Revising an Organizational Readiness Tool for Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Students conducting doctor of nursing practice (DNP) projects can experience barriers that cause delays, frustration, and poor-quality projects. PROBLEM: For successful initiation and timely completion of quality projects, organizational readiness for change (ORC) evaluation is essential, yet ORC tools are not currently part of most DNP project requirements and curricula. APPROACH: The purpose of this project was to revise a reliable, validated ORC tool with 12 DNP student participants and evaluate its utility for DNP projects. OUTCOMES: Doctor of nursing practice students completed the revised Organizational Readiness for Knowledge Translation (OR4KT)-DNP tool and rated the tool as being high in acceptability, learning, and educational impact. Students who indicated that they had complications during project initiation scored lower than their peers on the OR4KT-DNP tool and scored higher on the student survey for utility. The OR4KT-DNP tool can serve as the foundation for a successful DNP project initiation.