and effectiveness and fostering a conducive space for a change to thrive. According to Tereso et al. (2019), organization leaders should use these strategies as best guides to what practical project management compromises.
Even though nurses know medication non-adherence, there is still a gap in knowledge of how to identify, assess, and manage it effectively. Therefore, the design approach for the proposed solution is to implement a staff education program to improve nurses’ knowledge of medication non-adherence recognition, evaluation, and management. The WBS is divided into four main steps: initiation, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Each step has main milestones, including educational intervention composition, kick-off meeting and materials and resources collection, training and education, and intervention evaluation and integration.
Initiation
The initiation step will involve administering a pre-test using a questionnaire to assess nurses’ knowledge ‘regarding medication non-compliance recognition, evaluation, and management. Also, the project manager will prepare an educational presentation that will be used to educate nurses on how to identify, assess, and address medication non-compliance among psychiatric patients. Other activities will include selecting and training the nurses leading the training sessions and developing talking points for referral purposes after the presentation.
Planning
The planning phase will entail collecting the needed training resources and materials and establishing the budget, scope, objectives, procedure/processes, and timelines. Also, the project manager will hold a kick-off meeting with relevant project stakeholders to discuss the roles of every player and what is expected of everyone to implement the project successfully.
Implementation
The implementation phase will involve accomplishing milestones such as conducting nurse training and education sessions in the organization’s meeting room, determining nurses’ knowledge of medication non-adherence, requesting feedback after training sessions, recording the sessions for those who cannot physically attend the training sessions, and assessing nurses’ knowledge of medication non-adherence after training and education through surveys. The other activity will involve assisting nurses who still have issues with identifying, assessing, and managing medication non-compliance among psychiatric patients and establishing a guideline for recognizing, assessing, and mitigating non-compliance with treatment regimens.
Evaluation
This is the final step of the project management that will involve accomplishing milestones such as assessing nurses’ awareness and knowledge of medication non-compliance identification, evaluation, and effective management using a post-intervention survey. The data collected in this post-intervention survey will be compared with the pre-test to determine the changes in nurses’ knowledge of medication non-adherence. Also, modification and evaluation of the educational resources and approaches will be completed depending on the participants’ feedback to enhance in-depth learning. Additionally, further education sessions will foster ongoing learning and project sustainability in the organization, enhancing consistent improvement in mental healthcare delivery and spurring professional development for improved patient outcomes (Xuan et al., 2019).
Educating Nurses on Medication Non-Compliance
SMART Objectives
- By the project’s end, increase nurses’ knowledge of identifying, assessing, and mitigating medication non-compliance.
- By the project’s end, reduce the rates of medication non-compliance among psychiatric patients in the healthcare facility by half.
- By the project’s end, reduce the incidences of adverse medication non-adherence results by half.
Conclusion.
Utilizing project management techniques and tools, particularly the work breakdown structure (WBS), enhances the planning and execution of healthcare initiatives. The WBS will assist in successfully planning and implementing the proposed change, involving educating nurses on identifying, assessing, and managing medication non-compliance among psychiatric patients. The project manager aims to improve nurses’ knowledge by systematically progressing through the four main steps. Implementing this project aligns with the broader healthcare goal of enhancing patient outcomes by mitigating medication non-compliance challenges through informed and skilled healthcare providers.
References
Konstantinou, P., Kassianos, A. P., Georgiou, G., Panayides, A., Papageorgiou, A., Almas, I., … & Karekla, M. (2020). Barriers, facilitators, and interventions for medication adherence across chronic conditions with the highest non-adherence rates: a scoping review with recommendations for intervention development. Translational behavioral medicine, 10(6), 1390-1398. https://doi.org/10.1093/tbm/ibaa118
Sipes, C., PhD, C. N. S., & APN, P. (2020). Project management for the advanced practice nurse. Springer Publishing Company, LLC.
Tereso, A., Ribeiro, P., Fernandes, G., Loureiro, I., & Ferreira, M. (2019). Project management practices in private organizations. Project Management Journal, 50(1), 6-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/8756972818810966
White, K. M., Dudley-Brown, S., & Terhaar, M. F. (Eds.). (2021). Translation of evidence into nursing and healthcare. Springer Publishing Company.
Xuan, Q. L., Moslehpour, M., & Tien, D. T. (2019). An evaluation of project management tools and techniques in Vietnam. Management Science Letters, 283-300. https://m.growingscience.com/msl/Vol9/msl_2019_23.pdf
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