After this first course in the program, the remaining specialty courses through your capstone course will each have a summative assessment that consists of an authentic performance assessment. Together, the courses scaffold the tasks of your healthcare improvement project (HIP) through the project management lifecycle phases: project initiation, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Each performance assessment will focus on aspects of the proposal you will develop for a healthcare improvement project using a real-world approach to improving healthcare. Each phase will be described in different sections of a healthcare improvement project (HIP) paper.  

 

While completing your Business Case Analysis for a Healthcare Improvement course, you collaborated with your proposal team members, specialized experts in your field of interest, or colleagues from your current or former organization to assess the need for and feasibility of implementing your project using a project management approach. This process required the completion of several different analytic methods that support your recommendation for a healthcare improvement project (HIP).

 

In this task, you will begin to write your scholarly HIP paper that will place your proposed HIP in the context of the literature and provide evidence to support your project. In the introduction section of your paper, you should synthesize a select few key articles to provide the context, the problem or opportunity, and the purpose for your project.

 

In the next section,
 you will provide a review of scholarly sources published within the last five years that are credible and relevant to your HIP. A well-written review of the literature compares and contrasts published sources, highlights exemplary studies, identifies gaps in knowledge, and indicates how your project will fill the gap and advance nursing practice.

 

This task requires the submission of your entire HIP paper template including the following section(s) of your HIP paper which you will be developing in this performance assessment: 

•  “Purpose Statement” 

•  “Review of Relevant Scholarly Sources and Table of Scholarly Sources Template”

•  “SMART+C Goal Worksheet”

•  “Project Management Life Cycle”

 

Each of the following templates should be completed and submitted as an appendix to your HIP paper:

•  Table of Relevant Scholarly Sources Template (Appendix C) 

•  SMART+C Goal Worksheet (Appendix D) 

REQUIREMENTS

Your submission must be your original work. No more than a combined total of 30% of the submission and no more than a 10% match to any one individual source can be directly quoted or closely paraphrased from sources, even if cited correctly. The originality report that is provided when you submit your task can be used as a guide.

 

You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.

 

Tasks may 
not be submitted as cloud links, such as links to Google Docs, Google Slides, OneDrive, etc., unless specified in the task requirements. All other submissions must be file types that are uploaded and submitted as attachments (e.g., .docx, .pdf, .ppt).

 

Complete the Introduction and Review of Relevant Scholarly Sources sections of your healthcare improvement project (HIP) paper by doing the following:

 

Purpose Statement

A.  Write a statement of the purpose of your project that describes what the reader can expect.

 

Review of Relevant Scholarly Sources and Table of Scholarly Sources Template 

B.  Complete the “Review of Scholarly Sources” section of your HIP paper by doing the following:

1.  Complete the “Table of Relevant Scholarly Sources Template” section (Appendix C of the HIP paper template) by searching for and selecting 
5–10 scholarly sources published within the last five years, including the following for 
each of the sources identified:

•  in-text citation

•  scholarly source title

•  type of scholarly source

•  relevance

2.  Synthesize information from 
five sources from the “Table of Relevant Scholarly Sources Template” section in part B1 by critically evaluating the sources to identify best practices that emerged from the evidence.

 

SMART+C Goal Worksheet

C.  Complete the “SMART+C Goal Worksheet” section (Appendix D in the HIP paper template) by doing the following:

1.     Answer 
each of the 
six SMART+C criteria questions.

2.     Construct 
one SMART+C goal for the project using the SMART+C criteria answers from part C1.

3.     Create a project outcome statement using the SMART+C goal you developed.

 

Project Management Life Cycle

D.  Analyze the four phases of the project management lifecycle in terms of your HIP by doing the following:

1.  Explain how the project management lifecycle will guide your project from initiation to closure.

2.  Describe how the activities completed meet the requirements for the initiation phase of this HIP.

 

E.  Incorporate the following components of APA style and formatting into your paper:

•     bias-free language

•     objectivity, credibility of sources, and evidence-based approach

•     APA-specific rules regarding verb tense, voice, and perspective 

•     a title page and headers

•     APA-specific formatting rules for in-text citations and references, margins, spacing, numbering, and indentation for the title page, main body, and appendices of your paper, including headers, bulleted and numbered lists, and tables and figures

 

F.  Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.