1
WGU D226 Task 1:
Comprehensive Healthcare
Change Proposal
Kimberly Hicks
Western Governors University
Elizabeth Croson
Intrapersonal Leadership and Professional Growth
Due Date
, 2
Task 1: Comprehensive Healthcare Change Proposal
A1: Innovative Change
I propose the implementation of a Psychiatric Adherence Nurse (PAN) role to address
medication non-adherence among adult patients with psychiatric disorders at Lexington Medical
Center. The PAN will be a coordinator. I will support patients throughout their hospital stay and for
30 days post-discharge to ensure adherence to prescribed psychiatric medications. The PAN will:
• Assess barriers to adherence during hospitalization, such as stigma, financial constraints, or
mental health illiteracy, using a standardized tool like the Sidorkiewicz Adherence
Instrument.
• Deliver tailored psychoeducation to patients and families, focusing on medication purpose,
side effects, and management strategies, based on evidence from del Pino-Sedeño et al.
(2024), which showed short-term adherence improvements with psychoeducation.
• Coordinate community resources, such as financial assistance programs or support groups,
to address non-intentional non-adherence factors like cost, as recommended by Jayasree et
al. (2024).
• Conduct follow-up visits (in-person or telehealth) at 7-, 14-, and 30-days post-discharge to
monitor adherence, adjust interventions, and provide reminders, ensuring long-term
effectiveness.
• Integrate with Epic EHR to track adherence data, flag non-adherence risks, and share
progress with multidisciplinary teams for seamless care coordination.
This innovative role enhances patient outcomes by reducing psychiatric symptom relapse,
hospital readmissions, and associated costs, which globally amount to $42 billion annually due to
medication errors (Shitu et al., 2020). The PAN will ensure adherence to value-based healthcare
, 3
through quality of life, decreasing emergency department overcrowding, and optimizing resource
use. The PAN will also help patients manage their mental health improving trust and long-term
adherence, thus directly impacting patient safety and recovery.
A1a: Authorized Proposed Change
Attached find the “Professional Verification Form”
A1b: Organizational Sponsor Discussion
I met with Jill Lovett, RN, Nurse Manager at Lexington Medical Center on April 20, 2025,
to discuss my proposal for the Psychiatric Adherence Nurse (PAN) role. I presented the PAN's
purpose: improving medication adherence in psychiatric patients through customized
psychoeducation, follow-ups, and Epic EHR integration. I outlined how the role will correct and
address the facility's high rates of readmission for non-compliance, which are in the millions and in
line with value-based care of improved patient outcomes and emergency visits. We talked about
three key things: if the plan works, who is involved, and how to measure results. Jill Lovett, RN,
liked the strong base of studies like del Pino-Sedeño et al. (2024), which made the plan sound solid.
She agreed that many patients at Lexington Medical Center struggle with taking their meds and
said the PAN could help keep them from coming back to the hospital. But she thinks we need a
better way to get others involved, like those who work in mental health and those who run the
hospital, to make sure the plan runs smoothly. She said it would be good to make a clear plan to
teach nurses to work as PANs and find money, maybe through grants for patient safety, to deal with
money limits. Jill Lovett, RN, also said we should have clear ways to tell if things are working, like
checking how often patients take meds each month using Epic EHR to see how good the PAN is
doing. Her feedback was helpful: she rated the plan high on importance and simplicity but
suggested improving strategies to involve stakeholders for better support. She advised me to team
WGU D226 Task 1:
Comprehensive Healthcare
Change Proposal
Kimberly Hicks
Western Governors University
Elizabeth Croson
Intrapersonal Leadership and Professional Growth
Due Date
, 2
Task 1: Comprehensive Healthcare Change Proposal
A1: Innovative Change
I propose the implementation of a Psychiatric Adherence Nurse (PAN) role to address
medication non-adherence among adult patients with psychiatric disorders at Lexington Medical
Center. The PAN will be a coordinator. I will support patients throughout their hospital stay and for
30 days post-discharge to ensure adherence to prescribed psychiatric medications. The PAN will:
• Assess barriers to adherence during hospitalization, such as stigma, financial constraints, or
mental health illiteracy, using a standardized tool like the Sidorkiewicz Adherence
Instrument.
• Deliver tailored psychoeducation to patients and families, focusing on medication purpose,
side effects, and management strategies, based on evidence from del Pino-Sedeño et al.
(2024), which showed short-term adherence improvements with psychoeducation.
• Coordinate community resources, such as financial assistance programs or support groups,
to address non-intentional non-adherence factors like cost, as recommended by Jayasree et
al. (2024).
• Conduct follow-up visits (in-person or telehealth) at 7-, 14-, and 30-days post-discharge to
monitor adherence, adjust interventions, and provide reminders, ensuring long-term
effectiveness.
• Integrate with Epic EHR to track adherence data, flag non-adherence risks, and share
progress with multidisciplinary teams for seamless care coordination.
This innovative role enhances patient outcomes by reducing psychiatric symptom relapse,
hospital readmissions, and associated costs, which globally amount to $42 billion annually due to
medication errors (Shitu et al., 2020). The PAN will ensure adherence to value-based healthcare
, 3
through quality of life, decreasing emergency department overcrowding, and optimizing resource
use. The PAN will also help patients manage their mental health improving trust and long-term
adherence, thus directly impacting patient safety and recovery.
A1a: Authorized Proposed Change
Attached find the “Professional Verification Form”
A1b: Organizational Sponsor Discussion
I met with Jill Lovett, RN, Nurse Manager at Lexington Medical Center on April 20, 2025,
to discuss my proposal for the Psychiatric Adherence Nurse (PAN) role. I presented the PAN's
purpose: improving medication adherence in psychiatric patients through customized
psychoeducation, follow-ups, and Epic EHR integration. I outlined how the role will correct and
address the facility's high rates of readmission for non-compliance, which are in the millions and in
line with value-based care of improved patient outcomes and emergency visits. We talked about
three key things: if the plan works, who is involved, and how to measure results. Jill Lovett, RN,
liked the strong base of studies like del Pino-Sedeño et al. (2024), which made the plan sound solid.
She agreed that many patients at Lexington Medical Center struggle with taking their meds and
said the PAN could help keep them from coming back to the hospital. But she thinks we need a
better way to get others involved, like those who work in mental health and those who run the
hospital, to make sure the plan runs smoothly. She said it would be good to make a clear plan to
teach nurses to work as PANs and find money, maybe through grants for patient safety, to deal with
money limits. Jill Lovett, RN, also said we should have clear ways to tell if things are working, like
checking how often patients take meds each month using Epic EHR to see how good the PAN is
doing. Her feedback was helpful: she rated the plan high on importance and simplicity but
suggested improving strategies to involve stakeholders for better support. She advised me to team
