Taking the Pulse of a Target Population: Assessing Change Readiness

Objective: Implementing change in a health care organization poses structural and cultural challenges. Design: We developed a survey derived from an existing organizational change model and distributed it to the target population of an impending change initiative. Results: The respondents (59.2% response rate) indicated that changes in communication protocols were necessary, believed that change would be possible, reported feeling supported during previous change efforts, and tended to think that their feedback had been valued in the past. Conclusions: The survey revealed that our target population was ready to change the ways in which it communicates about patient needs and care protocols. To increase the probability of successful implementation of an initiative to improve communication protocols on the unit, we will design our implementation strategy to provide both the process support and the training support that participants perceived to be lacking. Implications: By taking the "pulse" of the target population, change agents can identify more effective implementation strategies.