Change Management in Healthcare: Challenges and Solutions

This report examines the crucial aspects of change management within the healthcare sector. It emphasizes the need for adaptation due to factors like expanding care services and technological advancements, such as the introduction of electronic medical record systems. The report identifies challenges such as nurse fatigue, job insecurity, and decreased productivity stemming from rapid changes, highlighting the importance of pre-implementation training and increased staffing to mitigate these issues. It also underscores the significance of communication and the role of first-line managers in facilitating successful change implementation. The report concludes by advocating for a proactive approach to change management, emphasizing the necessity of addressing potential issues through strategic planning and effective communication strategies to ensure a smooth transition and maintain high-quality patient care.

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Name
Institution

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Change Management
The healthcare setting is undergoing massive changes that have to be taken into crucial
consideration, expansion of care services to clients, among others require the implementation of
various reforms. Bringing a hospital to a desired health care state requires numerous initiatives to
be taken and the shortcomings that come with it should be bearable. Changing the culture of a
hospital is not easy, but it is essential to ensure sustainability.
The most common challenges that the nurses are facing in healthcare is rapid changes. In
most cases, the old familiar practices are substituted with new complex ideas which make nurses
feel insecure about their profession and are mostly exhausting (Shanks, 2016). For example the
introduction of electronic medical record systems, this makes nurses who were used to
paperwork feel overwhelmed, and they may take a longer time in understanding them leading to
reduced productivity (Hayes, 2018). In the department, there will be decreased job satisfaction,
poor performance, and fear of job stability due to changes.
In the implementation of changes, the department and the nurses lose a lot. The nurses
will have fatigue with the new practices and job insecurity that leads to poor performance,
conflicts, and lack of teamwork in the department (Hayes, 2018). To sort this issue, before
implementing change, pieces of training should be done, and staff is increased to promote
satisfaction and quality service production.
Before the implementation of a change project, meetings should be conducted in various
department, and project managers and change practitioners are part of the team. The primary
purpose of the change is to enable people to adopt new ways of operations (Hayes, 2018). The
communication tools for change should include discussion forums and managers guide to their
employees on the importance of change (Shanks, 2016). For change to be effective, the first-line

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managers are efficient in communicating to its members since they understand their strengths
and weaknesses.

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References
Hayes, J. (2018). The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave.
Shanks, N. H. (Ed.). (2016). Introduction to health care management. Jones & Bartlett
Publishers.

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