Developing and Evaluation Plan: MRSA Prevention

Developing and evaluation plan: MRSA prevention
Methods to evaluate effectiveness of the proposed change
It is worth mentioning that an educational program would be carried out to prevent and control MRSA infections not only in healthcare settings, but also in the community. As such, to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed change, the MRSA infection rates will be measured in both the community and the healthcare setting before and after the intervention. In order to measure the effectiveness of educational programs for the prevention and control of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the rate of MRSA infection before the educational program would be compared to the rate after the implementation.
This program entails providing education to individuals and communities on the ways to prevent the spread and transmission of MRSA considering that treating it is difficult. This is because providing education to communities and individuals has been shown to promote health and prevent illness (Green et al., 2012). The educational activities would be targeted at healthcare workers and the general public in the community in order to prevent community-associated MRSA, healthcare-associated MRSA, and hospital-associated MRSA infections. The educational program would be implemented in both the community in which the general public would be educated on soft tissue and skin infections, and proper hands washing. The educational program would also be implemented in the health care setting in which healthcare providers would be educated about their role in the prevention of MRSA.
Prior to the implementation of the education program, the rates of MRSA infections would be noted. These would then be compared with the rates of these infections after the implementation of the educational program. The proposed solution would be considered as a success if the rate of MRSA infections after the implementation of the educational program has reduced because of this intervention. Conversely, the proposed solution would be considered to have been ineffective if there is no change at all in the rate of MRSA infections and/or if the rate of MRSA infections has increased.
The other method that would be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed solution is by comparing it with a population in the community that was not provided with educational program. This will entail having two groups in the community and educational program would be provided to one of the groups, whereas the other group would not be provided with the educational program. After a period of 12 months, the rates of MRSA infections would be compared between the two groups. The educational program would be considered as a success and effective if the rates of MRSA infection are lower in the intervention group than in the group where the educational program was not implemented. Otherwise, it will be seen as ineffective (Otter & French, 2011; Harris, 2014).
Variables to be assessed when evaluating project outcomes
Staff perceptions and attitudes: this is an integral variable given that the success and efficacy of the proposed change is largely dependent on how the hospital’s health care professionals would perceive it. The proposed change would be successful and effective if employees in the healthcare facility approve and support it and actually have a positive attitude toward it. When the hospital staffs have an assenting perception and a confirmatory attitude toward the proposed change, then they would certainly accept it without exhibiting resistance (Koydemir et al., 2011). They will also not attempt to frustrate the implementation of the project. Conversely, if the hospital staffs have negative perceptions and unconstructive attitudes toward the proposed change, they are more likely to resist the change and frustrate its implementation. In turn, this will make the proposed change be unsuccessful and ineffective (Romano, Lu & Holtom, 2010).
Perceptions and attitudes of patients and the community: Another variable that would be assessed when evaluating the project outcomes is the attitudes and perceptions of patients and peop...