In
a 5–7 page written assessment, define the patient, family, or
population health problem that will be the focus of your capstone
project. Assess the problem from a leadership, collaboration,
communication, change management, and policy perspective. Plan to spend
approximately 2 direct practicum hours meeting with a patient, family,
or group of your choice to explore the problem and, if desired,
consulting with subject matter and industry experts. Document the time
spent (your practicum hours) with these individuals or group in the
Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form.
Introduction
This assessment lays the foundation for the work that will carry you
through your capstone experience and guide the practicum hours needed to
complete the work in this course. In addition, it will enable you to do
the following:
- Develop a problem statement for a patient, family, or population that’s relevant to your practice.
- Begin building a body of evidence that will inform your approach to your practicum.
- Focus on the influence of leadership, collaboration, communication, change management, and policy on the problem.
In this assessment, you’ll assess the patient, family, or population
health problem that will be the focus of your capstone project. Plan to
spend approximately 2 hours working with a patient, family, or group of
your choice to explore the problem from a leadership, collaboration,
communication, change management, and policy perspective. During this
time, you may also choose to consult with subject matter and industry
experts about the problem (for example, directors of quality or patient
safety, nurse managers/directors, physicians, and epidemiologists).
To prepare for the assessment, complete the following:
- Identify the patient, family, or group you want to work with during
your practicum. The patient you select can be a friend or a family
member. You’ll work with this patient, family, or group throughout your
capstone project, focusing on a specific health care problem. - Begin surveying the scholarly and professional literature to
establish your evidence and research base, inform your assessment, and
meet scholarly expectations for supporting evidence.
In addition, you may wish to complete the following:
- Review the assessment instructions and scoring guide to ensure that
you understand the work you’ll be asked to complete and how it will be
assessed. - Review the Practicum Focus Sheet: Assessment 1 [PDF] (ATTACHED)
Instructions
Part 1
Use Assessment
01 Supplement: Assessing the Problem: Leadership, Collaboration,
Communication, Change Management, and Policy Considerations [PDF]
Download Assessment 01
Supplement: Assessing the Problem: Leadership, Collaboration,
Communication, Change Management, and Policy Considerations [PDF] to
define the patient, family, or population health problem that will be
the focus of your capstone project. Assess the problem from a
leadership, collaboration, communication, change management, and policy
perspective and establish your evidence and research base to plan,
implement, and share findings related to your project.
Part 2
Connect with the patient, family, or group you’ll work with during
your practicum. During this portion of your practicum, plan to spend at
least 2 hours meeting with the patient, family, or group and, if
desired, consulting with subject matter and industry experts of your
choice. The hours you spend meeting with them should take place outside
of regular work hours. Use the Practicum Focus Sheet [PDF]
Download Practicum Focus Sheet [PDF]
provided for this assessment to guide your work and interpersonal
interactions. Document the time spent (your practicum hours) with these
individuals or group in the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience
Form.
The assessment requirements, outlined below, correspond to the
scoring guide criteria, so be sure to address each main point. Read the
performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work
will be assessed. In addition, note the additional requirements for
document format and length and for supporting evidence.
- Define a patient, family, or population health problem that’s relevant to your practice.
- Summarize the problem you’ll explore.
- Identify the patient, family, or group you intend to work with during your practicum.
- Provide context, data, or information that substantiates the
presence of the problem and its significance and relevance to the
patient, family, or population. - Explain why this problem is relevant to your practice as a baccalaureate-prepared nurse.
- Analyze evidence from peer-reviewed literature and professional
sources that describes and guides nursing actions related to the
patient, family, or population problem you’ve defined.- Note whether the authors provide supporting evidence from the
literature that’s consistent with what you see in your nursing practice. - Explain how you would know if the data are unreliable.
- Describe what the literature says about barriers to the
implementation of evidence-based practice in addressing the problem
you’ve defined. - Describe research that has tested the effectiveness of nursing
standards and/or policies in improving patient, family, or population
outcomes for this problem. - Describe current literature on the role of nurses in policy making
to improve outcomes, prevent illness, and reduce hospital readmissions. - Describe what the literature says about a nursing theory or
conceptual framework that might frame and guide your actions during your
practicum.
- Note whether the authors provide supporting evidence from the
- Explain how state board nursing practice standards and/or
organizational or governmental policies could affect the patient,
family, or population problem you’ve defined.- Describe research that has tested the effectiveness of these
standards and/or policies in improving patient, family, or population
outcomes for this problem. - Describe current literature on the role of nurses in policy making
to improve outcomes, prevent illness, and reduce hospital readmissions. - Describe the effects of local, state, and federal policies or
legislation on your nursing scope of practice, within the context of
this problem.
- Describe research that has tested the effectiveness of these
- Propose leadership strategies to improve outcomes, patient-centered
care, and the patient experience related to the patient, family, or
population problem you’ve defined.- Discuss research on the effectiveness of leadership strategies.
- Define the role that you anticipate leadership must play in addressing the problem.
- Describe collaboration and communication strategies that you anticipate will be needed to address the problem.
- Describe the change management strategies that you anticipate will be required to address the problem.
- Document the time spent (your practicum hours) with these
individuals or group in the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience
Form.
- Organize content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions.
- Apply APA style and formatting to scholarly writing.
Format: Format your paper using APA style.
- A title page and reference page. An abstract is not required.
- Appropriate section headings.
scholarly or professional evidence that support your central ideas.
Resources should be no more than five years old. Provide in-text
citations and references in APA format.
Context
Nurses in all professional roles work to effect positive patient
outcomes and improve organizational processes. Professional nurses are
leaders in problem identification, planning, and strategy
implementation—skills that directly affect patient care or
organizational effectiveness.
Too often, change agents jump to a conclusion that an intervention
will promote the envisioned improvement. Instead, the ideal approach is
to determine which interventions are appropriate, based on an assessment
and review of credible evidence. Interventions could be patient-facing
or involve a change in policy and process. In this assessment, you’ll
identify and make the case for your practicum focus area, then explore
it in depth from a leadership, collaboration, communication, change
management, and policy perspective.
Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your
proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide
criteria:
- Competency 1: Lead people and processes to improve patient, systems, and population outcomes.
- Define a patient, family, or population health problem that’s relevant to personal and professional practice.
- Competency 2: Make clinical and operational decisions based upon the best available evidence.
- Analyze evidence from peer-reviewed literature and professional
sources that describes and guides nursing actions related to a defined
patient, family, or population problem.
- Analyze evidence from peer-reviewed literature and professional
- Competency 5: Analyze the impact of health policy on quality and cost of care.
- Explain how state board nursing practice standards and/or
organizational or governmental policies could affect a defined patient,
family, or population problem.
- Explain how state board nursing practice standards and/or
- Competency 7: Implement patient-centered care to improve quality of care and the patient experience.
- Propose leadership strategies to improve outcomes, patient-centered
care, and the patient experience related to a defined patient, family,
or population problem and document the practicum hours spent with these
individuals or group in the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience
Form.
- Propose leadership strategies to improve outcomes, patient-centered
- Competency 8: Integrate professional standards and values into practice.
- Organize content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions.
- Apply APA style and formatting to scholarly writing.
Scoring Guide
Use the scoring guide to understand how your assessment will be evaluated.
and succinctly defines a patient, family, or population health problem
that’s relevant to personal and professional practice. Fully
substantiates the presence and relevance of the problem.
evidence from peer-reviewed literature and professional sources that
describes and guides nursing actions related to a defined patient,
family, or population problem.
evidence from peer-reviewed literature and professional sources that
describes and guides nursing actions related to a defined patient,
family, or population problem. Applies relevant, unambiguous criteria
for evaluating the evidence, and exhibits clear insight into potential
barriers to evidence-based practice and theoretical guiding frameworks.
not cite evidence from peer-reviewed literature and professional
sources that describes and guides nursing actions related to a defined
patient, family, or population problem.
how state board nursing practice standards and/or organizational or
governmental policies could affect a defined patient, family, or
population problem.
an explanation, with examples, of how state board nursing practice
standards and/or organizational or governmental policies could affect a
defined patient, family, or population problem, based on a perceptive
and coherent synthesis of current literature. Provides clear insight
into how policy affects nursing scope of practice.
not identify state board nursing practice standards and/or
organizational or governmental policies that could affect a defined
patient, family, or population problem.
leadership strategies to improve outcomes, patient-centered care, and
the patient experience related to a defined patient, family, or
population problem and document the practicum hours spent with these
individuals or group in the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience
Form.
leadership strategies, supported by examples, to improve outcomes,
patient-centered care, and the patient experience related to a defined
patient, family, or population problem. Exhibits clear insight into the
necessary role of leadership and the need for collaboration,
communication, and change management in addressing the problem. and
Documents the practicum hours spent with these individuals or group in
the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form.
not propose leadership strategies to improve outcomes, patient-centered
care, and the patient experience related to a defined patient, family,
or population problem, and does not document practicum hours in Capella
Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form.
APA style and formatting to scholarly writing. Exhibits strict and
nearly flawless adherence to stylistic conventions, document structure,
and source attributions.