Developing an Evaluation Plan: Obstructive Sleep Apnea
This assignment is a continuation from previous assisgnment. Please see attachment.
Using 800-1,000 words, discuss methods to evaluate the effectiveness of your proposed solution and variables to be assessed when evaluating project outcomes.
Example: If you are proposing a new staffing matrix that is intended to reduce nurse turnover, improve nursing staff satisfaction, and positively impact overall delivery of care, you may decide the following methods and variables are necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of your proposed solution:
Methods:
Survey of staff attitudes and contributors to job satisfaction and dissatisfaction before and after initiating change.
Obtain turnover rates before and after initiating change.
Compare patient discharge surveys before change and after initiation of change
Variables:
Staff attitudes and perceptions.
Patient attitudes and perceptions.
Rate of nursing staff turnover.
Develop the tools necessary to educate project participants and to evaluate project outcomes (surveys, questionnaires, teaching materials, PowerPoint slides, etc.).
Refer to the "Topic 4: Checklist."
Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
Developing an Evaluation Plan
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Introduction
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a condition which affects 18 million adults in the United States (Greensburg et al., 2009). This condition is characterized by a very inconsistent breathing pattern during an individual’s sleep whereby breathing stops for quite a while and starts again (Chung et al., 2008). This condition is caused by a blockage in the airways which results in a very uncomfortable situation before regular breathing resumes. To solve this problem, most patients use Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) (Rennotte et al., 2005). However, the non-surgical procedure is quite uncomfortable and most patients are reluctant to utilize it. My proposal is to use surgical procedures such as uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) or UP3 or maxillomandibular advancement (MMA) to manage OSA. The objective of this essay is to discuss the methods which should be used to evaluate the effectiveness of my proposed solution and variables to be assessed when evaluating project outcomes.
Methods
Follow Ups
After the surgical procedure has been implemented, it is essential to conduct follow ups on the patients who receive the surgical treatment. Tracking the patients’ recovery stages is probably the best method to evaluate the proposed solution since the main goal is to offer patients a better state of wellbeing (Gupta et al., 2001). Follow ups especially for the first group of patients will be very important because it will provide physicians with insight regarding whether to modify the treatment procedures or the educational material for patients and staffs (Sher, 2002).
Furthermore, the follow up process needs to be held in stages whereby after a specified time, the treatment center will call or send patients a questionnaire. The first stage needs to be after three months, the second after 6 months and then after 12 months (Riley et al., 1997). It is also important to have long term follow ups since such feedback from patients can give insight to underlying issues which patients and physicians need to prepare for.
Employee Assessment
According to my proposal, the action plan will require a substantial financial investment amounting to $100,000. Of this amount, $32,000 will be used for educational purposes especially for the staff. While most of it will go to educating the staff regarding the change, some of the money will go to educational tools for prospective patients. Since the investment is significant to the proposal it is very necessary to continually assess employee competence since there has to be visual change which justifies the financial investment (Kribbs et al., 2003).
Variables to Assess
Follow Ups
The follow up process has to begin with presenting a questionnaire to the recovering patients. The questionnaire will concentrate on the patient’s quality of sleep, the patient’s stress levels, the patient’s ability to speak and eat at the same time, and the patient’s health in general. Such variables will determine the effectiveness of the proposed surgical treatment and the rate of the recovery process (Chung et al., 2008). Another important aspect of exploring these variables is the fact that the questionnaire will come from multiple individuals. This gives health centers the ability to evaluate underlying factors such as effectiveness of surgical treatment based on genetic and environmental influences (Sher et al., 2006). Such variables will give physicians the ability to give specialized treatment and counseling before and after the surgical procedures.
Long term follow up process will range from requesting patients to visit the health center, questionnaires and/or telephone interviews. These are necessary because they evaluate healing rates, impact of environment on healing, impact of lifestyle on healing and also, other variables which might be of interest based on the short term follow up responses (Bettega et al., 2009).
Employee Assessment
The health center employees play an integral role into the proposal because it is up to them to implement the proposal. The educational part or the proposal is to equip physicians as well nurses with the know-how on giving patients the best care possible (Friedman et al., 2009). The...