Kurt Lewin’s theory of change

    Kurt Lewin’s theory of change can be used on nursing units to change processes to align with best-practice standards. The process includes three steps to successful planned change: unfreezing, moving, and refreezing.

    McFarlan et al. (2019) used a combination of nursing literature and Lewin’s theory to demonstrate that hourly rounding in an emergency setting improves patient experience scores. The first step that was considered is the unfreezing phase, where the driving factors and restraining forces were considered. In this case, the restraining forces included the department being busy, nursing staff skepticism, and busy leader schedules. In this phase the leadership started with leading by example and taking time to do leadership rounds, as well as communicating the current patient experience scores and best-practice information with the staff. The moving phase was where the policies were changed to reflect the new process, as well as random audits completed. The refreezing phase continued with audits and feedback throughout the month the research was conducted. This concept was operationalized with the positive change in patient experience scores.

    Lewin’s theory has not only been applied at the bedside, but also to guide nursing student practices. A group of students from the Master’s Entry Program in Nursing at the UC Davis School of nursing used Lewin’s theory to develop and pilot-test a student-led peer-mentorship program (Kumnoonsate et al. n.d.). The unfreezing started with recognizing a need for first year students to have more support. During the moving phase the mentorship program was put into place, followed by passing on the mentorship program to the next group of students. The theory was operationalized by putting the mentorship into action. This study does have limits as it a student project without an exact listed date, although it does report challenges related to the global pandemic, which has only occurred in the last two year. However, a study like this shows how this theory can be applicable in many different situations not only applied to patient care.

Kumnoonsate, M., Luc, W. L., & Scalzo, D. (n.d.). Peer-mentorship for master’s entry nursing students: Utilizing Lewin’s Change Theory for program development and pilot-testing. Sigma Theta Tau International. Retrieved on October 11th, 2021 from https://sigma.nursingrepository.org/handle/10755/21669

McFarlan, S., O’Brien, D., & Simmons, E. (2019). Nurse-leader collaborative improvement project: Improving patient experience in the emergency department. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 45(2), 137–143. https://doi-org.su.idm.oclc.org/10.1016/j.jen.2018.11.007 GET A QUALITY 100% ORIGINAL ARTICLE REVIEW HERE TODAY DO MY PAPER AND GUARANTEE 5 STARS QUALITY

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