Canadian Community Health Nursing Standards of Practice (CCHN ...

Table 3 lists the possible activities, accompanied by a brief
explanation of how the activity might contribute to use of the
CCHN Standards, together with resource implications. Select
activities and identify priorities for your organization.
In determining which activities are most appropriate for your
situation and in what order, you will need to include managers
in the discussion, to get their perspective and help to create buyin.
Remember that planned incremental change is probably more
effective than sporadic activities. A single workshop on the
Standards is not likely to have a long term impact. Deciding on
the first initiative is particularly important because it sets the
stage for later activities. Early successes or ‘quick wins’ help to
gain a measure of acceptance and provide goodwill that will
carry through the difficult changes that are necessary for
sustainable long term change (KU Work Group on Health
Promotion and Community Development, 2006f).
In weighing the different options, consider three criteria: 1)
the potential impact, 2) likelihood of success, and 3) resources.
Guidelines for preparation of a budget, together with a
worksheet can be found in Budget Considerations and
Worksheet. Ideally, you want high impact and likelihood of
success with the lowest use of resources. Being practical, it will
probably be necessary to mesh activities with other things going
on in the organization. Build on strengths and take advantage of
opportunities.
Once you have determined your priorities for the coming year,
you can create a more detailed plan with timelines,
responsibilities and an evaluation component. Use the Action
Workplan to identify the major activities you plan to do, the
tasks required to accomplish the activities, who will carry out the
work, associated costs (if applicable), and the time needed to
complete the activities given in the budget worksheet. The
detailed action plan and timelines provide a basis for evaluation
when the results are entered and can be used to answer the
question: “Did we do what we said we were going to do?”.
Other types of evaluation are discussed in more detail in step 5.
Budget Considerations and Worksheet
Although each step of the workplan has resource implications,
budget planning is especially important in step 3. The RNAO
BPG Toolkit provides a three part strategy for securing these
resources: 1) creating a campaign strategy, 2) generating a plan
to attract resources, and 3) pooling resources with key allies
(Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO), 2003).
1. Create a CCHN Standards campaign strategy
a) Link your proposed activities to outcomes or deliverables
that are desired by the organization. The outcomes could
include safe, quality client and community care,
recruitment and retention of nursing staff, and increase in
accreditation ratings. Ways to present these ideas are
included in the resource: presentation to managers and
administrators.
b) Show how the activities will feature the organization as
a leader, challenger, follower or niche player in the area
(RNAO, 2003).
2. Generate a plan to attract resources and utilize local
supporters
a) The stakeholder worksheet helps to identify resources and
suggest strategies that could be used as a motivator.
b) Work especially hard to have nursing managers and
leaders on board to carry the message forward and
allocate funds.
3. Build partnerships with key allies
Identifying and working with allies outside the organization
could increase credibility and effectiveness through pooling
of resources. For example, provincial/territorial community
health nursing organizations and CHNAC can help keep you
apprised of the CCHN Standards in similar organizations. The
organizations can also provide a way to connect with others
to make adaptations to the Toolkit resources. For examples,
Home Health organizations could share in the development of
specific examples for Workshop 2, and community health
nurses working in Alberta could share approaches to include
the CCHN Standards in annual learning plans.
The largest proportion of the overall budget is required for
the activities outlined in Step 3. When planning activities,
RNAO (2003) recommends developing a budget for the
following four areas:
1. Product: the cost of the developing the training and
knowledge offered to staff
2. Price: the cost of materials used in providing training
and knowledge, including adaptation or translation cost
3. Place: the cost of providing the setting where the product
is delivered to staff
4. Promotion: the cost of promoting the product to staff,
decision makers and other stakeholders
This budget worksheet, provides a guide for generating
a budget for the activities outlined in the workplan. A
blank worksheet can be downloaded from the CD.
22 Community Health Nurses Association of Canada