Assessment Brief: A commentary Write a critical commentary (3,000 words) on the importance of team-working, effective leadership and management, and delegation skills learnt during the module. Reflect on the progress you made in these areas since Year 1. You need to identify indicative topic area for the innovation project to be completed in Year 3. Present an action plan with SMART goals and a self-developed checklist on the steps you are going to take to prepare for Level 6; to be submitted as an appendix. Module Learning Outcomes Learning Outcome 1: Appraise the roles, responsibilities, scope of practice, and the contributions of all MDT members. Learning Outcome 2: Identify and evaluate digital technologies used for care delivery. Learning Outcome 3: Articulate a clear understanding the importance of effective leadership and management in prioritising and delegating tasks, taking account of organisational and other priorities. Learning Outcome 4: Analyse the role of leadership for practice improvement and quality of care underpinned by policy. Assignment Guidelines – Commentary Essay Structure 1. Introduction (300 words). Start by a short description of what the argument is about using approximately 50 words. Present your introduction and ensure it generally needs to answer these 3 questions: a. What? The introduction needs to clearly explain what the commentary essay is about. This section needs to explain in your own words what is required in the assignment brief given above. b. How? The second part of the introduction need to outline how the commentary essay is structured. You need to summarise the details given in points 2 and 3 below. c. Why? An introduction needs to articulate why the topic under consideration is of significance. You can use references here. 2. Context (300 words) Define leadership and management, and team working within the context of the NHS and specifically nursing. You can briefly consider the importance of leadership and managing nursing care in healthcare. You can choose to explore this in the context of your field of nursing if you wish (optional). Briefly outline what is already known about leading and managing nursing care in the UK, what is new, and what is happening now to provide high quality care and ensure patient safety. This will support you to set the context of your commentary. (Learning Outcome 3) 3. Discussion (2200 words) This could be separated into sections to ensure you cover all the required material. The following is a suggested format though you are encouraged to be creative and sequence your work in the most logical way. a. Briefly discuss the importance of leadership by incorporating recent events within the Health Service ( (e.g. Francis (2013) report, Mazars (2015) review, Morecambe Bay Investigation (Kirkup, 2015), Care Quality Commission (2015), House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (2017), Academy of Medical Colleges in Scotland (2015), Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Report (2018), Public Accounts Committees report into mental health services for children and young people (2019) ) This list is not exhaustive so these are examples to get you started and you are advised to find reports relevant to your field of nursing. Continue by exploring relevant leadership and management theories and relate this to nursing practice and working within multi disciplinary teams. You can choose to link this to your field of practice if you wish (optional). Explore the role of leadership in quality improvement in healthcare. (Learning Outcomes 3, 4) b. Explore the key theoretical concepts in team working within multi disciplinary teams. This could include team dynamics, values, attributes, and possible challenges. Also explore the concept and importance of role modelling in leadership and why it is essential to develop skills of networking in team working. Briefly reflect on one situation from clinical practice or placement that made you realise the importance of team working in healthcare. Consider and evaluate what was the nurse’s role in the situation you reflected on. Identify and evaluate the other multi disciplinary team members’ roles in the situation you reflected on. (Learning Outcomes 1, 3) c. Explore the concept of delegation as a leadership tool that supports effective multi disciplinary team working. Reflect on one task that was delegated to you in placement and how this was undertaken. Ensure that you explore the link to management and leadership and summarise how you felt. Highlight common themes in delegation to ensure effective delegation and challenges. (Learning Outcomes 1, 3) d. Identify and comment on digital data (information technology) and information sharing in healthcare in relation to leadership and innovation to ensure quality, patient safety, and effective multi disciplinary team working. (Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 4) e. Identify a gap in clinical practice/ healthcare that need improvement through innovative practice to ensure service improvement. You may refer to the Year 2 – Evaluating Evidence for Translation into Nursing Practice module to identify the gap. You could use the gap identifed as a basis for your innovation project for service improvement in Year 3 – Leading Innovation and Improvement in Nursing Practice module. Briefly discuss and present the steps you are going to take to prepare you to address the gap and develop an innovation in Year 3. Present a detailed action plan with SMART goals and self-developed checklist as appendices. (Learning Outcomes 2, 4) 4. Conclusion (200 words) a. Summary: Put a short concluding statement of approximately 50 words then summarise the key learning points that have emerged from the commentary. b. Recommendations. Make recommendations on what needs to be done in light of your findings and conclusions. 5. References. Appropriate referencing is an important element of academic writing. Ensure that you have used harvard reference. 6. Appendices. Appendices serve both the writer and the reader of your essay. In an appendix, you can include material that supports your work but that would be distracting or too long in the text of the essay. Material in an appendix must be relavant to the essay, and links and references between the appendix and the essay need to be made in the main text. NOTE: Could you please make sure that you meet all the learning outcomes and use the latest reference not more than 5 years old
