• Competency 1: Analyze quality and safety outcomes from an administrative and systems perspective.
  • Explain key quality and safety outcomes.
  • Analyze the relationships between a systemic problem in an organization and specific quality and safety outcomes.
• Competency 2: Determine how outcome measures promote quality and safety processes within an organization.
  • Determine how specific outcome measures support strategic initiatives related to a quality and safety culture.
• Competency 3: Determine how specific organizational functions, policies, processes, procedures, norms, and behaviors can be used to build reliability and high-performing organizations.
  • Determine the strategic value to an organization of specific outcome measures.
• Competency 4: Synthesize the various aspects of the nurse leader’s role in developing, promoting, and sustaining a culture of quality and safety.
  • Determine how a leadership team would support the implementation and adoption of proposed practice changes affecting specific outcomes.
• Competency 5: Communicate effectively with diverse audiences, in an appropriate form and style, consistent with applicable organizational, professional, and scholarly standards.
  • Write clearly and concisely, using correct grammar and mechanics.
  • Integrate relevant and credible sources of evidence to support assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style.

Competency Map

CHECK YOUR PROGRESSUse this online tool to track your performance and progress through your course.

Context

It has been said that time is money. In planning change to positively influence outcomes, it is important that you be able to quickly and concisely articulate your ideas. An executive summary is a short document that summarizes a more in-depth report. Think of it in terms of a public service announcement or commercial in which you must grab the attention of the stakeholders in order for your project to become a priority.An executive summary enables you to provide the executive-level leaders with a brief but effective overview of what you have determined is a need, a change, or an enhancement for the organization. A succinct, informative summary linked to the organization’s strategic plan will improve your chances of obtaining stakeholder support.

Questions to Consider

As you prepare to complete this assessment, you may want to think about other related issues to deepen your understanding or broaden your viewpoint. You are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional community. Note that these questions are for your own development and exploration and do not need to be completed or submitted as part of your assessment.Building stakeholder support is crucial to fostering and sustaining change. Therefore, as you approach this assessment, think about the stakeholders whose support you will need for the change you want to bring about.

• What information is most essential for both the formal and informal stakeholders to understand about the proposed change?
• How might you communicate the need for change using just a few sentences (this is often referred to as an “elevator speech”).

Resources

Required Resources

The following resources are required to complete the assessment.

• APA Style Paper Template [DOCX]. Use this template for your executive summary.

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Suggested Resources

The resources provided here are optional. You may use other resources of your choice to prepare for this assessment; however, you will need to ensure that they are appropriate, credible, and valid. The MSN-FP6212 Health Care Quality and Safety Management Library Guide can help direct your research, and the Supplemental Resources and Research Resources, both linked from the left navigation menu in your courseroom, provide additional resources to help support you.

Writing Executive Summaries

The following resources will help you in writing your executive summary.

• Carroll, S. V. (2013). The executive summary: An advance organizer for the reader. The Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 45(1), 1. doi:10.1097/JNN.0b013e31827de8c1
  • This article will help you organize your executive summary.
• Markowitz, E. (n.d.). How to write an executive summary. Inc. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/09/how-to-write-an…
  • This article provides tips on writing executive summaries and offers links to additional resources that show you examples of using executive summaries for benchmarks and branding.
• Vila Health: Quality and Safety Gap Analysis | Transcript.
  • This interactive exercise introduces best practices for writing an executive summary, which may help you with the assessment.

Executive Summary Examples

The following documents provide examples of how various executive summaries are written.

• Beal, B. (2014). “Executive summary of “Healthcare branding: developing emotionally based consumer brand relationships.” The Journal of Services Marketing, 28(2). Retrieved from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/JSM…
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2015). CMS quality measure development plan: Supporting the transition to the merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS) and alternative payment models (APMs) [draft]. Retrieved from https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-P…
• Miller, D., Pearsall, E., Johnston, D., Frecea, M., & McKenzie, M. (2017). Executive summary: Enhanced recovery after surgery: best practice guideline for care of patients with a fecal diversion. Journal of Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing, 44(1), 74–77.
  • This example shows guidelines for best practice.

Strategic Planning

The following resources will help you in addressing the strategic value of existing outcome measures.

• Health Research & Educational Trust. (2014). Hospital-based strategies for creating a culture of health. Retrieved from http://www.hpoe.org/Reports-HPOE/hospital_based_st…
• Ishfaq, R., & Raja, U. (2015). Bridging the healthcare access divide: A strategic planning model for rural telemedicine network. Decision Sciences, 46(4), 755–790. doi:10.1111/deci.12165

Suggested Writing Resources

You can use the following additional resources to improve your writing skills and as source materials for seeking answers to specific questions.

• APA Module.
• Academic Honesty & APA Style and Formatting.
• APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX].

Capella Resources

• Guiding Questions: Executive Summary.
  • This document includes questions to consider and additional guidance on how to successfully complete the assessment.
• ePortfolio.
  • This resource provides information about ePortfolio, including how to use the product’s different features.

Assessment Instructions

Your summary of relevant outcome measures is based on your findings from the quality and safety gap analysis you completed in the previous assessment.

Preparation

Your analysis of the gap between current and desired performance was the first step toward improving outcomes. You now have the information you need to move forward with proposed changes. Your next step is to focus on existing outcome measures and their relationship to the systemic problem you are addressing. For this assessment, you have been asked to draft a summary of existing outcome measures for your organization’s executive team to raise awareness of the problem and the strategic value of existing measures.Note: Remember that you can submit all or a portion of your draft summary to Smarthinking for feedback before you submit the final version of this assessment. However, be mindful of the turnaround time of 24–48 hours for receiving feedback, if you plan on using this free service.

Requirements

Note: The requirements outlined below correspond to the grading criteria in the Executive Summary Scoring Guide. Be sure that your written analysis addresses each point, at a minimum. You may also want to read the Executive Summary Scoring Guide and Guiding Questions: Executive Summary (linked in the Resources) to better understand how each criterion will be assessed.

Composing the Executive Summary

• Explain key quality and safety outcomes.
• Determine the strategic value to an organization of specific outcome measures.
• Analyze the relationships between a systemic problem in your organization or practice setting and specific quality and safety outcomes.
• Determine how specific outcome measures support strategic initiatives related to a quality and safety culture.
• Determine how the leadership team would support the implementation and adoption of proposed practice changes affecting specific outcomes.

Writing and Supporting Evidence

• Write clearly and concisely, using correct grammar and mechanics.
• Integrate relevant and credible sources of evidence to support assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style.

Additional Requirements

Format your document using APA style.

• Use the APA Paper Template linked in the resources. Be sure to include:
  • A title page and reference page. An abstract is not required.
  • A running head on all pages.
  • Appropriate section headings.
  • Properly-formatted citations and references.
• Your summary should be 4–5 pages in length, not including the title page and reference page.

Portfolio Prompt: You may choose to save your executive summary to your ePortfolio