briefing note on health related issues

Briefing Note Assignment Guidelines

Weight: 15%

Learning Outcomes Addressed in this Assignment:

Purpose:

The purpose of the Briefing Note assignment is to practice an effective and efficient strategy to inform decision-makers about an important health issue that impacts the health of the population. This assignment involves the production of an original briefing note on a nursing, health or health care problem of interest to you. Examples of broad topic areas from which you can choose
a specific focus (see example below) include, but are not limited to:

End of life care Social determinants of health Patient Safety
Harm reduction Community-based care Chronic illness
Health human resources Aging and seniors care Access to care
Health system financing Care delivery models Immigrant health
Pharmaceutical policy Quality of care Non-medical cannabis use
COVID Management

An
example of what is meant by broad topic area:

Indigenous health in Canada

An abundance of evidence demonstrates that Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Metis, Inuit) in Canada live with a greater percentage of serious health issues compared to the rest of the Canadian population.

On the following page, you will find examples of what is meant by choose a
specific focus from the broad topic area for writing your briefing note. This means you might choose
one of the following
specific focus areas
from the broad topic area, Indigenous health in Canada, for writing your briefing note:

Malnutrition

Lower levels of education

Higher suicide rates

Inadequate, crowded housing

Higher rates of chronic illness

Higher rates of death in children due to

High rate of tuberculosis

Unsafe drinking water

Alcohol misuse

Content:

Write your Briefing Note using the following sub-headings: Audience, Issue, Background, Current Status, Key Considerations, Options, and Recommendations as below. Notice there are questions associated with each sub-heading. It may not be necessary to address each question in each sub-heading because not all may be relevant to your topic. However, you may decide to use the questions under each sub-heading questions as threads to help you frame your briefing note.
1)
Audience: Who are you addressing in this briefing note? Be sure your briefing note is written with consideration of the target audience (please note, the audience of your briefing note is not your professor)

2)
Issue: Short, concise statement or two about what is the specific issue is about. Who is affected by the issue? What is the significance of the issue? Why should the issue matter to the reader (audience of your briefing note)?

3)
Background: Give a brief summary of the background events leading up to the issue.

What is the history leading up to the development of the issue and/or how has the issue evolved?
4)
Current Status: Describe the current situation of the issue in terms of its current state. What is the current situation or status of the issue? What is happening now? Who is involved?

5)
Key Considerations: Inform your reader about aspects of the issue that need to be factored in, thought carefully about, studied, or contemplated prior to making decisions about how to address the issue. Key considerations must be supported with credible, current evidence.

6)
2
Options about how the issue could be addressed. The options should relate directly to the key considerations. Include the advantages and disadvantages for each option.

7)
Recommendation: Concise, brief summary of what you want your reader to conclude from the reasoning and evidence you provided. What are the key points you want your audience to be clear about? Finally, state the most preferred option from #6 above.

Adapted from Doyle, S. 92013). How to Write a Briefing Note. Retrieved February 22nd, 2019 from https://web.uvic.ca/~sdoyle/E302/Notes/WritingBriefingNotes.html)

Process:

The assignment requires the items included in the checklist below:

Report format; this is not a scholarly paper. You may decide to follow the template available for use located in the Briefing Note Resources located in the Briefing Note Assignment module to frame your briefing note.
APA format with citations and references according to
[emailprotected] Conestoga.

Arial 12 font
No more than 3 pages single spaced (does not include list of references)
Newspaper/magazine articles are not to be used in your assignment; use only credible, relevant, and quality resources.
Submission must be made to the assignment dropbox in the e-Conestoga shell for course NURS8945 by the due date and time.
See
Student Handbook for regulations regarding late assignments

Academic Integrity Policy is in effect; Turnitin feature enabled in the assignment dropbox. You may use the Turnitin feature as an educative strategy to correct any potential plagiarism, and citation and referencing errors in advance of your final submission. Your final submission to the assignment dropbox will be the submission that is evaluated.

Use the resource documents contained in the Briefing Note Assignment module to guide your thinking as you prepare to write this assignment. Remember, three pages may seem short, however, you will be graded on the quality of the briefing note you produce and the level of synthesis and thoughtfulness contained therein.

Prepared by Valerie Abbott, March, 2019, in consultation with Lisa Trimble, Teaching and Learning, Conestoga College Briefing Note Assignment – Examples

http://www.publicsectorwriting.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Options-Recommendation-Briefing-Note.pdf

http://rnao.ca/policy/briefing-notes/preventing-managing-violence-workplace

The links above provide examples of briefing notes. There are many ways of writing a briefing note.
The first example is not related to nursing but it is addressed to a person (audience), the Purpose is the issue/problem is stated concisely, the Background gives a brief history of the issue, and the Current Situation speaks to what is happening now. The Key Considerations are the 3 bulleted points in the Current Situation section. There are 3 Options related directly to and may help to solve the considerations outlined in the 3 bulleted points (Key Considerations). Note that each option provides at least one advantage and one disadvantage. This briefing note ends with a Recommendations section but in this example, only states the preferred option and does not summarize the major important points the reader should take away. Often busy decision-makers only read the last section; therefore, the writer of this briefing note lost the opportunity to quickly draw attention to and inform the decision-maker.
Alternatively, in the RNAO briefing note example, the issue relates directly to nursing but the briefing note does not follow the recommended format (Issue, Background, Current Situation, Key Considerations, Recommendations) that should be addressed in the Briefing Note Assignment guidelines. Therefore, it is suggested you use the above examples to get the general idea of how a briefing note is written
but be sure to include all of the key areas in the Briefing Note Assignment guidelines when writing your briefing note.

Notice there are no citations or reference list in these examples! For your Briefing Note assignment, you are expected to acknowledge your sources of information with citations and a complete reference list according to Conestoga Colleges

Academic Integrity Policy.

Finally, you might consider the briefing note to be similar to SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendations) and similar to papers you wrote in COMM1085 (introduction/thesis statement, significance, background, 2-3 body paragraphs with support and development of the thesis, and one concluding paragraph). Consider booking an appointment with Student Success Services if you require added support with your writing skills.

Prepared by Valerie Abbott, March 2019, in consultation with Lisa Trimble, Teaching and Learning, Conestoga College Briefing Note Assignment Rubric Student Name:
Weight: 15% Student Number:

Criteria from Associated Course and Unit Outcomes

Unique and Distinguished
(90-100%)

Unique and Distinguished

(80-89%)

Good
(70-79%)

Needs Developing

(65-69%)

Fails to meet requirements /Inadequate
(<64%) Considerable evidence of original thinking synthesizes information from high quality sources from and draws own clear, logical, and compelling conclusions; sophisticated ability to analyze, integrate, and extend course concepts; outstanding grasp of subject matter. Evidence of original thinking good ability to make appropriate links between course concepts; draws own logical and fairly compelling conclusions from quality information sources; solid grasp of subject matter evident. Some evidence of original thinking fair ability to make appropriate links between course concepts; draws own conclusions from information sources; arguments may not always be clear, compelling, or logical; some grasp of subject matter evident. Minimal to no evidence of original thinking weak/no ability to draw own conclusions; arguments rarely clear, logical or compelling; little to no capacity to make appropriate links between information sources and course concepts; very little/no credible information sources used to support argument; little to no grasp of subject matter evident. Impact Briefing note is engaging, persuasive and moving such that the reader feels compelled to take action and solve the issue immediately. (18-20 points) Briefing note is engaging, persuasive. The reader feels action is required to solve the issue now. (16-17.9 points) Briefing note is mostly engaging and persuasive. The reader may feel to some degree that action is required to solve the issue in the near future. (14-15.9 points) Briefing note is not always engaging and persuasive. The reader feels little motivation to take action and solve the issue in the distant future (13-13.9 points) Briefing note is neither engaging nor persuasive. The reader feels little to no motivation to ever take action and solve the issue. (0-12.9 points) Quality of Briefing Note Clear, accurate summary of the topic supported by detailed and relevant discussion in all content areas. Key message clear, and supported by accurate, detailed discussion. (9-10 points) Topic summarized well with an accurate and complete discussion evident in all content areas. Key message clear and mostly supported by accurate, detailed discussion. (8-8.9 points) Although topic was fairly well-summarized, discussion was not always relevant and sometimes lacked detail in the content areas. Key message could be inferred with support of accompanying discussion. (7-7.9 points) Explanations of key areas have several inaccuracies or are incomplete. A few minor key content areas of are missed and/or may have some ambiguity. (6.5-6.9 points) Explanations have many inaccuracies and most key content areas are incomplete and/or mostly ambiguous. (0-6.4 points) Level of Information Synthesis Combines and evaluates existing ideas to form new insights. Obvious original thinking demonstrated in the development of a clear, logical argument. (18-20 points) Combines existing ideas to form new insights for the most part; some original thought demonstrated in addition to incorporating other authors ideas from information resources to develop a logical argument. (16-17.9 points) Combines existing ideas of other authors from information resources to develop a clear and logical argument; lacking in original thought. (14-15.9 points) Occasional evidence of combining existing ideas of other authors from information resources. Several transgressions evident in logic and clarity of argument. (13-13.9 points) Minimal/no evidence of combining existing ideas of other authors in any logical or clear manner. No evidence of critical thinking as evidenced by an argument that is illogical, unclear, and/or vague. (0-12.9 points) Research Effort and Use of Information Resources Integrated extensive, varied, current, relevant, and credible information resources effectively throughout assignment to support claims and arguments. (9-10 points) Integrated multiple current, relevant, credible resources effectively throughout assignment to support claims and arguments. (8-8.9 points) Integrated information resources throughout most of the assignment to support claims and arguments but some resources may not be varied, current, entirely relevant or credible (7-7.9 points) Integrated information resources throughout some of the assignment to support claims and arguments but resources may not be varied, current, relevant, or credible. (6.5-6.9 points) Did not integrate information resources throughout any of assignment to support claims and arguments. (0 points) Total / 60 points Essential Employment Skills (EES) Unique and Distinguished (90-100%) Unique and Distinguished (80-89%) Good (70-79%) Needs Development (65-69%) Fails to meet requirements /Inadequate (<64%) Spelling/Grammar No spelling and grammatical errors (5 points) There are occasional spelling errors (<2) or grammatical errors (4 points) There are more than occasional spelling errors (<3) or grammatical errors (3.5 points) There are numerous spelling errors (<5) or grammatical errors (3.3 points) Spelling errors are frequent (>5) or grammatical errors

(0-3.2 points)

[emailprotected] Citations and Referencing

In-text citing and complete reference list meets [emailprotected] Standards

(9-10 points)

There are some [emailprotected]
In-text citation and/or complete reference list errors (<2) (8-8.9 points) There are occasional [emailprotected] referencing errors (<3) (7-7.9 points) There are numerous APA referencing errors (>4) and/or citation reference list mismatches

(6.5-6.9 points)

No complete reference list and/or no in-text citations, and/or evidence of plagiarism** and/or breach of copyright laws
(0 points)

Clarity/Flow/
Layout

Clear and logical flow and layout

(9-10 points)

Clear and easy to read & follow

(8-8.9 points)

Requires concentration to read and follow
(7-7.9 points)

Challenging to read and follow

(6.5-6.9 points)

Very difficult to read and follow

(0-6.4 points)

Length

Within 3 page limit but greater than 2 pages (exclusive of complete reference list or appendices)

(5 points)

Up to 3 lines beyond 3 page limit and/or less than 2 pages (exclusive of complete reference list or appendices)
(4 points)

4 6 lines beyond 3 page limit and/or less than 2 pages (exclusive of complete reference list or appendices)
(3.5 points)

7-10 lines beyond 3-page limit and/or less than 2 pages (exclusive of complete reference list or appendices)
(3.3 points)

Grossly outside of 3 page limit and/or less than 2 pages (exclusive of complete reference list or appendices)
(0-3.2 points)

Format

Single-spaced
12 font
Arial
Report format

(9-10 points)

Did not adhere to 1/4 criteria:
Single-spaced
12 font
Arial font
Report format
(8-8.9 points)

Did not adhere to 2/4 criteria:
Single-spaced
12 font
Arial font
Report format
(7-7.9 points)

Did not adhere to 3/4 criteria:
Single-spaced
12 font
Arial font
Report format
(6.5-6.9 points)

Complete non-adherence to formatting guidelines

(0 points)

Total

/40

Late Penalty

Refer to
Program Handbook

Conestoga College Policy from Student Handbook states Late marks will be deducted at a rate of 10% per day, including weekends, from the total percent value of the assignment. It is your responsibility to ensure your assignment is submitted to the Dropbox correctly and on time.

Academic Integrity

The
Academic Integrity Policy is in effect for this assignment. It is your responsibility to ensure you know and understand what constitutes academic dishonesty and its consequences. *In the event of plagiarism, a grade of 0 will be assigned for that section of the rubric, a report of academic dishonesty will be filed according to the Academic Integrity Policy; the final grade will be assigned according to the academic integrity policys consequence and prior incident reports.

Total

/60 points plus / 35 points (minus _____ for late) = /100

Comments:

Prepared by Valerie Abbott, March, 2019.
Adapted from:
Fostaty Young, S. (2005). Teaching, learning, and assessment in higher education: Using ICE to improve student learning.
Proceedings of the Improving Student Learning Symposium, London, UK,
13, 105-115. Imperial College, London, UK, Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development. Retrieved March 8, 2019 from:
http://www.queensu.ca/teachingandlearning/modules/principles/documents/Teaching,%20Learning%20and%20Assessment%20in%20Higher%20Education.pdf

Wiggins, G. (2017). How to create a rubric that does what you want it to. Retrieved from:
https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/how-to-create-a-rubric-that-does-what-you-want-it-to/ (based on Wiggins Impact, Process, Content, and Polish framework for creating effective rubrics)

In consultation with: Lisa Trimble, Teaching and Learning Consultant, Conestoga College

SHOW MORE…

Developing a Training Plan A

Develop a training plan that includes a lesson plan in the form of an outline and a timeline.
Introduction
For this assessment, you will develop a training plan for your program, including a lesson plan outlining your selection of appropriate training methods for your learning objectives.
Note: The assessments in this course build upon each other, so you are strongly encouraged to complete them in sequence.
There are a number of effective, traditional methods used in training, including lectures, discussions, and audio-visual materials. Training methods have progressed rapidly in recent years as new generations of workers have entered the workforce, and newer training methods have evolved with the increased use of computers and the Internet.
To develop an effective training plan lesson, you should include:

A timeline for your training and development program.
Learning objectives.
Training methods.
Training activities.
Practice and feedback.

Preparation
Use the Effective Training textbook, the Internet, the Capella Library, or the Lesson Plan Template [DOC] to research training lesson plans and to select a format for this assessment.
Requirements
For this assessment complete the following:

Identify each training activity and link the activity to the learning objectives used in the training and development program.
Describe how practice and feedback are incorporated into the lesson plan to measure the transfer of learning.
In addition to the lesson plan, write a rationale, including the following:

Analyze the pros and cons for trainers and trainees of each training method used in the program.

Additional Requirements

Written communication: Written communication is in a professional style with correct grammar, usage, and mechanics.
APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to current APA style.
Headings: Incorporate level headings according to current APA style.
Length: A typical response will be 4-5typed, double-spaced pages.
Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
References: Use at least two references.

Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

Competency 2: Demonstrate effective training program design, development, and implementation.

Identify each training activity linked to the learning objectives used in the training and development program.
Analyze the pros and cons for trainers and trainees of the training methods used in the program.

Competency 3: Demonstrate effective training program measurement and evaluation.

Describe how practice and feedback are incorporated into the lesson plan to measure the transfer of learning