Innovation & Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Innovation & Change - Essay Example According to Kwun and Cho (2001, p. 128) external sources are much influential than internal ones in change initiation. These external forces can be political, economic, social and technological. Talking about change specifically from the perspective of healthcare organizations, Harris (2005, p. 68-71) stated that government and other policy making authorities affect healthcare practices in a country; country’s GDP and government budget for health impacts cost of health; people’s perception and general culture of a country affects healthcare provision; and changes in ‘global technological and information innovation’ affect ‘clinical diagnosis and intervention, as well as management and communication strategies’ practiced by an healthcare organization. Hence like other organizations healthcare organizations are also influenced by external environment which in turn affects the way change and innovation is implemented in an organization. Defining change and innovation in healthcare, Lansisalmi et al (2006, p. 67) stated that it can be â€Å"new services, new ways of working and/or new technologies†. Continuing on same lines, Greenhalgh et al (2004, p. 582) stated that these improved ways, services or technologies â€Å"are directed at improving health outcomes, administrative efficiency, cost effectiveness, or users’ experience and are implemented by planned and coordinated actions†. While talking about change in the field of nursing, Langford (1981) explained that in the field of nursing a person may go through change as a participator in the change process, he/she may act as a target of change process or he/she may work as a change initiator. Loveridge and Cummings (1996, p. 380) explains that â€Å"the nurse may be going through change individually, may be trying to change a patient’s health habits, or may be experiencing reorganization in the work environment†. Langford (1981) affirms t hat for decades health care sector has been a field of rapid technological growth. Out of many types of change and innovation, this essay particularly focuses on technological innovations. Technological innovations can be broadly categorized as product innovation or process innovation. Product innovation is when new product or service is introduced whereas process innovation is when the change is brought about in the process through which the product is produced. This essay will focus on product innovation where the change introduced is Biphasic Positive Airway Pressure ventilation system (BIPAP), specifically the Evita Ventilator whose impact on the delivery of healthcare will be studied. Why the introduction of BIPAP was important and how it has benefited the healthcare delivery are a few focal areas of this essay. Moreover, the whole change process of introducing BIPAP from initiation to implementation and evaluation will be studied to present recommendations for strategy develop ment for implementing, monitoring and evaluating change in healthcare. Models and Theories of Change There are several models of change introduced by different researchers. Some of these models are for planned change whereas some are for unplanned change. Since the change implemented in my area of practice, that is, the introduction of BIPAP system, is a planned change different planned change models and theories are discussed in this section.