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Summary
This article describes how the authors helped practitioners to develop their action planning skills in conjunction with a practice development strategy in an acute hospital, using an approach called concept analysis, embellished by a systematic literature review. As a result of this, two tools were developed to help practitioners become more effective in action planning. This article describes the process and the tools that resulted, and illustrates the impact and benefits of using these tools in practice. It concludes that action planning, when undertaken rigorously and effectively, is a key skill for changing the workplace culture from one where the action plan belongs to one person to one where everyone takes responsibility for action.
Keywords
Action planning; Concept analysis; Practice development
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THIS ARTICLE aims to help practitioners develop their understanding of the principles of action planning as well as their action planning skills. An approach called concept analysis was used with practitioners who were implementing a practice development strategy, to help them understand the characteristics of effective action planning. Two tools aimed at making action planning more rigorous and effective were developed from this process. The process is explained and the two tools are described.
Action planning
Action planning is a key step in achieving change in practice, whether this is the implementation of strategies, policies, organisational and team learning, or findings from clinical audit and research. Regardless of how good an action plan is, there are many potential barriers to prevent 'action' from happening in practice. Such barriers include the lack of mechanisms for ongoing monitoring of action plan outcomes or lack of ownership of the action plan by clinical teams.
Over a three-year period, practice development facilitators in one trust worked with their clinical teams to develop, implement and evaluate a trust-wide approach that placed the patient at the centre of care, and provided care that was clinically effective (Down 2004). Practitioners and other members of the healthcare team participated in an action research...