Developing an Evaluation Plan
discuss methods to evaluate the effectiveness of your proposed solution and variables to be assessed
when evaluating project outcomes.
Example: If you are proposing a new staffing matrix that is intended to reduce nurse turnover, improve
nursing staff satisfaction, and positively impact overall delivery of care, you may decide the following
methods and variables are necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of your proposed solution:
Methods:
Survey of staff attitudes and contributors to job satisfaction and dissatisfaction before and after initiating
change.
Obtain turnover rates before and after initiating change.
Compare patient discharge surveys before change and after initiation of change.
Variables:
Staff attitudes and perceptions.
Patient attitudes and perceptions.
Rate of nursing staff turnover.
Develop the tools necessary to educate project participants and to evaluate project outcomes (surveys,
questionnaires, teaching materials, PowerPoint slides, etc.).
EVALUATION PLAN 2
Developing an Evaluation Plan
Project outcomes need to be evaluated to see how effective the applied solutions were or
whether they carry any potential. The solutions and variables applied are evaluated resulting to
some findings. The greatest contributors to job dissatisfaction with the staff are found to be in
relation to the organizational climate, nurse turnover, their health benefits and working
conditions. Nurses express satisfaction with the provision of essential drugs. The staff have a
negative attitude towards working as they are not put into consideration as individuals whose
needs are also to be attended to for the better of the patients and themselves (Needleman, 2006).
All these will be analyzed before the initiation of change. The survey will be done and solutions
derived. A strong line management and support from it will be found to have improved the
staff’s attitude and led to a reduction in job satisfaction (Lankshear, 2005). Support from the
EVALUATION PLAN 3
management and good communication improve the working state. Essential working instruments
like gloves will also be administered to change the working condition.
The rate of nurse turnover is a great concern for healthcare organizations and is likely to
become worse. It costs a lot in terms of hiring, orientation and training, compromised quality of
care and the lack of organizational knowledge. It can be especially problematic: directly or
indirectly. It may be considered direct when the costs are clearly attributable to a specific activity
or are more obvious like advertising costs. Those that cannot be attached to a particular activity
and may be inappreciable like loss of organizational knowledge are indirect (Finkler et al.,
2007). After coming up with solutions like increasing compensation and benefits for nurses,
supporting flexible scheduling and job sharing, recognizing and rewarding superior performance,
the rate of nurse turnover will reduce remarkably and improve the concerned areas.
A great comparison between patient discharge surveys before change and after initiation
of change is a great step to be used in this evaluation. Initially, patients express with great
satisfaction their thoughts on clinical service and the public health services but may be less
satisfied with the provision of essential drugs and health insurance schemes. Those greatly
affected are the elderly, retired, and those with low income. After coming up with ways to solve
the issue with the help of the government, a program will be enacted with the sole responsibility
of providing supplement support to the disadvantaged by paying health premiums and covering
all extra costs. Primary care facilities will also not be allowed to earn any profits on essential
drugs thus reducing the prices of essential drugs.
The attitudes and perception of staff in their work place are full of tension as they are not
provided with everything they need for job satisfaction in the various departments. They perceive
EVALUATION PLAN 4
the administration or management to be one that does not care about their wellbeing as
individuals and as employees. Recognition is not administered to them for their work done. A
positive attitude towards the provision of drugs was registered but with issues like working
conditions and organizational climate, a negative attitude was registered. The patients’
perception about the staff, management and activities to be carried out will be of great standard.
To them, everything to do with healthcare ought to be of great value and lots of care considered
for healthy lives and good working force. The rate of nurse turnover is viewed as an aspect to be
considered for the success of flow of activities. The administering of proper measures to resolve
the issue save time and efforts that would be highly costly at a later time (Aiken 2007).
To successfully educate project participants and evaluate project outcomes,
questionnaires will used. The questionnaires will structured in a way that provides the name of
the employer, allowing us to aggregate responses by hospital for the analysis of nurses’ reports
and patient satisfaction. They shall also include questions about the work environment, job
satisfaction, and experience of nurse turnover.
EVALUATION PLAN 5
References
Aiken LH, Clarke SP, Sloane DM, Lake ET, Cheney T. (2007). Effects of hospital care
environment on patient mortality and nurse outcomes.
Finkler, S.A., Kovner, C.T., & Jones, C.B. (2007). Financial management for nurse managers
and executives.
Lankshear, A.J., Sheldon, T.A., & Maynard, A. (2005). Nurse staffing and healthcare outcomes:
A systematic review of the international research evidence.
Needleman, J., Buerhaus, P.I., Stewart, M., Zelevinsky, K., & Mattke, S. (2006). Nurse staffing
in hospitals: Is there a business case for quality? Health Affairs, 25(1), 204-211.
