You are a Registered Nurse working at the Bowerbird Estate aged care residential facility. Bowerbird Estate is located in a rural township (population 8,000) in Central NSW.

Assignment Task

Relevance

Registered Nurses have a significant role to play in advancing the quality of patient care in clinical workplaces. Leadership competence within clinical practice, at all levels, is recognised by the Nursing and Midwifery Council Registered Nurse Standards for Practice. This assessment task provides students with an opportunity to propose a leadership approach to address a clinical problem as represented in the following case. It is expected that this activity will foster deeper understanding of change leadership in nursing contexts.

Scenario

You are a Registered Nurse working at the Bowerbird Estate aged care residential facility. Bowerbird Estate is located in a rural township (population 8,000) in Central NSW. The town is located 50 km from the nearest regional centre and hospital. The facility provides care for 100 residents, many of whom are some distance from their families and friends. The facility is staffed by Registered, Enrolled nurses and Assistants in Nursing, kitchen, cleaning and administrative staff. A Director of Nursing, a Deputy Director of Nursing and a Business Manager oversee the operations of the facility. The services of a Diversional Therapist, a Physiotherapist, a Pharmacist and several medical doctors from the local general practice are employed by the facility.

During a recent accreditation visit, the accreditation team found that residents in the facility were at risk of pressure injury, with no consistent approach to prevention. The lack of consistency posed a risk to the safety and quality of resident care. The team recommended a change to current practice, including the development of an appropriate procedure, and a training program for all care staff to attend.

In response to the recommendations made by the accreditation team, the Director of Nursing has asked you to develop a proposal in which you are to outline the appropriate change leadership approaches you will take to implement the change, to satisfy the accreditation requirements.