Assignment: Developing a Strategic Plan to Create Change

Strategic planning implies rethinking priority tasks with available resources to achieve a new business result.

- Michele V. Sare and LeAnn Ogilvie, Strategic Planning for Nurses: Change Management in Health Care

As a nurse leader-manager, you can dynamically impact health care through your involvement in strategic planning. Being able to identify an unmet need is a critical aspect of strategic planning; however, the real value of this process lies in moving a group, unit, or organization through the analysis and actions required to effectively address the unmet need.

You consider how the foundational topics introduced in the first several weeks of this course relate to the creation of a strategic plan. As you move forward, you will be guided through the strategic planning process to develop your Course Project: Developing a Strategic Plan.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Analyze historical data and forecasting pertaining to an unmet need in health care or nursing
• Analyze potential stakeholders for a strategic planning effort
• Formulate a vision for addressing an unmet health care-related need at the organizational or systems level
• Evaluate research evidence for addressing an unmet need in health care or nursing*

This Learning Objective assigned this week will be assessed.

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Learning Resources

Note: To access this week's required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Required Readings

Balicer, R. D., Shadmi, E., Lieberman, N., Greenberg-Dotan, S., Goldfracht, M., Jana, L., . . . Jacobson, O. (2011). Reducing health disparities: Strategy planning and implementation in Israel's largest health care organization. Health Services Research, 46(4), 1281-1299.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

The authors examine the planning, implementation, and evaluation of an organization-wide strategy to address the need to reduce health care inequalities and improve quality in Israel.

Schaffner, J. (2009). Roadmap for success: The 10-step nursing strategic plan. Journal of Nursing Administration, 39(4), 152-155.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

The author outlines a 10-step strategic planning process for nursing.

Strubhar, A. J. (2011). The application of an environmental scanning and strategic planning framework in an academic department of physical therapy. Journal of Physical Therapy Education, 25(3), 53-59.

Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

The author examines strategic planning, including environmental scanning, within a physical therapy department in an academic institution.

Authenticity Consulting. (n.d.b). Basic description of strategic planning.

This online article provides an overview of the strategic planning.

Authenticity Consulting. (n.d.c). Basic overview of various strategic planning models.

This online article describes different models of strategic planning, including issues-based planning.

PlanWare. (n.d.). Business planning papers: Developing a strategic plan.

View the strategic planning information on this website.

Required Media

Laureate Education (Producer). (2013d). Elements of a strategic plan model [Video file].

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 6 minutes.

Dr. Carol Huston describes elements common to strategic planning models and discusses ways to approach the development of a strategic plan.

Accessible player
Optional Resources

Authenticity Consulting. (n.d.a). All about strategic planning.

Discussion: Addressing an Unmet Need Through Strategic Planning

Challenges can seem ever present in the health care field. Problems related to the quality of patient care, financial matters, technology, and interdisciplinary collaboration, for example, are often evident in organizations and professional groups.

In your role as a nurse leader-manager, it is important to consider challenges and how these translate into unmet needs. You can then create valuable change by addressing these unmet needs through strategic planning.

Through this Discussion, you may distinguish the focus for your Course Project. Your instructor and colleagues will provide feedback to help you refine your idea as you move forward.

To prepare:

• Consider the information presented by Dr. Carol Huston in this week's media program. Think about the process of moving from the identification of an unmet need through the development, implementation, and evaluation of a strategic plan.

• Reflect on the initial thinking about trends and unmet needs in nursing and health care that you addressed in Week 5.

• Consider how the information in this week's Learning Resources deepens and expands your understanding of these trends and unmet needs in relation to the strategic planning process.

• Proceed with planning for your Course Project as follows:

o Select an unmet need that affects a specific group, unit, or organization.

o Deepen your understanding of this group, unit, or organization by examining the stated mission, vision, and values, if possible.

o Analyze historical data related to the unmet need, and review the evidence in the literature. Use this information to engage in forecasting.

o Consider which stakeholders should be included in the strategic planning process.

o Begin to formulate a vision for addressing this need at the organizational or systems level. (Note: Although not required for this Discussion, you will need to develop a strategic goal for your Course Project.)