Assessing your learning in USI module

The aim of this module is to enable you to critically evaluate service provision and appraise leadership skills which contribute to the implementation of service improvement.

 

The module aims to help you develop into collaborative practitioners who actively seek to improve their service, are receptive to new ideas and can use a variety of tools and techniques to bring about service improvement for the benefit of key stakeholders including service users.

 

The USI Module Learning Outcomes

The assessment of the module is designed to enable you to demonstrate that you have met the module learning outcomes:

1. Critically analyse models of leadership and select skills to facilitate a positive change to a service.

 

2. Justify and design a strategy to improve the quality of a service that contributes to the development and delivery of a positive service user experience.

 

The USI module assessment task

“Students will consider a service provision from the service user perspective and through the use of process mapping identify a collaborative service improvement that they can plan and discuss the leadership skills required for implementation”.

 

This assessment task requires you to produce a 3,000 word assignment and a 500 word action plan.

 

 

SUGGESTED STRUCTURE FOR THE 3,000 WORD ASSIGNMENT:

Please do not use the headings below in your assignment

 

Introduction

·         Provide a brief introduction of your assignment to outline what your assignment covers. This overview should reflect the two module learning outcomes, state your profession (Nursing/Rehabilitation Worker) and briefly highlight the service improvement project you have written about.

·         You should also tell the reader that your 500 word action plan relating to your professional knowledge and skills can be found at the end of the assignment (after the conclusion).

 

About your professional role

• State your professional role (Nurse/Rehabilitation Worker).
• Name your professional regulator in China and critically contrast regulatory requirements with the professional regulatory requirements in the UK:
• Nursing and Midwifery Council for ‘Nurses’
• Health and Care Professionals Council for ‘Physiotherapists’ & ‘Occupational Therapists’ (similar to the Rehabilitation Workers role)

 

 

Service improvement policy

• Use literature to define the term ‘service improvement’ in a health care context.
• Contrast relevant policies about service improvement in healthcare from the UK with relevant policies in China. Critically debate similarities and significant differences and consider the impact of this on the service improvement project you are writing about.

 

Service user involvement policy / ethos (philosophy)

• Use literature to define the terms ‘service user’ and ‘service user involvement’ in a health care context.
• Contrast relevant policies about the involvement of service users in health care; including their crucial role in service improvement, from the UK with relevant policies in China. Critically debate similarities and significant differences policies and consider the impact of this on the service improvement project you are writing about.

 

Introduce your service improvement idea

• Introduce your service improvement idea for enhancing service users’ experiences.
• Use evidence, policy and reflections based on your observations as a Nurse/Rehabilitation Worker to justify why you have selected the service improvement idea. This rationale should outline where your service improvement idea came from and why you think it is important, justified and credible.
• The anticipated benefit to service users’ should be clear. Additional anticipated benefits should also be clear, for example, improved communication between all stakeholders, increased staff satisfaction.

 

Involvement of key stakeholders in your service improvement

• Use policy, evidence and other literature from the UK and China to write about collaborative working with stakeholders when undertaking service improvement projects in health care.
• Outline key stakeholders/groups of stakeholders you will include in your service improvement project and justify their involvement. It must be evident how and why service users are a crucial stakeholder group in relation to your project. Use policy from the UK and China, regulatory body requirements and other forms of evidence to when making this important point.

 

Process Mapping

• Use literature to define the concept of Process Mapping and to justify the use of Process Mapping in relation to your service improvement.
• Outline how you will undertake Process Mapping to map the service users’ journey in relation your service improvement idea. For example:
• Who will be involved and how?
• What resources are required?
• How will your collate and record the data gathered?
• How will the data you collate and record be analysed?
• You should include two Process Maps in your assignment: (1) a Process Map detailing service users’ current ‘journey’, and, (2) a Process Map detailing the service users’ intended, future ‘journey’ relevant to your service improvement.

 

 

Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) Cycle and implementation of the service improvement

• Use literature to introduce the PDSA Cycle and to justify the benefits of using the PDSA Cycle in relation to your service improvement. Remember, the PDSA Cycle will help you understand the potential impact of a
• Outline how you will undertake the PDSA Cycle in relation the service improvement idea. For example:
• What are your 3 key PDSA Cycle questions?
• What will happen in each phase, who will be involved, what resources are required?
• How will your collate and record the data gathered?
• How will the data you collate and record be analysed and evaluated?
• Use literature to outline how the PDSA Cycle relates to other service improvements tools and principles, for example, Lean Principles, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints.

 

• Outline the implementation strategy for your service improvement and use literature to justify how you will implement the change. For example, what resources will be required?
• Include an indication of how, why and when you will evaluate your service improvement. For example, which stakeholders will be involved and why? Crucially, justify how will you work with service users to evaluate the service improvement to understand to what extent their experience of using the service has been enhanced?

 

Leadership and your leadership role throughout the service improvement project

The points below should be included in your assignment but you can decide where you include this information. You may incorporate this when you write about the Process Mapping and the PDSA Cycle. Alternatively, you may write about this after you’ve written about Process Mapping and the PDSA Cycle.

• Critically analyse different leadership models/styles in health care. Contrast leadership styles in healthcare in the UK and China making reference to relevant policies and regulatory body requirements.
• Using literature, select and justify a relevant leadership style/s for the different stages of your service improvement project.
• Critical analyse the key leadership skills you require to lead and facilitate your service improvement project. For example, the ability to actively listen, the ability to delegate tasks, the ability to respond to positive feedback and constructive criticism, the ability to record and analyse data, the ability to collaborate with key stakeholders including service users. Relate this to your regulatory body requirements and use evidence to consider to extent to which Nurses/Rehabilitation Workers demonstrate such leadership skills in your area of practice.

 

Conclusion

• Provide a brief summary to sum up the main points of your assignment.
• Briefly introduce the 500 word action plan. For example, you might write about how undertaking the Undertaking Service Improvement (USI) module and writing the USI module assignment has required you to reflect on your professional knowledge and skills relevant to: (1) undertaking and leading a service improvement project, and, (2) working collaboratively to plan and lead a service improvement project. As such you have produced a 500 word action plan using SMART principles to specify actions you will undertake to develop your professional knowledge and skills.

 

SUGGESTED TEMPLATE FOR THE 500 ACTION PLAN:

In the action plan, you must use SMART principles to specify actions you will take to develop your professional knowledge and skills in relation to:

• undertaking and leading a service improvement project
• working collaboratively to plan and lead the service improvement project

 

Your action plan must use SMART principles and should be Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely throughout.

 

Goal: Specific piece of knowledge or skill I want to develop	Priority: High, Medium, Low	Actions / resources: What specific actions or resources do I need?	Measurement: How will I know when I have achieved my goal? What will I be able to do?	Date: Timeframe to achieve my goal
To develop the skill of active listening	High	Find and watch a video about SOLER and SURETY Read journal article titled ‘From SOLER to SURETY for effective non-verbal communication’ (Stickley, 2011) Arrange a session to practice SOLER and SURETY principles with a colleague. Discuss the activity with my colleague and reflect on the experience / learning.	Be confident in my ability to demonstrate active listening skills using SOLER or SURETY principles when working with different stakeholder groups	31st January 2019

 

 

REFERENCE LIST

 

Stickley, T. (2011). From SOLER to SURETY for effective non-verbal communication. Nurse Education in Practice. 11(6), 295-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2011.03.021