Week 8 Culminating Experience Evidence-Based Change Project Paper

Your final paper will encompass all assignments you have completed thus far. At this point you will have submitted each section and received feedback. Your culminating experience is designed to be an experiential continuum of successful execution of your change project designed and implemented throughout both courses. The final paper should be edited and professionally presented. An attempt to incorporate all previous assignment feedback should be evident.

The final evidence-based change project paper should include the following headings (see the WCU Culminating Experience Sample Proposal Template):

• Introduction and Background: You will begin to explain what your change project topic is. Include background information you have obtained. Make sure to discuss the importance of your topic and why there is a need for it to be researched and implemented in your assigned facility or in advanced practice nursing in general.

• Problem Identification and Description Using PICOT Format: Identify and describe the problem in clear and concise language. Describe the significance of the evidence-based project that can be implemented in the selected setting to the nursing profession. Give a clear and explicit statement of the problem and target population as well background of the specific problem relative to the clinic or hospital setting.

• Critical Appraisal/Integrative Literature Review: Write a literature review using peer-reviewed articles and books, as well as non-research literature such as evidence-based guidelines, toolkits, and standardized procedures. Provide reference(s) to recent literature related to your specific unit. Identify and cite all sources of data according to APA guidelines. The goal is to review and analyze the most current research to support your project. Summarize the key findings, and provide a transition to the methods, intervention, or clinical protocol section of the paper. Describe any gaps in knowledge that you found and the effects this may have on nursing practice as it relates to your change project topic. The discussion of the literature review should be a synthesis of how each article relates to your project.

• Project Aims, Values, and Desired Outcomes: o Describe the project aim: The project aim should include examples

of features and functions that will occur as a result of implementing your change project.

o Describe the project value: The value should describe the benefits of the change project implementation to the stakeholders, the organization, and the nursing profession.

o Describe the desired outcomes: Specifically, state the purpose, quality focus, and viewpoint of the project as well as its expected accomplishments. A project goal should reference the project’s business benefits in terms of cost, time, and/or quality that address

individual and family healthcare needs or changes, results, impacts, or consequences that the project has on people, programs, or institutions. Goals and objectives should be measurable, shared, and agreed on by all key stakeholders. They are directly linked to the concept of project success factors.

• Theoretical Framework: Identify at least two independent theories or conceptual models that relate directly to the planned project in addition to the Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) cycle. Including a discussion of how each theory or model applies to the individual project is essential.

• Proposed Evidence-Based Project Plan: Develop the project plan based on your theoretical framework and the literature review, and include an environmental assessment of the readiness for change.

o Develop the strategy or strategies for meeting the desired outcomes that includes a work breakdown structure (timeline/task list/Gantt Chart)—a hierarchical definition of the tasks and activities of a project that normally begins with the highest-level activities and works downward into the individual tasks.

o Include a project budget (table or spreadsheet) for the project that addresses the needed personnel, equipment, and/or supplies that may have associated costs.

o Plan the design and methodology used. o Evaluation methodologies

• Actual Outcomes/Evaluation: Measureable evaluation methods (indicators/metrics) are cost savings, improved efficiencies, access to care (visits/procedures/admissions), patient/family satisfaction, associate satisfaction, associate engagement, retention, clinical outcomes, injury prevention, risk reduction, etc.

• Summary and Conclusions: Includes the following but is not limited to a summary of the project, a summary of main points and findings, the significance of project to the nursing profession, and any recommendations for future research.

• References • Appendices

The paper should be between 20 and 30 pages in length, not including the cover page, references, or any appendices. It must follow APA Manual (6th ed.). Each section of the paper should be clearly identified using proper headings (see the WCU Culminating Experience Sample Proposal Template). The final paper should be professionally written in a manner suitable for publication.