Protecting Your Practice & Your BusinessA step-by-step program for successfully writing and reviewing policies and procedures for independent LPN foot care

nurses in Saskatchewan.

Presented by Audrey Wall RN, BScN (hons)

2021

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About Audrey Wall

• RN since 1991

• Foot care nurse since 2014

• Opened own nursing foot care clinic 2018

• Passionate about policy

• Dedicated to excellence in nursing & nursing foot care

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Course Foundational Documents

SALPN (2013). Standards of Practice for Licensed Practical Nurses in Canada.

SALPN (2020). Foot Care: Basic Foot Care, Advanced Foot Care. Practice Guideline.

SALPN (2020, February). Independent Practice (Self-Employed) Practice Guideline.

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Modules – an overview

• Module 1 – Introduction to Policies & Procedures

• Module 2 – Building a Policy & Procedure

• Module 3 – More Building

• Module 4 – The Final Touches

Module 1

Introduction to Policies & Procedures

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Objectives

• Understand importance of P&P in foot care nurse practice

• Identify stages of policy development

• Understand policy design – what does a policy actually look like?

• Understand procedure design

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Policy: “a course or principle of action adopted or proposed by a government, party, business, or individual” (Online definition).

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• Directs and supports practice

• Sets expectations

• Keeps management accountable

• Ensures compliance with law

• Can help defend against employee claims

• Can help defend against client claims

• Directs employees to assistance

What is a policy and why is it important?

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Policies• Direct and support practice• Answer “who”, ”what”, “where”, “when

Procedures• Articulate how practice is performed• Provide step-by-step instructions• Support the policy• Answer “How”

How are policies different from procedures?

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Identify a need

Identify who will take responsibility Policy development Policy management/enforcement Policy review

Gather information

Draft policy

Consult with appropriate stakeholders

Finalize/approve policy

Policy Development - Stages

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• Anticipating a need• Changes in process or environment

• Hiring employees

• Etc.

• Responding to a need• COVID

• Growing business

• Etc.

Policy Development – Identify Needs

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• Policy & procedure development

• Policy/procedure management/enforcement

• Policy/procedure review

Identify who will take responsibility.

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• Title

• Scope

• Document Number

• Approval

• Development date

• Review date

• Extra info

Parts of a Policy – Title Bar

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• Objectives

• Principles

• Applicability

• Main Elements – the actual policy

Parts of a Policy – the Body

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• Definitions

• References

• Headers & Footers

The Final Touches

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• Usually embedded within a policy

• Step-by-step instructions

• Referenced

Procedure Design

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• Examine your clinical day – beginning to end

• Examine your administrative work

• Make lists of all your activities

• Start grouping activities together

• Work idea:

• Start with a large board or wall space to stick notes on

• write each activity on a separate sticky note

• Use different colour stickies for different types of activities

• Use different pen colours

• Start organizing stickies into groups

P & Ps – where to start??

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• Use a document creator – Word or Pages• Apply a jpeg of your logo or business name at the top• Create space for:

• P&P name – keep it simple and clear• Date of creation• Date of review• How many pages – any lost pages become obvious

• Header – usually page numbers• Footer – usually file pathway and/or page numbers

Creating a P&P template

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• Design• Design a template, including title and secondary page headers, footers

and file pathways

• Start• Start to compile a list of potential policies & procedures for your

practice

• Download and print• Download and print a copy of 'Infection Prevention and Control

Recommendations for Hand Hygiene in all Healthcare Settings. • https://www.ehealthsask.ca/services/resources/Resources/IPAC-

Recommendations-for-Hand-Hygiene-February-2017.pdf

Takeaway/Homework

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References

• https://www.diycommitteeguide.org/resource/how-to-develop-policies-and-procedures

• https://community.hrdaily.com.au/profiles/blogs/5-key-reasons-why-it-s-important-to-have-policies-and-procedures

• https://www.canlii.org/en/commentary/doc/2011CanLIIDocs548?zoupio-debug#!fragment/zoupio-_Toc3Page1/(hash:(chunk:(anchorText:zoupio-_Toc3Page1),notesQuery:'',scrollChunk:!n,searchQuery:'harassment%20policy',searchSortBy:RELEVANCE,tab:search))

• https://www.sweetprocess.com/how-to-write-a-policy/

• https://extranet.ahsnet.ca/teams/policydocuments/1/clp-hand-hygiene-ps-02-policy.pdf

• SALPN (2013). Standards of Practice for Licensed Practical Nurses in Canada.

• SALPN (2020). Foot Care: Basic Foot Care, Advanced Foot Care. Practice Guideline.

• SALPN (2020, February). Independent Practice (Self-Employed) Practice Guideline.

audrey@clinicalfootservices.ca