A “Needs Assessment” is the first step in developing a gap analysis and educational plan

A “Needs Assessment” is the first step in developing a gap analysis and educational plan. You are NOT required to perform a technical gap analysis or develop an educational program for this assignment. This assignment is meant to identify your target population and systematically determine their knowledge, skill, resources, or practice needs.

How do I conduct a “Needs Assessment”?

• Identify and clearly define your target population (audience).
  • Is it a patient population? Registered nurses (RNs), nursing assistants (CNA’s), or other health professionals?
  • Be as descriptive as possible. Include all appropriate information *without using protected or identifying data*
  • What is your target audience? pick one :
  • Not-so-great Example: “Teens with Diabetes Type 2 in ambulatory care”.
    d. Better Example: “The target population includes adults between the ages of 21 and
    50 who were diagnosed with obesity and smoking within the past year and are
    followed on an outpatient basis by providers at Massachusetts general hospital
• Do research.
  • If it is a patient population, you may need to research current trends in treating that population.
  • If nurses, you may need to read journal articles written for their specialty.
  • You cannot blindly ask individuals what their needs are – they may not know what they don’t know. Be prepared with some background information on individuals in your audience.
  • Note the current trends in treating this patient population or practice updates (for health professionals). Cite this research.

• Brainstorm how you will collect information from target population.
  • Structured/semi-structured interviews? Where were they conducted?
  • How will you access the target population and when?
  • You should aim to collect information from at least 10 individuals, unless you specifically state why 10 individuals would be unreasonable or too burdensome.

• Define and measure your data.
  • What themes/trends did you notice across participants? Be specific

• Summarize & analyze your findings.
  • What are the most important needs for your audience?
  • What “gap” did you identify? What is the difference between what is known/practiced now and best practices?
    • For patients – knowledge, physical, emotional, spiritual, psychosocial, medical, transportation, social, etc.
    • For health professionals – knowledge, skills, resources, time, support, technical, etc.
  • How might your findings impact nursing practice, patient education, nursing continuing education, policies, available resources, or further research?

We suggest using the following subheadings to guide you as you write:

Introduction (background, what is already known)

Target Audience

Methods (how you collected your data)

Findings (summarize, analyze)

Conclusion (suggest a potential intervention, but do not need to develop/implement one)