wk3/y

Being a change agent is a nurse that brings about change (positive change) into the work environment and helps facilitate the change.  They facilitate the change by helping bring about the change in a positive manner and show why the change is necessary and what improvements it will make in their day-to-day work. I have recently been a change agent in the implementation of a new labeling process for our specimen and blood collection process.  We needed to change the way we labeled our specimens to help facilitate the way they were processed at the core lab.  This was going to impact our work flow in the clinic dramatically though.  First, I talked with the staff about the upcoming change (which was going to cause a slight increase in work for my staff).  Then, to show the impact of the change to our staff I took them to the core lab where our specimens are processed and showed them how much extra work goes into the current process vs. the new process.  After seeing the decrease in work that it causes the core lab our staff was willing to take on the slight increase in work to help them out. Another example of being a change agent was when we implemented LEAN into our work flow several years ago.  This was a process that done over a whole year, but over this year we had to introduce new process to the staff and help them see the LEAN way of trying things.  We would get staff impute when we were drafting the process changes to help with the understand of the why the changes were important and needed to be done.  With LEAN one big development was the development of standard work so that all patients were to receive the same standard of care every time they walked through the doors.  We had staff help us with the processes and so when we rolled it out, they understood the importance and we all had the same goals in mind, which was the patient.  I’m sure that we all are change agents everyday with small things we do, but they affect someone or somebody at some point.  Change is hard but we should always remember that change is often for the good.     

Disasters

Instructions:

1. Choose one of topic below and post your response. 
   1. Think about your own community and its residents or neighboring countries. What are some host factors that might increase its risk of experiencing a disaster? What environmental factors might be significant? In each case, identify the likely agent. What interventions could be included in a disaster plan to reduce these factors? 
   2. Provide a weblink to a story about a recent disasters and discuss the impact on human lives. 
   3. Access one or both of the Internet sites listed here. Report on the change in statistics for disasters or terrorism since the year 2000. Have the rates increased or decreased? What factors might be involved?
      • Disasters – http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001437.html
      • Almanac of Disasters – http://www.disasterium.com
2. Your response should be 200 – 250 words. APA Format, 1 reference at least. (This is for a community nursing course)

Societal Violence

Instructions:

1. Respond to one (1) of the following discussion prompts:
   1. Research or locate information or data on local, regional, and state violence statistics. Provide suggestions for data sources, such as Internet, health department publications, local law enforcement data, and web sites that document a specified population or community’s features.
   2. Collect newspaper reports of societal violence and determine the extent of the focus on different types of violence in the news media. Summarize your findings.
   3. Interview various health professionals who may come into contact with victims either of domestic violence, child abuse, and/or elder abuse and inquire about screening protocols, referral processes, and availability of safe environment for victims and treatment facilities for violent persons. Report the results of the interview.
2. Your response should be 200 – 250 words. APA format, at least 1 reference. Community is Miami, FL

You are the registered nurse performing a health assessment on a newborn infant. From the functional health pattern portion of the assessment, you learn the mother is reluctant to breastfeed her baby. How do you respond? Explain the approach you will take to ensure adequate nutrition for the newborn, with or without breastfeeding. Provide rationale for your answer.

Instructions:

1. Review the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website that has information and statistics about the elderly.
2. Look up one (1) statistic on the website or find a statistic among the information in Chapter 2 of the textbook.
3. Once you have the information that interests you, then answer the following questions:
   1. What statistic have you chosen?
   2. Why did you choose that statistic?
   3. What trends are represented?
   4. Why do you find this interesting?
   5. Do the statistic surprise you in any way?
   6. Did you think that the numbers would be different then they are?
4. Your paper should be:
   • One (1) page or more.
   • Use factual information from the textbook and/or appropriate articles and websites.
   • Cite your sources – type references according to the APA Style Guide.
5. Upload your file by clicking “Browse My Computer” for Attach File.
6. View rubric for grading.