| Course | NURS 8600 DNP Field Experience |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 8 |
| Paper type | Sustainment handoff plan |
| Length | About 1,020 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NURS 8600 Week 8
After the Project Lead Leaves: A Sustainment Handoff Plan for Alcohol Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral, Built on the Maintenance Dimension of RE-AIM
Student Name
College of Nursing, Walden University
NURS 8600: DNP Field Experience
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
After the Project Lead Leaves: A Sustainment Handoff Plan for Alcohol Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral, Built on the Maintenance Dimension of RE-AIM
What Is Being Handed Over
When the project lead's field experience ends in December, four elements of the alcohol screening workflow at the composite rural clinic pass fully to clinic staff: the AUDIT-C screen at rooming, with its declined option; the scripted brief intervention and its note shortcut, delivered by the nurse or, on phone-coverage days, by the provider; the scripted offer of a video visit with the counselor when she is away, with two held booking slots; and the monthly report of the three process measures and the rooming-time balancing measure. This plan names who owns each element, the routines that keep it running and the warning signs that it is fading.
Changes introduced through projects often decline once the people and attention that supported them move on. Sustainability has been defined as the continued delivery of a program or its components after initial implementation support ends, with continued benefits and possible adaptation over time (Moore et al., 2017). A review of sustainability research found that many interventions are only partly sustained, and that organizational capacity, fit with routines and ongoing monitoring are among the factors most often linked to continuation (Shelton et al., 2018).
Ownership
Each element has a single owner, named by role so the plan survives staff turnover.
Table 1
Owners of Each Element
| Element | Owner | What ownership means |
|---|---|---|
| Workflow overall | Nurse manager | Reviews the monthly report, raises problems at staff meetings, approves any change to the workflow |
| Screening at rooming | Lead medical assistant | Orients new medical assistants to the questions and template; checks the declined option is used |
| Brief intervention and shortcut | Nurse manager, with the medical director for providers | Includes the script in nurse orientation; the medical director includes the shortcut in new provider orientation |
| Counselor introduction and held slots | Behavioral health counselor | Keeps two slots open on off-site days; reports if slots go unused or overbooked |
| Monthly report | Record-system analyst | Produces the report in the first days of every month and emails it to the nurse manager |
Routines
Routines keep the change from depending on anyone's memory. Each routine below was chosen because it attaches the change to something the clinic already does, since adding new meetings or new forms is the fastest way for a practice to lose a change once its champion is gone. The monthly report will be reviewed as a standing five-minute item at the existing monthly staff meeting, rather than at a new meeting that could be dropped. Twice a year, in March and September, the nurse manager will review ten brief intervention notes against the three core elements, using the fidelity checklist from the project. Orientation for new medical assistants, nurses and providers will include the workflow, and the project's training materials, including the brief intervention script and a one-page guide to the shortcut, will be stored in the clinic's shared policy folder. When the record system is upgraded, the analyst will confirm that the template and report still work before the upgrade goes live.
Defining Success With RE-AIM Maintenance
The RE-AIM framework evaluates interventions across reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation and maintenance, where maintenance at the setting level refers to the extent to which a program becomes part of routine organizational practice (Glasgow et al., 1999). For this clinic, maintenance will be judged against three targets, reviewed at six and twelve months after handoff:
1. Screening documented at no fewer than 75 percent of adult annual visits in any three-month period.
2. Brief intervention documented for no fewer than 60 percent of positive screens in any three-month period, and the twice-yearly note review finding feedback, advice and the readiness question together in 80 percent of notes or more.
3. The workflow, script and shortcut still in use and included in orientation, as confirmed by the nurse manager.
The targets are set below the project's recent results on purpose. Some decline after a project ends is common, and targets that allow modest decline while flagging real loss are more useful than targets that would be missed in the first month.
Warning Signs and Responses
Specific warning signs will prompt specific responses. If screening falls below 75 percent for two consecutive months, the lead medical assistant will review whether new staff were oriented and whether late starts have increased. If brief intervention falls below 60 percent for two months, the nurse manager will check phone-coverage days first, since that was the original gap. If the counselor's held slots go unused for a month, the counselor and nurse manager will check whether offers are being made. If the monthly report is not received by the tenth of the month, the nurse manager will contact the analyst. If rooming time rises above 13 minutes, the workflow will be reviewed at the next staff meeting.
None of these responses assumes that a falling number means staff are failing. Most declines after a project ends come from changes around the workflow, such as new staff, a template lost in an upgrade or a new duty that takes the nurse away at rooming time. The first question at each warning sign is therefore what has changed in the clinic, not who has stopped doing the work.
What the Project Lead Will Not Do
The plan does not assign ongoing work to the project lead after December. That choice is deliberate, because a practice change that still needs its author has not yet become the clinic's own. The lead will be available by email for three months to answer questions about the template and report, but will not run the report, review notes or attend meetings. The three months of email availability are for questions only, and the nurse manager has agreed to keep a list of what is asked, since repeated questions would show where the written materials need improving. The final report will be shared with the clinic, and the lead will present the results at a staff meeting in December to mark the transfer of ownership.
References
Glasgow, R. E., Vogt, T. M., & Boles, S. M. (1999). Evaluating the public health impact of health promotion interventions: The RE-AIM framework. American Journal of Public Health, 89(9), 1322-1327. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.89.9.1322
Moore, J. E., Mascarenhas, A., Bain, J., & Straus, S. E. (2017). Developing a comprehensive definition of sustainability. Implementation Science, 12, Article 110. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-017-0637-1
Shelton, R. C., Cooper, B. R., & Stirman, S. W. (2018). The sustainability of evidence-based interventions and practices in public health and health care. Annual Review of Public Health, 39, 55-76. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040617-014731
The Walden NURS 8600 Week 8 instructions
Sustainment assignments usually ask you to plan how your practice change will continue after your project ends, including who owns it, how it will be monitored and what success looks like. Plans commonly run four to five pages. List exactly what is being handed over. Assign each element to a role rather than a named person, so the plan survives turnover. Attach routines to meetings and processes that already exist. Use a framework, such as RE-AIM maintenance, to define continuing success with specific targets. Set warning signs based on data the clinic will still collect, and pair each with a response. Be clear about what you will and will not do after you leave. Share a draft with the new owners first.
How the NURS 8600 Week 8 example is put together
The opening section lists four elements and cites Moore and colleagues' definition of sustainability and Shelton and colleagues' review of what predicts continuation. Table 1 assigns five elements to owners by role, with what ownership means. A routines section attaches the report to an existing staff meeting, sets twice-yearly note reviews and adds the workflow to orientation. A section cites Glasgow and colleagues on RE-AIM and sets three maintenance targets. Warning signs name thresholds and responses, and a paragraph asks what changed before who stopped. The last section limits the lead to three months of email questions. Each warning sign names who acts first.
Reading the NURS 8600 Week 8 rubric
Sustainment plans are typically graded on clarity of ownership, strength of routines, a clear definition of success and practical monitoring. Ownership earns credit when each element has one owner named by role. Routines are judged on whether they rely on existing structures rather than new ones that may lapse. Success definitions are scored on specific, realistic targets tied to a framework. Monitoring earns credit when warning signs use data that will exist and come with responses. Faculty also check that the plan does not depend on the author. Tables and concise writing help, and APA citations for sustainability sources complete the rubric. Plans that tie warning signs to data the clinic already produces tend to score higher than plans that need new audits.
Common NURS 8600 Week 8 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Sustainment plans lose marks when they assign ongoing work to the student who is leaving, which means the change has not really been handed over. Another loss is naming owners as people rather than roles. Some plans create new meetings that disappear within months. Others set targets equal to the project's best month, guaranteeing early failure. List what is handed over, assign roles, attach routines to existing work, define success with realistic targets, set warning signs with responses and limit your own role. The desk can draft a plan for your project's handoff. Check each routine against the clinic's actual calendar before finalizing.
Get a NURS 8600 Week 8 example written to your instructions
Send the sustainability prompt and rubric along with a summary of your implemented workflow, and a handoff plan assigning each element to a role comes back in 24-48h, the first free. The nurse manager and analyst shown are invented roles in an invented clinic, so the owners in your plan are the positions your practice setting actually has.
More NURS 8600 papers and DNP samples
- NURS 8600 Week 1: DNP project baseline summary
- NURS 8600 Week 2: DNP project launch brief
- NURS 8600 Week 3: DNP as-implemented workflow map
- NURS 8600 Week 4: DNP project PDSA cycle report
- NURS 8600 Week 5: DNP implementation midpoint report
- NURS 8600 Week 6: DNP course-correction memo
- NURS 8600 Week 7: DNP project run chart analysis
- NURS 8600 Week 9: DNP final report discussion section
- NURS 8600 Week 10: DNP SQUIRE manuscript outline
- NURS 8600 Week 11: DNP essentials attainment reflection
- DNRS 6211 Week 8: Payer mix analysis
- DNRS 6630 Week 8: Literature appraisal
NURS 8600 Week 8 questions, answered
Can the sustainment plan assign ongoing work to the author?
Only if you will genuinely remain in the practice setting in a role that includes that work, and even then most faculty prefer ownership held by a position rather than a person. The example assumes the author's involvement ends. A plan under which the workflow would continue unchanged if you left the organization tomorrow is the stronger one.
Is RE-AIM required for a sustainment plan?
Not necessarily. The example uses RE-AIM's maintenance dimension because it offers a clear definition of setting-level continuation. Your program may prefer another framework or none at all. If your evaluation plan already used a framework with a sustainability component, reusing it here keeps your documents consistent, which is something reviewers tend to notice.
Where can I find a free NURS 8600 Week 8 sample paper?
The full handoff plan, ownership table, routines, RE-AIM targets and warning signs, appears here in full and is free. A plan for your own project's handoff can be requested.
Why are the NURS 8600 Week 8 targets set below recent results?
Because some decline after a project ends is common, and targets that allow modest decline while flagging real loss are more useful than targets missed in the first month.
How are warning signs defined in the NURS 8600 Week 8 plan?
As specific thresholds in data the clinic will keep collecting, such as screening under 75 percent for two months, each paired with a named person and a first question to ask.