M7 Health’s Post

One of my favorite sessions from HIMSS was focused on implementing new tech for the nursing workforce. April Saathoff DNP, RN, NI-BC, CPHIMS, Chief Nursing Information Officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine pointed out that the nursing profession is at a critical crossroads. Staffing shortages and the rise of AI are the “perfect storm” for nursing to innovate. Tools (like M7 Health) are starting to arrive that drive efficiency in nursing operations, care quality, and patient satisfaction. However, changes to nursing workflows and implementing new technology is hard. To that end, April shared the concept of the 6 domains of influence and how they pertain to successful change management. Each of these domains is itself a powerful model for change. 1️⃣ Personal Motivation – whether you want to do something. As a nurse leader in this situation, you are charged with making the undesirable desirable. Here you want to connect the change to the individual's values. 2️⃣ Personal Ability – whether you can do something. The goal here is to get nurses to surpass their limits. For this to work, nurse leaders should institute deliberate practice. 3️⃣ Social Motivation – whether other people encourage the right behaviors. For social motivation, the idea is to create (positive) peer pressure to support the change initiative. Nurse leaders do this by leading by example. 4️⃣ Social Ability – whether other people provide help, information or resources. To create social ability, nurse managers should seek to build strength in numbers. They can do this by enlisting people who motivate and enable others to their cause. 5️⃣ Structural Motivation – whether the environment encourages the right behaviors. Structural motivation is about designing a rewards system and demanding accountability. This is as simple as linking rewards to vital behavior and calling out failure to adopt behavior. 6️⃣ Structural Ability – whether the environment supports the right behaviors. Creating structural ability is about changing the environment. Nurse leaders can do this with prompts, reminders, and supporting tools. You can learn more about these concepts in the book, The Influencer by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzer. Thanks April for the recommendation and insight #changemanagement #nursingtech #HIMSS2024