Important: Complete this assessment first and complete all other assessments in the order they are presented.

In this assessment, you will lay the foundation for the work that will carry through your capstone experience and guide the practice hours to complete the work in this course. The purpose of this assessment is to allow you to define a patient, family, or population health problem that is relevant to your personal practice and to begin building a body of evidence that will inform your approach to your practice hours, the intervention you design, and the professional product you will deliver.

Demonstration of Proficiency

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

• Competency 1: Lead people and processes to improve patient, systems, and population outcomes. 
  • Define a patient, family, or population health problem that is relevant to personal practice.
• Competency 2: Make clinical and operational decisions based upon the best available evidence. 
  • Analyze evidence from the literature and professional sources to support decisions related to defining and guiding nursing actions related to a health problem.
• Competency 7: Implement patient-centered care to improve quality of care and the patient experience. 
  • Propose strategies to improve patient or population outcomes related to a health problem.
• Competency 8: Integrate professional standards and values into practice. 
  • Reflect on state board nursing practice standards relevant to a selected health problem.
  • Communicate professionally with clear, logically organized writing, using correct grammar, spelling, and APA style.

Important: Complete this assessment first and complete all other assessments in the order they are presented.

Professional Context

Nurses are leaders in problem identification and solution, planning and implementing patient care strategies to address problems in the home, hospital, and community. This assessment will help you develop a problem statement for a patient, family, or population health concern.

Instructions

Throughout this capstone course, you will be investigating a patient, family, or population health problem relevant to your practice. For this assessment, you will identify the problem that you will address throughout your clinical practicum in this course, as well as begin to establish your evidence and research base to plan, implement, and share findings related to your project. The Problem Identification Template [DOC] will guide you through development of a problem statement, evidence collection and analysis, and best practices to help you create your implementation plan for the second assessment in this course.

Your submission for this assessment will be the completed template. When working through the template, you may use the resources provided in this course; however, most of your research and search for evidence will be conducted by you. Use the Capella University Library, professional organization and government resources, and relevant organizational best practices as sources of evidence. This is the capstone course for your BSN degree; your goal is to demonstrate your achievement of the program outcomes through your work on this project.

The following are some health issues that would be appropriate for your project:

• Diabetes self-management.
• Hypertension management and prevention.
• Medication reconciliation within a family or group.
• Parkinson’s disease support group.
• Patient family education communication improvements.
• Postoperative home care.

This list is by no means exhaustive. You should choose a patient, family, or population health issue that is relevant to your practice and organization; you must be able to study the problem in your clinical practicum effectively.

Your submission will be assessed based on the following criteria:

• Define a patient, family, or population health problem and realistic goals relevant to personal practice.
• Analyze evidence from the literature and professional sources to define and guide nursing actions related to a health problem.
• Propose strategies to improve patient or population outcomes related to a health problem.
• Reflect on state board nursing practice standards relevant to an identified health problem.
• Communicate professionally, with writing that is clear, logically organized, and uses correct grammar, spelling, and APA style.

CORE ELMS

Completion of this course requires a face-to-face clinical practicum. You are required to log your time in the CORE ELMS system just as you have for past courses with direct interaction. The CORE ELMS link is located in the left-hand navigation pane.

Additional Requirements

• Length of submission: Use the provided template. Most submissions will be 2 to 4 pages. You do not need to include a title page. Be sure to complete the reference page at the end of the template.
• Number of references: Cite a minimum of 5 sources of scholarly or professional evidence that support your central ideas. Resources should be no more than five years old.
• APA formatting: Make sure that in-text citations and reference list follow current APA style.

Portfolio Prompt: Remember to save the assessment to your ePortfolio. After you complete your program you may want to consider leveraging your Portfolio as part of a job search or other demonstration of your academic competencies.

 

Quality, cost, and access are three pillars of the U.S. health system. Select three other attributes of our system and relate them to these three pillars. You may use the attributes provided by Shi and Singh for your selection options.

• For this discussion, you must refer to at least one article from a reputable newspaper (can be online) or other media source that is current (from the last month) and post the resource in APA format.
• You must have at least two references in your initial post and the media source can be one of the two.
• Summarize your post in 500 to 750 words.

APA format, 350 words, scholar authors, and see references at the bottom

Some nurses may be hesitant to get involved with policy evaluation. The preference may be to focus on the care and well-being of their patients; some nurses may feel ill-equipped to enter the realm of policy and political activities. However, as you have examined previously, who better to advocate for patients and effective programs and polices than nurses? Already patient advocates in interactions with doctors and leadership, why not with government and regulatory agencies?

In this Discussion, you will reflect on the role of professional nurses in policy evaluation.

By Day 3 of Week 9

Post an explanation of at least two opportunities that currently exist for RNs and APRNs to actively participate in policy review. Explain some of the challenges that these opportunities may present and describe how you might overcome these challenges. Finally, recommend two strategies you might make to better advocate for or communicate the existence of these opportunities. Be specific and provide examples. 

References

Milstead, J. A., & Short, N. M. (2019). Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide (6th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Chapter 7, “Health Policy and Social Program Evaluation” (pp. 116–124 only)
 

Glasgow, R. E., Lichtenstein, E., & Marcus, A. C. (2003). Why don’t we see more translation of health promotion research to practice? Rethinking the efficacy-to-effectiveness transition. American Journal of Public Health, 93(8), 1261–1267.
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
 

Shiramizu, B., Shambaugh, V., Petrovich, H., Seto, T. B., Ho, T., Mokuau, N., & Hedges, J. R. (2016). Leading by success: Impact of a clinical and translational research infrastructure program to address health inequities. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 4(5), 983–991. doi:10.1007/s40615-016-0302-4
 

Williams, J. K., & Anderson, C. M. (2018). Omics research ethics considerations. Nursing Outlook, 66(4), 386–393. doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2018.05.003
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.

There is often the requirement to evaluate descriptive statistics for data within the organization or for health care information. Every year the National Cancer Institute collects and publishes data based on patient demographics. Understanding differences between the groups based upon the collected data often informs health care professionals towards research, treatment options, or patient education.

Using the data on the “National Cancer Institute Data” Excel spreadsheet, calculate the descriptive statistics indicated below for each of the Race/Ethnicity groups. Refer to your textbook and the Topic Materials, as needed, for assistance in with creating Excel formulas.

Provide the following descriptive statistics:

1. Measures of Central Tendency: Mean, Median, and Mode
2. Measures of Variation: Variance, Standard Deviation, and Range (a formula is not needed for Range).
3. Once the data is calculated, provide a 150-250 word analysis of the descriptive statistics on the spreadsheet. This should include differences and health outcomes between groups.

APA style is not required, but solid academic writing is expected.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion. 

 

Requirements

1. Address all components of the business plan as outlined in Preparing the Paper.
2. Refer to the Business Plan Worksheet, available for download above. 
3. This paper will be graded on quality and completeness of information, accuracy of any required calculations, use of citations, use of standard English grammar, sentence structure, and organization based on the required components.
4. Create this assignment using Microsoft Word, which is the required format for all Chamberlain documents. You can tell that the document is saved as an MS Word document because it will end in .docx.
5. Turn It In is used for this assignment and is part of the submission into the assignment portal. See the Turn It In guidelines provided in the Program Resources via the Resources tab on the left. 
6. Submit the final paper to the assignment area by Sunday 11:59 p.m. MT. Any questions about this paper may be discussed in the weekly Q & A Forum under Discussions. Any submission after the deadline will be assessed a penalty per policy.
7. The length of the paper is to be no greater than seven pages including the appendices, but excludes title page and reference page. Extra pages will not be read nor graded by the instructor. Content beyond the page limit will not be considered part of the paper. Your business plan worksheet should be included after the reference page.
8. APA format (6th edition) is required in this assignment, including a title page and a reference page. Use headings for the sections of the paper according to APA format. Remember that the introduction does require a heading. See the APA manual for details of formatting. You may also refer to Guidelines for Writing Professional Papers found in Program Resources via the Resources tab on the left. 
9. A complete paper will contain all components outlined under Preparing the Paper.

Preparing the paper

A business plan is a detailed plan for a proposed program, project, or service.

The following sections should be clearly present with headings and complete. Use the headings provided in the outline below.  Remember, there is no heading used for the introduction section.

1. Introduction/Overview
   1. Purpose of assignment
   2. PICOT
   3. Purpose of business plan
   4. What will be included
2. Proposal
   1. Cover letter
   2. Executive Summary
3. Detailed Abstract
   1. Two types analyses
   2. Marketing and financial plans
4. Appendices
   1. Financial tables
   2. Graphs/charts
5. Conclusion
   1. What was covered in the plan
   2. Strengths and weaknesses of the plan
   3. Approach for approval
6. Clearly introduce your business-plan assignment in the Overview section. This should be no longer that one paragraph. Include purpose of your assignment, PICOT as basis for and purpose business plan, and what will be covered in the assignment.
7. Include a clearly articulated cover letter written in business letter format, active voice, and exactly as it would be read by leadership. Include overview of issue, proposed solution, and action request.  There should be no other content on this page except for the business letter.
8. Present a captivating executive summary that is interesting and captures the interest of leadership and draws them in to read further. Content includes (1) a description of the proposed project, program, or service, (2) why it is being proposed, and (3) what outcomes are most likely to occur as a result.
9. Detailed Abstract expands the three areas of the executive summary.
   1. Expand description of project purpose
   2. Issue/problem defined; supportive evidence for project
   3. Expected outcomes and project timeline
   4. Marketing/needs analyses and plans at least two strategies
   5. Fit with mission of organization
   6. Fit with current services
   7. Financial plan including budgetary needs
   8. Financial impact on stakeholders (organization, patients, unit of service, community)
   9. Break-even analysis and cost/benefit analysis results with reference to actual budget and analysis in appendices
10. Appendices should include any financial tables, charts, or graphs, or other supporting documents referred to in the detailed abstract.  The business plan worksheet should be included in the appendices.
11. Conclusion for the paper includes an overview of what was covered in the paper, strengths and weaknesses of the plan, and plan for seeking proposal approval.
12. The paper length will be seven pages maximum including the appendices and excluding title and reference page(s).Note: If you go over the paper length, the additional information will not be read nor considered for part of you grade by the instructor.
13. Title and reference page(s) must be in APA format (6th edition).
14. Use 12-point Times New Roman font and one-inch margins on all sides of the paper.
15. Note: After submitting your assignment to Files, please upload your completed executive summary into the Week 8 designated Discussion to share with your peers.