| Course | NURS 3021 Professional Nurses as Change Agents |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 8 |
| Paper type | Discussion post with peer responses |
| Length | About 620 words, 4 pages |
| Format | Discussion post, APA 7 citations |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NURS 3021 Week 8
Week 8 Discussion: Initial Post and Responses to Objections
A Five-Minute Safety Huddle on Labor and Delivery, and Three Objections It Has to Survive
My proposal, restated in one sentence: our 14-bed labor and delivery unit should hold a five-minute safety huddle at the start of each shift, led by the charge nurse, covering which patients are highest risk, which rooms may turn over, and any equipment or staffing concern for the next 12 hours.
A force field analysis, using Lewin's approach of listing the forces pushing toward and against a change (Lewin, 1947), shows why the proposal is not yet a sure thing.
Driving forces: several of our near-miss reports in the past year trace back to information lost at shift change, such as an oxytocin rate change not passed on; staff already talk informally at the desk, so the habit of brief sharing exists; and huddles in a children's hospital were described by staff as improving information sharing, accountability, and collective awareness of risk (Goldenhar et al., 2013).
Restraining forces: admissions and deliveries overlap at 7:00, so the start of shift is the busiest moment; physicians and anesthesia staff are not on the same shift schedule as nurses; and the unit tried a huddle 2 years ago that faded within a month.
The restraining forces are real, and the three colleagues below raised all of them. My answers follow.
Response to Nicole: "There's no time at 7:00."
Nicole wrote, "The first ten minutes of the shift are the worst possible time to add a meeting." She is right about the first ten minutes. So the huddle should not add a meeting at that point. I would move it to the ten minutes after report, once each nurse has received her own patients, and hold it at the desk standing up, so it replaces some of the informal desk conversation rather than adding to it. Health care huddles are described in the literature as brief, focused check-ins designed to fit into the flow of work rather than to interrupt it (Provost et al., 2015). If on a given morning a delivery is underway, the huddle happens without that nurse, and the charge nurse updates her afterward. A huddle that is skipped when the unit is in crisis is still better than no huddle at all.
Response to Omar: "The obstetricians won't come."
Omar wrote, "If the physicians aren't there, what's the point? They make the decisions." I concede this point outright. Our obstetricians and anesthesiologists change shifts at different times from nurses, and the huddle cannot require them to attend. I am narrowing the proposal: the huddle is for nursing staff, with a standing invitation to the physician and anesthesia provider on duty. The charge nurse will send the huddle's highest-risk list to the obstetric team afterward. That is less than I hoped for, but a nursing huddle that happens every shift is worth more than an interprofessional huddle that never happens.
Response to Grace: "We tried this and it died."
Grace wrote, "We did huddles two years ago. Nobody came after the first few weeks." I would treat that earlier attempt as evidence rather than as a reason to give up. When I asked the staff who were here then, nobody could name who had owned it. It had no set time, no script, no one assigned to lead it when the original champion was off, and no one checked whether it happened. This time, the charge nurse leads it as part of the role, the three questions are printed on a card at the desk, and a tick box on the charge nurse's shift checklist records whether it happened. If it fades again, the tick boxes will show when and on which shifts, and we will know what to fix.
References
Goldenhar, L. M., Brady, P. W., Sutcliffe, K. M., & Muething, S. E. (2013). Huddling for high reliability and situation awareness. BMJ Quality & Safety, 22(11), 899-906. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2012-001467
Lewin, K. (1947). Frontiers in group dynamics: Concept, method and reality in social science; social equilibria and social change. Human Relations, 1(1), 5-41. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872674700100103
Provost, S. M., Lanham, H. J., Leykum, L. K., McDaniel, R. R., Jr., & Pugh, J. (2015). Health care huddles: Managing complexity to achieve high reliability. Health Care Management Review, 40(1), 2-12. https://doi.org/10.1097/HMR.0000000000000009
The Walden NURS 3021 Week 8 instructions
The eighth NURS 3021 thread usually asks you to restate your proposal, analyze barriers and respond to colleagues' objections. You present a force field or similar analysis, then answer each objection by conceding what is valid and revising the proposal where needed. Faculty reward responsiveness and penalize defending the proposal as if it could not be improved. Cite change and teamwork sources in APA 7. Earlier failed attempts at the same change should be addressed directly. Replies to several classmates may be required. Each response should be brief and specific. NURS 3021 faculty want the proposal restated in one sentence and the force field weighed. Each response should concede, revise or explain. Address the earlier failed attempt directly.
How the NURS 3021 Week 8 example is put together
An opening post just short of five hundred words, then three exchanges in which a colleague's objection is quoted briefly and answered in about two hundred words. The post restates the proposal in one sentence and lays out Lewin's force field analysis as two short lists, driving forces such as near-miss reports that trace to shift-change gaps, restraining forces such as overlapping admissions at seven. The first answer meets the time objection by moving the huddle to the ten minutes after report rather than adding a meeting. The second, on physician attendance, concedes that the huddle cannot require it and narrows the proposal to nursing staff with an open invitation. The third treats the earlier failed attempt as evidence, asking what it lacked, and finds no one had owned it.
Reading the NURS 3021 Week 8 rubric
Barrier threads reward responsiveness, and the common loss is defending a proposal as if it could not be improved. Engagement with peers is credited in many sections, and graders read it through whether the author's answer changes anything; a reply insisting the original plan was fine earns less than one that adjusts timing or scope. Accuracy in representing the objection matters too, since a rebuttal aimed at a softened version of a colleague's point shows the thread was not read. Theory use is often scored here, and force field analysis cited but not applied, lists with no connection to the replies, reads as a separate exercise. Sources inside the answers are expected in many sections. Professional tone carries weight in threads where disagreement is the assignment, and sarcasm toward a colleague's barrier costs more than a weak argument.
Common NURS 3021 Week 8 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Barrier threads lose credit when every objection is rebutted and nothing changes. Concede and revise where a colleague is right. Another common gap is dismissing the earlier failed attempt. Explain why it died and what is different now. Writers also skip the force field analysis or list forces without weights. Weigh them. Avoid arguing that physicians will come because they should. Offer a reason they would. Keep each response to a few sentences. Close with the revised version of the proposal. Writers also forget to show the revised proposal at the end of the thread. Restate it. Another frequent slip is ignoring night shift, which may need a different huddle time. Mention it.
Get a NURS 3021 Week 8 example written to your instructions
Include the Week 8 discussion prompt and rubric plus a short summary of your proposal. Back comes a NURS 3021 barrier rebuttal thread: the force field post and answers to three typical objections. First one free; 24 to 48 hours. Objections classmates have already raised can replace the sample's three, so the rebuttals meet the thread you are actually in.
More NURS 3021 papers and BSN samples
- NURS 3021 Week 1: Professional Stance Post
- NURS 3021 Week 2: Change Agency Post
- NURS 3021 Week 3: Change Agent Goal Statement
- NURS 3021 Week 4: Change Theory Discussion
- NURS 3021 Week 5: Practice Problem Analysis
- NURS 3021 Week 6: Unit Change Proposal
- NURS 3021 Week 7: Stakeholder Buy-In Analysis
- NURS 3021 Week 9: Sustaining Change Reflection
- NURS 3021 Week 10: Integrated Change Synthesis
- NURS 3021 Week 11: Final Proposal and Reflection
- NURS 3025 Week 8: Neurological Assessment Note
- NURS 4300 Week 8: Evaluation Plan
- NURS 3030 Week 8: Action Feasibility Thread
- NURS 4212 Week 8: Prevention Priority Post
NURS 3021 Week 8 questions, answered
Is conceding a point to a colleague a weakness in this discussion?
Usually the opposite. A barrier thread is designed to test the proposal, and a concession shows the test worked. The example grants that a staff nurse cannot require physician attendance and narrows the huddle to nursing staff with an open invitation. The proposal gets smaller and more achievable, which is the kind of revision reviewers of real unit changes look for.
What does force field analysis add to the initial post?
It shows the author mapped resistance before anyone raised it. Lewin's force field analysis sets forces pushing toward a change against forces holding the current state in place, and the example lists both in a few lines each. When colleagues then object, the answers can point back to a restraining force already named, which makes the thread read as planned rather than improvised.
How is a failed earlier attempt at the same change handled?
As evidence rather than as an obstacle. The example asks what the earlier huddle lacked and finds that nobody owned it once the nurse who started it transferred. That finding becomes a requirement in the revised proposal, a named huddle lead on every shift. Treating history this way answers the objection and strengthens the case for why this version would last.
Where can I find a free NURS 3021 Week 8 sample paper?
The labor and delivery huddle thread is reproduced here with the force field analysis and the responses to Nicole, Omar and Grace, each revising the plan.
Which objections are answered in NURS 3021 Week 8?
No time at 7:00, obstetricians who will not come and an earlier failed attempt at the same huddle.