The Evaluation Process of a nursing project
Central to the management of a project are various steps, in which evaluationis one of them. Evaluation is significant to the determination of the project’s success of achieving its set goals (Stanhope, & Lancaster, 2014). Thus, creation of an evaluation plan is vital to the success of a particular project. In essence, this section seeks to lay out the evaluation plan of the EBP project seeking to inculcate transformational leadership behaviors among nurses working in high acuity in-patient settings. Of significance to the plan are several issues, which include but not limited to evaluation methods, rationale for the adopted tools of outcome measures, and implications for nursing practice and future research.
Outcomes
Fundamental to the measurement of the project expected outcomes (nursing retention rate, intent to stay, turnover and staff satisfaction levels) is the utilization of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Form 5x-Short (MLQ5). The MLQ5 is a questionnaire comprising of 45 assessment items on leadership behaviors.The validity, reliability and applicability of this tool are beyond doubt given the existence of various studies justifying the same. For instance, according to Smith, Nichols, Green, and Sun, (2016) the MLQ5 is a proven tool with high validity and reliability levels, which is applicable in the measurement of leadership behaviors among individuals. Given such evidence, the use of the MLQ5 in the measurement of expected outcomes in this project is thus indisputable.
MelnykandFineout-Overhold, (2015) are of the opinion that the measurement of a project’s expected outcomes is vital in the determination of the extent of achievement of the project’s objectives. Likewise, the outcome measures of this EBP project will reflect the extent of achievement of the project objectives. For instance, increased nurses’ intent to stay and high nursing retention rates post-EBP project will be suggestive of the achievement of project’s objective of determining the efficacy of transformational leadership in increasing the nursing retention.
Lastly, in the event of outcomes failing to yield positive results, the project pioneers will use certain backup strategies that are worth mention. A case in point of such strategies is the revision of the project. For instance, the project developers can revisit the set objectives to determine the attainability of the same. Notwithstanding, the failure of achieving positiveresults may necessitate the discontinuation of the project in extreme cases.
Implications for Practice and Future Research
Based on the success of the transformational leadership in improving nursing retention rates, various implications for practice and future research are evident and worth noting. A befitting example of such implications is the need for adopting transformational leadership behaviors among individuals seeking to increase the intent of nurses to remain at the same workplace. Such is the case given the existentevidence indicating increased nursing rates after leaders’ utilization of transformational leadership behaviors (Lenhart, 2017; Malloch, 2014).Also, an implication drawn for future research relates to the strategies usedfor developing specific transformational leadership behaviors that one ought to adopt to improve nursing retention. Such is the case given the failure of studies to identify these specific strategies for adopting transformational leadership behaviors.
References
Lenhart, N. K. (2017). Nursing Leadership Influence on Evidence-Based Practice Culture and Integration (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University).
Malloch, K. (2014). Beyond transformational leadership to greater engagement: Inspiring innovation in complex organizations. Nurse Leader, April 2014, 60 – 63.
Melnyk, B. M., &Fineout-Overholt, E. (2015). Evidence-based practice in nursing and healthcare: A guide to best practice. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams et Wilkins
Smith, C. L., Nichols, F., Green, M. T., & Sun, Y. (2016).Measuring Servant Leadership: Tests of Discriminant and Convergent Validity of the Servant Leadership Survey.
Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2014). Foundations of nursing in the community: Community-oriented practice.St. Louis, Missouri: Elsevier/Mosby.
