Marian Altman RN, MS, CCRN-K, CNS-BC, ANP is a Clinical Practice Specialist at AACN (American Association of Critical-Care Nurses) who works with the AACN Clinical Scene Investigator (CSI) Academy, a 16-month nursing leadership and innovation training program to empower hospital-based staff nurses as clinician leaders and change agents whose initiatives measurably improve patient outcomes and hospital bottom lines. CSI projects have dealt with Behavioral/Psychosocial, Cardiovascular, Infectious Disease, Pulmonary, and Patient Safety Issues. Marian facilitated a series of sessions at NTI focused on how to impact change on your unit, particularly as it relates to implementing evidence-based knowledge or best-practices. Some of the topics covered were Key concepts of a change project. Team roles and their impact on project outcomes. Social entrepreneurship and how to apply the concepts to a nursing change project. How to apply the steps of Kotter's Change Theory to a nursing change project. Components of an Influence Map and how to apply to a project. The difference between process and outcome measures and how they relate to clinical outcomes and change initiative. How to quantify the fiscal impact of a practice change. How to apply components of a logic model and drill down plan. Redosing strategies that lead to sustaining a change project. How to scale a project to another unit, hospital-wide or system-wide. Methods to disseminate project outcomes. Components of innovative project management. How to develop, plan and implement an innovative project that targets a patient/family or clinical outcome on the unit. Using tools from the CSI Academy to create measurable improvements in patient/family, clinical or organizational outcomes. In a recent NTI allnurses interview, Marian Altman answers the following questions: What is a change agent? How can nurses be effective change agents? What are some challenges or obstacles to accepting change? What are some important skills nurses learn in the CSI Academy? How can nurses use innovation to create business opportunities that benefit patients? Define social entrepreneurship and describe how to apply the concepts to a nursing change project. 1 Down Vote Up Vote × About tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN (Columnist) 83 Articles 5,923 Posts Share this post Share on other sites