NSG 4150 Week 3 Policy Development and Implementation Paper

Sample Answer

One of the policy initiatives by the American Nurses Association (ANA) is the prevention of workplace violence. This policy initiative was selected because nurses and health care providers, in general, are highly exposed to violence from patients, their families, and members of the public.

However, workplace violence against health providers can be prevented through collaborative approaches (Vincent-Höper et al., 2020). Advocating for the ANA’s policy initiative is vital since it will put providers a step closer to a safe work environment, which significantly promotes peace of mind when caring for patients.

Local Policy Identification

Our organization is committed to providing a working environment free from violence. Consequently, it has developed a Workplace Violence Prevention Program that emphasizes that enduring physical or verbal abuse is not expected of any staff, patient, or visitor.

The policy highlights that tolerating violence is not part of the healthcare staff job. The Workplace Violence policy states that all acts of violence or threats against any healthcare worker, visitor, or patient are to be reported immediately. The hospital’s management is mandated to investigate violence, respond to incidents, and support victims of violent acts.

The Workplace Violence Prevention Program aligns with the ANA policy initiative in several aspects. Firstly, our program has developed, maintained, and enforced a zero-tolerance policy for violence as recommended by the ANA initiative.

The ANA policy highlights leadership commitment to a supportive work environment where policies and professional codes of conduct are honored (ANA, 2019). Correspondingly, our hospital’s policy directs the administrative team to provide the support and resources needed to design, implement, and maintain the Workplace Violence Prevention Program.

Besides, the policy directs the heads of departments to provide and promote a safe and secure work environment for their staff and carry out department-specific staff education on risks, safeguards, and preventing assaults. Furthermore, the ANA policy requires near-miss reporting (ANA, 2019).

Similarly, our policy requires the employees to immediately report any violent, threatening, or harassing behavior despite injury or severity. Departmental heads are directed to encourage the staff to report conditions that jeopardize safety and security.

Policy Improvement

Although the Workplace Violence Prevention Program aligns with the ANA policy initiative in various aspects, I would propose some amendments to improve it. The ANA policy requires specialized training and education for staff provided at hire, annually, and as needed (ANA, 2019).

The ANA policy further directs employers to maintain and update policies, equipment, and training to promote continuous improvement. Our hospital policy has no directions on staff training about the policy. Thus, I propose that within 30 days of hire, all employees should be informed of the Workplace Violence Prevention Program during New Employee Orientation.

Besides, annual re-training should be conducted during the hospital’s safety education program. I would also recommend that all the hospital staff take part in evidence-based training in violence recognition, mitigation, de-escalation techniques, and communication and security strategies.

The proposed policy amendments will have positive and negative financial implications. Positive implications include reduced employee turnover since the staff will feel more secure and have a safe working environment. Improving employees’ wellbeing will promote better patient outcomes and increase patient satisfaction, increasing profits for the hospital (Vincent-Höper et al., 2020).

However, the organization will have to spend more resources on staff training, although this should be considered an investment. Our organization has a committee tasked with monitoring and evaluating policies, procedures, and resources to evaluate employees’ compliance with policies.

During the policy review process, the committee proposes changes to the existing policy. It then researches and benchmarks to identify practices that can improve the policy. The committee then consults the employees, drafts the proposed changes, and presents them to the management for approval (Mukherjee et al., 2021).

If I were to make revisions to the workplace prevention policy in our organization, I would first research practices that would improve employees’ safety. I would then draft the revisions, consult my colleagues, and present the final draft to the management for approval (Bullock et al., 2021). The process would take approximately 90 days and require financial and human resources.

Conclusion and Reflection

The ANA has a policy initiative on preventing workplace violence, aligning with our organization’s Workplace Violence Policy. Violence against healthcare providers is becoming more common, and it is time that policies are enacted to address this concern.

Our organization’s policy can further be aligned with the ANA initiative by including training of employees at hire and annually for continuous improvement. During this policy development assignment, I easily accessed a professional organization policy initiative related to an existing workplace policy.

However, I had challenges identifying the policy review process in our organization. I have learned the importance of good leadership in proposing and implementing policies. In a different assignment, I would review if other professional organizations have proposed a similar policy initiative and their current progress in enactment. This will influence my future practice since I will use policies from professional organizations to benchmark the policy-making process in my organization.

References

• American Nurses Association. (2019, December 13). Workplace violence/End nurse abuse. ANA. https //www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/work-environment/end-nurse-abuse/
  Bullock, H. L., Lavis, J. N., Wilson, M. G., Mulvale, G., & Miatello, A. (2021). Understanding the implementation of evidence-informed policies and practices from a policy perspective a critical interpretive synthesis. Implementation science IS, 16(1), 18. https //doi.org/10.1186/s13012-021-01082-7
  
• Mukherjee, I., Coban, M. K., & Bali, A. S. (2021). Policy capacities and effective policy design a review. Policy sciences, 54(2), 243–268. https //doi.org/10.1007/s11077-021-09420-8
  
• Vincent-Höper, S., Stein, M., Nienhaus, A., & Schablon, A. (2020). Workplace Aggression and Burnout in Nursing-The Moderating Role of Follow-Up Counseling. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(9), 3152. https //doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17093152