Realtors rely on detailed property appraisals—conducted using appraisal tools—to assign market values to houses and other properties. These values are then presented to buyers and sellers to set prices and initiate offers.

Research appraisal is not that different. The critical appraisal process utilizes formal appraisal tools to assess the results of research to determine value to the context at hand. Evidence-based practitioners often present these findings to make the case for specific courses of action.

In this Assignment, you will use an appraisal tool to conduct a critical appraisal of published research. You will then present the results of your efforts.

To Prepare:

• Review the Resources and consider the importance of critically appraising research evidence.
• Reflect on the four peer-reviewed articles you selected in Module 2 and analyzed in Module 3.
• Review and download the Critical Appraisal Tool Worksheet Template provided in the Resources.

The Assignment (Evidence-Based Project)

Part 4A: Critical Appraisal of Research

Conduct a critical appraisal of the four peer-reviewed articles you selected and analyzed by completing the Evaluation Table within the Critical Appraisal Tool Worksheet Template.

Part 4B: Critical Appraisal of Research

Based on your appraisal, in a 1-2-page critical appraisal, suggest a best practice that emerges from the research you reviewed. Briefly explain the best practice, justifying your proposal with APA citations of the research

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Assignment: Application: Planned Change
in a Department or Unit

Health care organizations are continuously immersed in change from the emergence of new policies, to promote quality care and improve patient safety to keeping pace with the rapid growth in knowledge and best practices. Establishing a solid framework for planning and implementing change is a wise move, as it provides a foundation for the extensive coordination that will be needed to successfully facilitate the change.

For this Assignment, you propose a change at the department or unit level and develop a plan for guiding the change effort.

To prepare:

• Review Chapter 8 in the course text. Focus on Kurt Lewin’s change theory, and contrast it with other classic change models and strategies.
• Reflect on problems, inefficiencies, and critical issues within a specific department, unit, or area in your organization or one with which you are familiar. Select one issue as a focal point for this assignment, and consider a change that could be made to address the issue.
• Think about how the change would align with the organization’s mission, vision, and values as well as relevant professional standards.
• Using one of the change models or strategies discussed in Chapter 8, begin formulating a plan for implementing the change within the department/unit. Outline the steps that you and/or others should follow to facilitate the change effort. Align these steps to the change model or strategy you selected.
• Determine who should be involved in initiating and managing the change. Consider the skills and characteristics that are necessary to facilitate this change effort.

Write a 3- to 5-page paper (page count does not include title and reference page) that addresses the following:

• Identify a problem, inefficiency, or issue within a specific department/unit.
• Describe a specific, realistic change that could be made to address the issue.
• Summarize how the change would align with the organization’s mission, vision, and values as well as relevant professional standards.
• Identify a change model or strategy to guide your planning for implementing the change. Provide a rationale for your selection.
• Outline the steps that you and/or others would follow to facilitate the change. Align these steps to your selected change model or strategy.
• Explain who would be involved in initiating and managing this change. Describe the skills and characteristics that would be necessary to facilitate the change effort.

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As you strive to grow in your leadership skills and abilities, you will find that the context in which you work influences your motivation and areas of focus. In a similar vein, your commitment to developing professionally can contribute toward organizational effectiveness.

To that end, it is critical to recognize the importance of organizational culture and climate. In particular, through this week’s Learning Resources, you may consider several questions: How do an organization’s mission, vision, and values relate to its culture? What is the difference between culture and climate? Moreover, how are culture and climate manifested within the organization?

For this Discussion, you explore the culture and climate of your current organization or one with which you are familiar. You also consider decisions and day-to-day practices and the way they relate to the organization’s mission, vision, and values.

To prepare:

• Review the information related to planning and decision making in health care organizations presented in the textbook, Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing: Theory and Application. Consider how planning and decision making relate to an organization’s mission, vision, and values, as well as its culture and its climate.
• Familiarize yourself with the mission, vision, and values of your organization or one with which you are familiar. Consider how the statements and actions of leaders and others within the organization support or demonstrate the organizational mission, vision, and values. In addition, note any apparent discrepancies between word and deed. Think about how this translates into expectations for direct service providers. Note any data or artifacts that seem to indicate whether behaviors within the organization are congruent with its mission, vision, and values.
• Begin to examine and reflect on the culture and climate of the organization. How do culture and climate differ?
• Why is it important for you, as a master’s-prepared nurse leader, to be cognizant of these matters?

Post a description of your selected organization’s mission, vision, and values. Describe relevant data, or artifacts, words, and actions of leaders and others in the organization that support, or perhaps appear to contradict the organization’s mission, vision, and values statement. In addition, discuss the organization’s culture and its climate, differentiating between the two. Explain why examining these matters is significant to your role as a nurse leader.

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In Week 10, you considered how ethical, moral, and legal dilemmas can provoke internal conflict when a nurse’s values are not in alignment with the apparent demands of a situation or with others’ values, as well as external conflict that can arise as these dynamics are played out. Of course, conflict can also emerge through seemingly simple issues of little consequence—little consequence, that is, except when they are not properly managed.

Nurse leaders need to be familiar with conflict management styles and the impact these styles can have on interpersonal dynamics, and, ultimately, patient care. For this Discussion, you evaluate a situation marked by conflict and consider how conflict management strategies could be applied to promote positive results.

To prepare:

• Consider a conflict situation you witnessed or were engaged in within your practice setting. Then, proceed as follows:                   
  • Think about who was involved, how it was resolved (if it was), and how it might have been handled more effectively.
  • Identify the conflict management style(s) employed by various individuals, including ineffective responses or no response to the situation.
  • Evaluate your personal response to this conflict.
• What do your thoughts and actions in this and other conflict situations reveal about your typical approach to conflict?

Post a description of how you handled or avoided a conflict, as well as the results of your approach. Explain how would you respond to this conflict today and/or what steps you would take to improve your comfort level and skill for managing conflict in the future (including specific conflict management strategies you would use). Explain how conflict management relates to your effectiveness as a leader.

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To prepare:

• Review Chapters 7 and 8 in the course text. Focus on the strategies for planning and implementing change in an organization, as well as the roles of nurses, managers, and other health care professionals throughout this process.
• Reflect on a specific change that has recently occurred in your organization or one in which you have worked previously. What was the catalyst or purpose of the change?
• How did the change affect your job and responsibilities?
• Consider the results of the change and whether or not the intended outcomes have been achieved.
• Was the change managed skillfully? Why or why not? How might the process have been improved?

Post a summary of a specific change within an organization and describe the impact of this change on your role and responsibilities. Explain the rationale for the change, and whether or not the intended outcomes have been met. Assess the management of the change, and propose suggestions for how the process could have been improved.

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