To Prepare
Review the Learning Resources concerning how to analyze and reflect on project implementation.
Consider what you have learned thus far from your project implementation and evaluation.
By Day 3 of Week 10
Post a response detailing what you have learned thus far from your project implementation and evaluation. What lessons have you learned, and how are you evaluating, or plan to evaluate, the implementation? Identify two or three factors to assist in sustaining the change at the practice site. How can you sustain the translation?
Question:
For adult obesity patients (P), does the implementation of a staff education on obesity management (I) as compared to lack of staff education (C) improve Patient’s enrollment to weight loss program (O) over a period of 3 weeks(T)?
Lessons Learned From Project Implementation and Evaluation
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliations
Lessons Learned From Project Implementation and Evaluation
Nurses completing their Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) projects should be able to apply lessons learned from their practicum project implementation and evaluation to real practice to enhance the success of nursing projects. The process begins by identifying the lessons learned from every step of the implementation and evaluation processes (Carnahan et al., 2020; Rolland et al., 2021). The clinical practice question that the project aimed to address states that “For adult obesity patients (P), does the implementation of a staff education on obesity management (I) as compared to lack of staff education (C) improve Patient’s enrollment to weight loss program (O) over a period of 3 weeks(T)?” Even after successful implementation and evaluation of a DNP project, the student should utilize relevant strategies to sustain the translation.
The DNP student learned numerous lessons from project implementation and evaluation. One of the lessons is the importance of involving stakeholders who perform different but complementary roles to ensure the success of the project (Carnahan et al., 2020). Another lesson related to stakeholder involvement is to train the project team in order to equip them with the skills that they need to accomplish project-related tasks. Oberschmidt et al. (2022) conducted a literature review to investigate the lessons learned from a best practice implementation initiative involving eHealth design implementation. The researchers found that working with stakeholders is one of the key sources of success in best practice implementation. Additional findings indicate that training stakeholders provide them with knowledge and skills to perform project-related actions and research (Oberschmidt et al., 2022). The DNP student also learned aspects related to proper financial planning and budgeting, effective communication, and working with teams from the start to the end of implementation. An important lesson learned from project evaluation is that it is important to align it with implementation and relate it to the specific measures identified during the initial stages of the project (Shah et al., 2021; Hickey et al., 2021). Generally, the project implementation and evaluation processes generated insights into the importance of constant reflection to establish whether things went as planned.
` The DNP student is applying the lessons learned during evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the project in addressing the clinical practice issue that it was intended to address. Carnahan et al. (2020) report the importance of embedding an evaluation process in the implementation program. When evaluating the implementation, the DNP student is embedding the process with the measures that the project aimed to assess. The measures of focus include; the level of staff knowledge regarding obesity management, the number of obese patients receiving guidance from healthcare providers regarding obesity management, and the number of obese patients enrolled in weight loss programs following project implementation.
Sustaining translation should be one of the goals of DNP nurses completing practicum projects. One of the factors to sustaining change at the practice site is providing feedback to the project team regarding the performance of specific measures post-implementation. The other factor is constant communication among stakeholders as they share the lessons learned from participating in project implementation while at the same time, sharing ideas regarding areas that need improvement (Servais, 2021). Ideally, the number of obese patients enrolled in weight loss programs should increase significantly several months after the implementation of the project.
Conclusion
Implementation of a DNP project usually generates insights that implementers can use to improve future projects. The DNP student intends to apply the lessons learned from project implementation and evaluation to clinical practice to enhance the success of nursing projects. Additionally, the student will engage in constant communication and share feedback with stakeholders in order to sustain the translation.
References
Carnahan, E., Gurley, N., Asiimwe, G., Chilundo, B., Duber, H. C., Faye, A., Kamya, C., Mpanya, G., Nagasha, S., Phillips, D., Salisbury, N., Shearer, J., Shelley, K., & Gavi Full Country Evaluations Consortium; and Global Fund Prospective Country Evaluation Consortium (2020). Lessons learned from implementing prospective, multicountry mixed-methods evaluations for Gavi and the Global Fund. Global Health, Science and Practice, 8(4), 771–782. https://doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-20-00126.
Hickey, A., Henning, M., & Sirois, L. (2021). Lessons learned during large-scale implementation project focused on workplace lactation practices and policies. American Journal of Health Promotion, 36(3):477-486. doi: 10.1177/08901171211055692.
Oberschmidt, K., Grünloh, C., Nijboer, F., & van Velsen, L. (2022). Best practices and lessons learned for action research in eHealth design and implementation: literature review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 24(1), e31795. https://doi.org/10.2196/31795
Rolland, B., Resnik, F., Hohl, S. D., Johnson, L. J., Saha-Muldowney, M., & Mahoney, J. (2021). Applying the lessons of implementation science to maximize feasibility and usability in team science intervention development. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, 5(1), e197. https://doi.org/10.1017/cts.2021.826.
Servais, M. (2021). Sustaining changes to clinical practice at person, team, and organizational levels. Physical & Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics, 41(4):355-357. doi: 10.1080/01942638.2021.1936820. PMID: 34229546.
Shah, N., Mathew, S., Pereira, A., Nakaima, A., & Sridharan, S. (2021). The role of evaluation in iterative learning and implementation of quality of care interventions. Global Health Action, 14(1), 1882182. https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2021.1882182.