Kotter's Change Theory

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The aim of this report is to describe the application of Kotter's Change Theory to increase evidence-based practice (EBP) utilization around the American College of Cardiology's (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) recommendation that all patients aged 40-75 with diabetes and normal LDL levels should be prescribed a moderate-intensity statin (Stone, 2014). The implementation plan below intends to increase EBP utilization in patients with diabetes in a rural primary care clinic. Implementation Plan Kotter’s Change Theory John Kotter’s Change Theory is an eight-step process that can guide any leader on how to effectively facilitate change within their organization (Kotter, 2018). The theory was created after Kotter observed over …show more content…

His ideas of forming a diverse team (steps 2 and 4) and overcoming barriers until the vision is achieved (steps 5 and 7) are incredibly important in today’s increasingly complex health care system. Kotter (2018) focuses on the idea that the people within the organization “hold the energy” (p. 20) to make change happen. In order for change to happen and for EBP utilization to increase, Kotter makes it clear that people at all levels of the organization must be involved in the initiative. APNs must make sure they are pulling in all levels of the hierarchy into their initiatives, just as both providers and nurses were targeted in the implementation plan …show more content…

It is clear after this report how a clinician may go about increasing statin guideline adherence in their own clinic by adjusting the implementation plan above to work for their setting. More broadly, APNs should understand that although the eight steps are a step-wise approach, their change initiative might not always be completely linear. Through understanding Kotter’s theory, APNs should understand that initiative success depends on involving stakeholders at various levels of the hierarchy, per steps 2 and 4. APNs will understand that they can’t stop their efforts after a few small wins, but rather must surge their efforts so that their vision can become reality. Lastly, components of Kotter’s theory can be used to improve APN leadership and deepen understanding of the ethical principles that nurses adhere

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