Protecting Your Practice & Your Business

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

Saskatchewan Association of Licensed Practical Nurses 2

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


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.


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


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


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


• 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?


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?


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


• Anticipating a need• Changes in process or environment

• Hiring employees

• Etc.

• Responding to a need• COVID

• Growing business

• Etc.

Policy Development – Identify Needs


• Policy & procedure development

• Policy/procedure management/enforcement

• Policy/procedure review

Identify who will take responsibility.


• Title

• Scope

• Document Number

• Approval

• Development date

• Review date

• Extra info

Parts of a Policy – Title Bar


• Objectives

• Principles

• Applicability

• Main Elements – the actual policy

Parts of a Policy – the Body


• Definitions

• References

• Headers & Footers

The Final Touches


• Usually embedded within a policy

• Step-by-step instructions

• Referenced

Procedure Design


• 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??


• 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


• 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

https://www.ehealthsask.ca/services/resources/Resources/IPAC-Recommendations-for-Hand-Hygiene-February-2017.pdf


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.

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

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