- A. Long-term goal-setting
- B. Extends to 3-5 years in the future
- C. Focuses on routine tasks
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D. Determines directions of the
Answer: (C) Focuses on routine tasks
Strategic planning involves options A, B and D except C which is attributed to operational planning.1. Strategic Planning: The Big Picture (Julius's Workshop)
Strategic planning is a high-level, long-term process designed to define the department's future position. Julius is wise to conduct this with his staff, as it builds buy-in for the future direction.
- Focus: It addresses the "Why" and the "What"—why the department exists (its mission) and what it intends to achieve over the next three to five years. It's about setting the overall organizational direction.
- Time Frame: It's future-oriented and spans multiple years (typically 3–5 years), making it much less concerned with current shift-to-shift issues.
- Core Activities: The workshop will involve an external and internal analysis (like a SWOT analysis) to identify major opportunities in the metropolis and internal capabilities. The outcome is a set of broad, organizational goals (e.g., Achieve a Top 10% rating nationally in patient safety).
- Responsibility: It involves the Nurse Manager (Julius), senior nurse leaders, and key staff, often collaborating with top hospital administration.
2. Operational Planning: The Day-to-Day (Routine Tasks)
Operational planning takes the broad vision created in strategic planning and breaks it down into immediate, executable steps. This is where the characteristic "Focuses on routine tasks" belongs.
- Focus: It addresses the "How" and the "When"—how the department will use its current resources to meet the strategic goals on a daily basis. It is concerned with efficiency and standardizing routine activities.
- Time Frame: It is short-term, usually focused on the current fiscal year, quarter, or even weekly scheduling and inventory cycles.
- Core Activities: It involves the creation of detailed policies, procedures, staffing schedules, and quality checklists. For instance, ensuring documentation compliance, managing the medication administration process, or scheduling staff shifts are all routine operational tasks.
- Responsibility: This planning is driven by middle management (Charge Nurses, Supervisors) and the frontline staff, whose routine actions directly execute the overall strategy.
3. The Relationship: Strategy Drives Operations
The key takeaway for Julius is that the two types of planning must be perfectly aligned.
- The Strategic Plan serves as the road map for the department, providing the ultimate destination and major milestones.
- The Operational Plans are the daily maneuvers and detailed directions required to keep the department on that road.
If Julius's strategic goal is to "Reduce Patient Falls by 50% in three years," the resulting operational plan will include routine tasks like mandatory hourly rounding procedures, staff training schedules, and daily checklist compliance checks. The routine tasks (operational) are the means to achieving the long-term goal (strategic).