UNIT 1: SWOT ANALYSIS
Situation Description: Identifying problems and developing plans for improvement are very important steps in strategic planning. In this box please
describe a problem you have experienced or noticed that affects patient care delivery. Make a statement about what your end goal would be. Some
examples: maybe there is a nursing shortage, resulting in high nurse:patient ratios and you need to develop a plan for retention or you may notice that
hospital acquired infections are high so you need to increase hand hygiene compliance. Problems are not always big picture, sometimes small changes
at the unit level can make a big impact. Take a second and think about you practice as a nurse. Reflect about your day to day experiences and identify
an area that needs improvement. Next, what is your role in this situation? How can you help implement change? How can you be a leader even if you
are not in a leadership role?
Strengths
•What advantages do you have on your side?
•What resources can really help mend this problem?
•You may have a problem with hand hygiene but if you have
good leadership, a sound policy and procedure committee,
and room in the budget for change, then you should be
able to tackle this problem.
Weaknesses/Limitations
•What are some areas that you think may halt change?
•What resources are you lacking?
•You may notice that telemetry alarms aren’t being
addressed appropriately and you want to improve
compliance but you have a high nurse:patient ratio so
there are less people around to view the alarms. This
doesn’t mean this problem can’t be addressed, it just
means there are other factors to think about and maybe
other ways to address your concern.
Internal
Factors
Internal
Factors
External
Factors
External
Factors
Opportunities
•What are the external factors that may promote successful
implementation of your plan?
•Did a nursing school that works closely with your
institution just open a large RN-BSN program? This could
increase your nursing student population, help with CNA
positions, and also with the nursing shortage.
•If you are having trouble with medication errors and there
is a new, budget friendly barcoding system available or
even a medication distribution machine, this would help.
Threats
•Are there external factors that may affect your strategic
planning?
•If you are focusing on the nursing shortage in your facility
but there are two new hospitals that have opened in the
area, this may be an issue
•If you want to try and standardize nausea control but
there is a shortage of ondansetron (Zofran) nationwide,
this may impact your plan.
•You must keep the threats in consideration so you have
smooth implementation of your strategic plan.