The strategy for overcoming these barriers begins with improving accountability
for simple safety habits. If a small discussion can begin between management and
employees about current errors that are occurring in the facility, accountability and
awareness can come to light and begin to make a change on their own. Instead of placing
the blame on one department or one person, the facility can come together to work as a
team to fix the issues for the patient’s sake. Once that has taken place, more drastic
measures can be taken if needed such as staffing, training, procedure changes, etc.
Evaluation Process
The evaluation process that will be implemented for the change plan for reducing
and preventing medical errors in health care facilities includes a six-step process. These
steps include assessing context, gathering reconnaissance, engaging stakeholders,
describing the program, focusing the evaluation, and sharing the lessons learned.
“Attention to the planning process for an evaluation helps ensure an evaluation enjoys the
cooperation of the stakeholders involved in the evaluation, generates valid data that are
appropriate to answering the questions that initiated the evaluation in the first place, and
provides useful information that serves its intended purpose.” (Holden & Zimmerman,
2008, p. 152).

CAPSTONE PROJECT: MEDICAL ERRORS
9
Assessing the context of the plan includes determining how the evaluation will
occur, who will be the evaluator, and the setting and level to which the analysis will be.
Gathering reconnaissance includes investigating and gaining an understanding of the
motivations behind the evaluation. “Knowing about the issues and the intended
application of the evaluation ahead of time is beneficial because it may help inform
additional data that may need to be collected, plan for additional sources of data for
different information, and anticipate problems with reporting the results.” (Holden &
Zimmerman, 2008, p. 147). Engaging identified stakeholders in the process from start to
finish helps to ensure that the evaluation and plan is relevant and valid, helps to gain
cooperation among staff to conduct the evaluation, and to apply the findings for the plan
development. The use of a logic model during this process is a vital tool for stakeholders
to use to further investigate how the plan was intended to function and to provide
direction for the evaluation as well. Describing the plan “provides information about
areas that require more attention than others, helps identify hidden agendas, and informs
the design necessary to provide an accurate and useful assessment of the program.”
(Holden & Zimmerman, 2008, p. 150). Lastly, focus the evaluation includes creating
specific measures for the various stages of the planning process for the evaluator to
utilize. The evaluator can link resources together, such as training and funding that are
needed to carry out the evaluation to keep the plan on track to achieve its short and long-
term goals. Overall, the stakeholders should be involved during each step of the


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- Spring '17
- Health care provider, Writer, Prevention of Medical Errors