Grant Writing Experience

Grant Writing Experience

Instructions:-

Deliverables: Submit a final draft of your assignment. Your submission must include an APA-formatted cover and reference sheet. Submit one (1) single document at the conclusion of the Week.

Part I:

Create a one (1) page Needs Statement that addresses the following:

-the reason for requesting funding
-the significant need for the grant with existing literature and research to support the assertion
-the goals or expected results
-who will be served by the grant

Part II: Locating Potential Funding Sources:

Conduct an internet search and list a minimum of ten (10) possible funding sources. Each grant has to be viable to your overall grant proposal and not solely related to the focus of the proposal. Your list must include the name of the grants, the funding source [name of the organization/association], along with the website address for each listed funding source.

Part III: Grant Proposal

Your three (3) page grant proposal will include the following:

-Title page
-100-word summary of the project
-Outline the plan of action to implement the grant, describing the activities and a sequence of events. The description also included who on the staff of the organization would be involved; what kind of training, if necessary, would be for the staff; the anticipated outcomes; and the method of evaluating the success of the project
-Explanation on why should your organization receive the grant? What resources and competencies does it have to successfully use the grant? Will you be working with other organizations on this grant? What qualifications do individuals in the organization have to contribute?
-Describe your organizations budget

Solution

Grant Writing Experience

Need Statement

In the era that we currently live in, digitization and computerization are two undoubtedly necessary requirements. From education, to government to private business and even public administration, computers and other digital devices have become an essential component. Computers have a variety of benefits on any process, be it business, education or even health. Computers facilitate quicker and easier access to information, and facilitate a host of quick access manipulation processes. Computers also enhance processes such as data storage and consequent retrieval. Thus, within whatever context they are used, computers promise to deliver greater levels of efficiency.

Healthcare is a highly sensitive field, owing to the fact that it entails human life. In this regard, there is a need to ensure high levels of efficiency, particularly in information processes. Computers provide an avenue through which processes can be expedited, resulting in a better quality of the care delivered. Our institution could use such efficiencies that computers promise. The nursing unit, in particular, could greatly benefit from computerization. Nurses deal with a great amount of information. They spend the greater amount of time with patients. Consequently, they usually have a lot of data that they need to either store or retrieve. Using computers would not only expedite these processes, it would also enable quicker access to information. Nurses would be able to spend their time more efficiently. The efficiency targeted here, however, is not just in terms of the speed with which outcomes are realized, but also in terms of greater accuracy. Nurses would be able to avoid errors that occur either during the entry or during the retrieval of patient data. Ultimately, the greatest beneficiary will be our patients. They will benefit from increased efficiency and better treatment.

Locating Potential Funding Sources

Some of the possible funding sources that will give us grant to push forward the program include

Grant Proposal

Our organization would like to request funding from your quarters to enable us digitize and computerize our operations in the nursing unit. We are currently utilizing a manual process which is not only slow, tedious and time-consuming, but also prone to error and wilful manipulation. We would therefore like to request for funding that would enable us to purchase computers and other digital equipment. The computers would go a long way in enhancing the efficiency of our processes. The computers would be used to facilitate access to information and establish a computerized system of managing patient data, as well as linking the nursing unit to other units within the hospital. A budgetary breakdown of how these funds would be spent is provided in a budget below.

This project has a number of objectives. Key among them is the introduction of a fast-paced system of managing patient data. The nursing unit remains isolated from the rest of the hospital in that it is one of the only departments that is yet to have its operations computerized. In this regard, another key objective of this project is to connect the nursing unit to the rest of the hospital, by ensuring that it is fully computerized. Finally, this project also has the objective of achieving an overall improvement in the delivery of healthcare to our patients, by ensuring they have access to a fast, easy and accurate means of data recording and retrieval.

This project will involve a series of steps in order to actualize it. A project team will be set up to spearhead the process of implementing the project. This team shall include the financial director, the head of the nursing unit, the hospitals technology officer, one nurse representative and myself. The financial director will be in charge of coordinating the financial logistics while the head of the nursing unit will coordinate the personnel logistics. The representative from the nursing unit will be included to enable the project team get a better feel of the needs of the department. On my part, I shall be the overall project coordinator. The process will begin with a needs assessment to determine the levels of training required for the nursing unit. The needs assessment will also establish the number of machines required for the department. It is however estimated that in general, each nurse will require a terminal of their own.

The training anticipated is basic computer literacy training, as well as procedural training. In terms of computer training, users will be educated on basic hardware and software use recommendations and requirements. They will be educated on some of the key processes and terminologies. Additionally, they will also be educated on best practices. The second level of training will deal with the specific management information system that will be implemented as part of the project. Finally, users will also receive procedural training regarding how the new system will work. Users will need to be informed of the requirements expected of them when using the new system. At the end of the training, it is expected that users will gain basic and intermediate computer use skills. Basic skills in terms of basic hardware and user interactions. Intermediate skills, on the other hand, will regard how computer systems generally work, and how information systems work.

Once the project has been implemented, it is expected that there will be improved efficiency in terms of overall organizational processes. It is anticipated that there will be less errors such as medication errors. It is also expected that nurses will find it easier to retrieve patient records and that this will result in greater operational efficiencies. The success of the project will be measured through the average turnaround time for processes such as data storage and retrieval. Project success will also be evaluated based on the reduced incidence of procedural errors.

Our organization has been around for over 30 years. We cater to the health concerns of a wide range of community stakeholders. Our operations help to guarantee the health, safety and well-being of over 100,000 individuals, on a basis of about 2,000 patients a week. There are instances where our facilities receive a huge influx of individuals, leading to information overloads. These overloads lead to inefficiencies in the process of healthcare delivery. The end outcome is that it takes a lot more time to treat patients than the process would be if we had computerized systems. We currently have a hospital information management system, that has enabled us to establish a database of our patients. Secondly, our hospital has an established intranet infrastructure, and all peripheral networking infrastructure is already laid out. We also have an information technology department, which has been working with us for over three years. With these resources and capabilities, we are in a position to positively exploit the computers we receive through this grant. The table below presents a breakdown of how the funding will be used.

Expense Cost per Unit Total Units Total Expenses
Cost of training the nurses (20) $80/hour $80*10 hours per week * 5 weeks $4,000
Cost of Purchasing computer terminals $180/machine $180*20 $3,600
Cost of Installation     $800
Project Management Team Allowances $30 per day $20*5*5 $750
Miscellaneous costs     $350
Total     $9,500.00

References

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). (2017). Retrieved from (https://www.ahrq.gov/funding/index.html)

Americans for the Arts. (2017). Retrieved from http://www.awesomefoundation.org

BUILD Health Challenge. (2017). Retrieved from (http://buildhealthchallenge.org/application/)

Grants.gov. (2017). Retrieved from (https://www.grants.gov/)

GrantWatch. (2017). Retrieved from (https://www.grantwatch.com/cat/14/health-and-medical-grants.html)

Live Strong. (2017). Retrieved from (http://www.livestrong.com/article/287017-grants-for-medical-equipment/)

Pfizer. (2017). Retrieved from (http://www.pfizer.com/responsibility/grants_contributions/description_funding_recipient_organizations)

Rural Health Information Hub. (2017). Retrieved from (https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/topics/critical-access-hospitals/funding)

The Aga Khan Foundation. (2017). Retrieved from (http://www.akdn.org/our-agencies/aga-khan-foundation)

The Awesome Foundation. (2017). Retrieved from (http://www.awesomefoundation.org)

United Hospital Fund. (2017). Retrieved from (https://www.uhfnyc.org/grants)