Implementing shift equity change initiatives in hospital nursing practice

Leading Change Initiatives in the Nursing Field

The nursing profession is highly specialized field and requires control through an able overseeing body. It is governed by both the respective hospital administrations as well as the government ministry concerned. In this case, the employees are expected to adhere to some guidelines and regulations. Change initiatives refer to those proposals for new modes of operations within the profession (Roussel, 2011). This paper talks about the real life experiences relating to the work of a nursing practitioner who is preparing to be a Doctor of Nursing Profession leader. In this case, the systematic description of the change initiative is based on a real life experience of a nurse.

The identified issue was that relating to the work schedule within the hospital facility. There have been frictions relating to the shifts, both day and the night that have been taking place in the hospitals. The cause of disagreement is that those nurses serving on the night shift are always unhappy with the current arrangement. They are of the opinion that the nightshift attendants be treated differently in terms of allowances that they get as well as the work leave that they get. They are often offended by the fact that they are treated just like the other day-duty nurses (Moran, Burson, Conrad, 2013).

In this case, the planned change was that of harmonizing the day and night shifts to ensure that both of them are made smooth. This satisfies the needs of all the special group of workers. The night workers are the ones who have the greatest inconvenience at work and therefore have to be paid better benefits for the night shift duty. Given this case, the workers have to content with the fact that they are all not equal in terms of service. The systems thinking in the field contributed to the success of the project in the sense that the junior nurses easily understood the motive of the DPN leader. The systems enabled the implementer to have an easy time convincing all the stakeholders to cooperate. However, the problem of timely implementation and smooth coordination of the activities was evident from the manager's efforts. Such a complex exercise could not have gone without hiccups at implementation stage. Complexity theory helps in predicting the complexities that exist in firms by analyzing their formation structure. Complexity theory could have predicted the problem is the implementer had documented the whole procedure down before implementing it (Roussel, 2011).

As a self-reflective leader, my strengths are that I value correction and act upon them when given. This strength will prevent a re-occurrence of a previously committed mistake. It also helps me in improving my personal growth about the level of professional development. My limitations, however, are in maintaining consistency in good service. How this can be addressed is to be involved more in team service to draw strength and motivation from work.