| Course | EDN 810 The Nature of Health Care Organizations and Systems |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 6 |
| Paper type | Change leadership plan |
| Length | About 1,139 words, 7 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Doctor of Education |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for EDN 810 Module 6
From Proposal to Practice: Leading Change for a Hospital-at-Home Program
Student Name
Doctor of Education Program, Aspen University
EDN 810: The Nature of Health Care Organizations and Systems
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
From Proposal to Practice: Leading Change for a Hospital-at-Home Program
A good strategy fails without change leadership. Launching hospital at home in a composite regional health system requires new roles, workflows, technology, payment arrangements and ways of thinking about where hospital care happens. This paper plans how to lead that change so it meets the needs of the business, patients and employees at the same time.
Three Sets of Needs
The business needs capacity and financial sustainability. Patients need safe, effective care and a good experience. Employees need clarity, support, manageable workloads and meaningful work. Change that serves only one of these tends to fail: a program that saves money but exhausts staff, or delights patients but loses money, will not last.
Readiness for Change
Weiner (2009) defines organizational readiness as a shared psychological state in which members feel committed to a change and confident in their collective ability to carry it out. Commitment depends on valuing the change; efficacy depends on judging that the organization has the resources, knowledge and time. Both can be assessed and strengthened before launch.
Assessing Readiness
A short survey of emergency, medical and home care staff, along with focus groups, found strong interest among nurses in the model but doubts about staffing, technology reliability and physician coverage. Hospitalists worried about liability and workload. Finance leaders supported the program but questioned payment stability. These findings shaped the change plan.
Phases of Change
The table outlines the change plan.
| Phase | Key actions | Leaders | Signs of progress |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build the case | Share capacity data and trial evidence; hear concerns | Chief nurse executive, chief medical officer | Staff can explain why the program matters |
| Design together | Co-design workflows with nurses, hospitalists, paramedics | Program director and front-line teams | Protocols reflect staff input |
| Prepare | Hire and train staff; test technology; set escalation rules | Program director, IT, education | Simulation drills pass |
| Launch small | Two conditions at one hospital | Program team | Safe first 50 patients |
| Learn and adjust | Weekly reviews; fix problems quickly | Program team and executives | Declining escalations; stable staffing |
| Spread and sustain | Expand to all hospitals; embed in budgets and roles | Executive team | Program part of routine operations |
Change in a Complex System
Because clinical organizations adapt in ways plans cannot fully script, a few simple rules, fast feedback and local learning tend to outperform detailed blueprints (Plsek & Greenhalgh, 2001). The change plan therefore sets a few firm rules, such as eligibility criteria and escalation triggers, while allowing teams to adapt workflows and learning from each week's experience.
Engaging Nurses and Physicians
Engagement grows when clinicians help design their work. The Mayo Clinic's experience showed that structured collaboration between physicians and the organization, including small groups meeting to discuss shared challenges, reduced burnout and improved engagement (Swensen et al., 2016). The program will hold regular design sessions and give front-line staff authority over workflow decisions. Protected time for design work signals that leaders value clinicians' contributions.
Communication
Communication will explain why the program exists, what it will and will not do and how it affects each group. Messages will come from trusted clinical leaders as well as executives, through huddles, town halls and short videos of the first patients' experiences. Questions will be answered publicly in a regularly updated list. Two-way channels, including an anonymous question form, let staff raise concerns they might not voice in meetings.
Addressing Resistance
Resistance often reflects legitimate concerns. Hospitalists' liability worries will be addressed with clear protocols and legal review; staffing concerns with a dedicated pool and no mandatory reassignment from inpatient units; technology doubts with backup systems and drills. Listening and acting on concerns turns resistance into problem-solving.
Protecting Staff Well-Being
The change must not simply add work. Leaders will cap caseloads, provide travel time and vehicles, ensure on-call support and track workload and satisfaction. Executive leaders shape clinician well-being through workload, control over work and organizational culture, and specific organizational strategies can reduce burnout (Shanafelt & Noseworthy, 2017).
Sustaining Change
Change lasts when it becomes routine: included in budgets, job descriptions, training, performance measures and the electronic record. The program will move from a special project to a permanent service line within two years, with its own leadership and budget. A named program director will own results after the launch team disbands.
Measuring the Change
Measures include staff readiness scores before and after launch, adoption across hospitals, patient safety and experience, staff engagement and turnover in the program and financial results. Leaders will review these measures quarterly and adjust the plan. Front-line staff will help interpret results, since they see causes that data miss.
Leaders' Roles in Change
Different leaders play different roles. Executives set direction, secure resources and remove barriers. Middle managers translate goals into daily work and support staff. Front-line clinical leaders model new practices and give credibility. The plan names specific leaders for each role and meets with them regularly.
Using Data During Change
Data keep change on track. A weekly dashboard will show patients enrolled, escalations, adverse events, patient experience and staff hours. Sharing data openly with teams builds trust and invites solutions from those closest to the work.
Early Wins
Visible early successes build momentum. The first patients' stories, shared with permission, and early data showing safe care will be highlighted in communications. Celebrating early wins recognizes staff effort and strengthens commitment.
When Things Go Wrong
Problems are inevitable. If a patient deteriorates at home or a technology failure occurs, the team will review the case openly, without blame, and change protocols as needed. How leaders respond to early problems shapes whether staff trust the program.
Aligning Incentives
Incentives must support the change. Hospitalist compensation will count home hospital patients equally with inpatients, and nurse roles will carry appropriate pay and recognition. Misaligned incentives are a common, avoidable cause of failed change.
Change Fatigue
Staff have experienced many changes since the pandemic, from new documentation systems to reorganizations. Change fatigue reduces readiness. Leaders will sequence changes, pause lower-priority initiatives during launch and acknowledge the cumulative burden openly.
Patients and Families in Change
Patients and families experience the change too. Clear explanations, consent processes, contact numbers and the option to return to the hospital at any time help them feel safe. Patient advisors will review materials and suggest improvements.
Stories and Symbols
Change is carried by stories and symbols as well as plans. Leaders will share stories of patients recovering at home and of nurses describing the satisfaction of the new role. Symbolic acts, such as executives riding along on home visits, show commitment and help leaders understand the work.
Conclusion
Leading change for hospital at home requires attention to the business, patients and employees together. Assessing readiness, co-designing with staff, launching small, learning quickly, addressing resistance as information and protecting well-being increase the chance that the program becomes a lasting part of how the system delivers care.
References
Plsek, P. E., & Greenhalgh, T. (2001). The challenge of complexity in health care. BMJ, 323(7313), 625-628. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.323.7313.625
Shanafelt, T. D., & Noseworthy, J. H. (2017). Executive leadership and physician well-being: Nine organizational strategies to promote engagement and reduce burnout. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 92(1), 129-146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2016.10.004
Swensen, S., Kabcenell, A., & Shanafelt, T. (2016). Physician-organization collaboration reduces physician burnout and promotes engagement: The Mayo Clinic experience. Journal of Healthcare Management, 61(2), 105-127. https://doi.org/10.1097/00115514-201603000-00008
Weiner, B. J. (2009). A theory of organizational readiness for change. Implementation Science, 4, Article 67. https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-4-67
What the EDN 810 Module 6 instructions ask for
Supporting organizational change for the business, its patients and its employees is part of Aspen's EDN 810 description, and with the Module 6 instructions available only in the classroom, this example writes a change leadership plan for the hospital-at-home program proposed in Module 5. Change plans usually ask how you will prepare the organization, engage the people affected, communicate, respond to resistance and make the change last. Begin with readiness, measured before launch, rather than with a communication calendar. Set out the phases of change with actions, responsible leaders and signs of progress. Involve front-line nurses and physicians in designing the work, treat resistance as information about real problems and protect workloads during launch. The plan should end by explaining who owns the program once the project team steps away and how the change becomes routine.
How this EDN 810 Module 6 example is built
The plan opens by naming three sets of needs, the organization's, the patients' and the staff's, and then assesses readiness using Weiner's theory of organizational readiness for change. A four-column table lays out the phases with actions, leaders and signs of progress, and later sections explain the work inside each phase. Complexity thinking from Plsek and Greenhalgh shapes the approach to a system that will not respond to orders alone. Clinician engagement draws on Swensen and colleagues, and staff well-being on Shanafelt and Noseworthy. The body then covers communication, resistance, sustaining and measuring the change, leaders' roles, data dashboards, early wins, what to do when problems appear, aligned incentives, change fatigue, patients and families, and the stories and symbols that leaders use to make a change visible to the people living through it.
Where the marks sit in the EDN 810 Module 6 rubric
Change plans are marked on the use of change theory, attention to readiness, genuine engagement, the handling of resistance and plans to sustain the change. Four APA sources support this one: Weiner on readiness, Plsek and Greenhalgh on complexity, Swensen, Kabcenell and Shanafelt on physician engagement, and Shanafelt and Noseworthy on executive leadership and well-being. The phases table includes signs of progress for each stage, which lets a grader see how the leader will know the plan is working. Protecting staff workload is stated as a design requirement rather than a hope, and incentives are adjusted so clinicians are not penalized for taking part. The section on responding when things go wrong earns credit because it shows how leaders keep trust during the rough early months of a new program.
EDN 810 Module 6 help: mistakes that cost marks
Many change plans are really communication plans: newsletters, town halls and slogans, with nothing about workload or roles. Another common gap is treating resistance as an obstacle to overcome rather than a signal that something in the design needs attention. Assess readiness before launch and again after it, so the plan measures its own effect. Pilot on a small scale, fix early problems where staff can see them being fixed, and share early wins widely. List every group touched by the change and write one sentence about what each needs to hear from you. Name the resistance you expect most and how you will respond to it. If change theory feels remote, our tutors can connect it to a change you have already lived through at work.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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EDN 810 Module 6 questions, answered
What does EDN 810 Module 6 usually ask for?
Aspen's EDN 810 covers conceptualizing and supporting organizational change, so a change leadership plan is typical. Follow your classroom prompt.
What is organizational readiness for change?
A shared state in which members are committed to a change and confident in their collective ability to carry it out.
How should leaders treat resistance?
As information about concerns that, when addressed, can improve the change.
Where can I find a free EDN 810 Module 6 sample paper?
The change leadership plan is posted above with a table of phases, actions, leaders and signs of progress.
How do leaders support change in EDN 810 Module 6?
By assessing readiness, co-designing with staff, communicating clearly, addressing resistance, protecting well-being and embedding the change in routines.