| Course | D161 Nursing Leadership and Management Capstone |
|---|---|
| Task | Task 2 |
| Paper type | Capstone results presentation |
| Length | About 1,100 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 |
| School | Western Governors University (WGU) |
| Program | MSN Leadership and Management |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for D161 Task 2
Two Bins, Six Months: Results of the Surgical Floor Supply Project and Three Decisions for Surgical Services Leaders
Student Name
Leavitt School of Health, Western Governors University
D161: Nursing Leadership and Management Capstone, Task 2
Course Instructor
Month Day, Year
Slide 1: Two Bins, Six Months
Results of the two-bin kanban supply project, 32-bed general surgery floor
Presented to the director of surgical services, the materials management manager and the finance business partner
Presenter: assistant nurse manager, project lead
Speaker notes: Thank you for the time. In the next ten minutes I will give you the verdict on the supply project first, then the evidence, then three decisions I am asking you to make. Everything I show comes from the charge nurse log, central supply's call record, materials management's disposal log and the general ledger.
Slide 2: The Verdict
Stockout calls: target met in the final month (2.6 per day), not for the six-month average (3.5)
Expired waste: target exceeded, down 62%
Spending: target missed, 3.1% over budget in quarter 2
Nurse supply trips: down from 3.0 to 0.9 per four hours
Speaker notes: Here is the whole story on one slide. Two of our three aims were met or exceeded, and one was missed. I will explain the miss in detail, because it tells us something about how we budget surgical floors. The balancing measure, nurse time, moved the right way: nurses now leave the care area for supplies less than once every four hours instead of three times.
Slide 3: Where We Started
11 urgent stockout calls a day
$6,800 in expired supplies discarded a year
$37,000 over a $410,000 supply budget (9%)
Par levels four years old, set before the floor took colorectal and bariatric patients
Speaker notes: These numbers come from twelve months of ledger data plus two weeks of direct counting on the floor. The key point is that we had both problems at once: too little of some things and too much of others. Counting shelves twice a day was not keeping up with how the floor had changed.
Slide 4: What We Changed
Two identical bins per item; the empty front bin is the reorder signal
Bin sizes calculated from 12 months of usage
41 duplicate items removed
High-use items moved nearest the door
Materials supervisor accountable for replenishment
Speaker notes: The system replaces counting with a signal. Nurses pull from the front bin; once it is empty it goes to the collection point and the reserve bin moves up. The research on this model for hospital supplies shows that bin size and replenishment timing are what make it work or fail (Rosales et al., 2015). That turned out to be exactly where our one problem came from.
Slide 5: Stockout Calls by Month
Month 1: 4.1 per day
Month 2: 3.6
Month 3: 3.8
Month 4: 3.9
Month 5: 3.1 (eight bins resized)
Month 6: 2.6
Speaker notes: Calls fell about 63% in month one, then leveled off. When we looked at the log, most of the remaining calls involved eight items, six of them wound care supplies for colorectal patients. That service grew during the project, and those bins were sized for last year's volume. After we resized them in month five, calls fell again and were below target by month six. We would have met the target sooner with a scheduled monthly review of every bin, and that review is now in place.
Slide 6: Waste
Expired stock discarded: $1,290 in six months
Annualized: about $2,580 against $6,800 at baseline
Reason: fewer duplicate, slow-moving items on the shelves
Speaker notes: This one exceeded the target without a separate expiration campaign. When there is one product for each purpose instead of two or three, products turn over before they expire.
Slide 7: Spending
Quarter 1: 1.4% over budget
Quarter 2: 3.1% over budget
Colorectal patient days up 12% in quarter 2
Price increase on two wound therapy supplies
Supply cost per patient day: down 6% from baseline
Speaker notes: This is the target we missed, and I want to be direct about it. The aim was an absolute budget figure, and quarter two was over. The cost per patient day did fall six percent, which tells us the system is using supplies more efficiently, but we did not agree on that measure in advance, so I am not substituting it for the target. Improvement measures should be defined before results arrive (Provost & Murray, 2011). That is a lesson for the next project and a question for this group about how we budget.
Slide 8: Balancing Measures
Nurse trips out of the care area for supplies: 3.0 to 0.9 per four hours
Technician restocking time: 5.5 to 4.0 hours per day
No increase in restocking burden for nursing
Speaker notes: We set these to make sure we were not buying supply savings with nurse time. Both improved. The technician hours saved have been redirected to expiration checks and accuracy, as the materials supervisor agreed at the start.
Slide 9: What We Learned
Initiation: define a volume-adjusted measure alongside the absolute one
Planning: schedule bin reviews; do not wait for flags
Implementation: champions on every shift pattern drove fast adoption
Evaluation: use central supply's record, not a handwritten log
Speaker notes: One lesson per phase. The biggest was in planning: our risk plan for changing demand relied on someone noticing, and in a busy quarter nobody did. A scheduled review fixes that, and it reflects a basic rule of improvement work: a change has to be tested and adjusted in cycles, not launched once (Langley et al., 2009). The champion model was the biggest success; misuse of the bins was rare from the first week.
Slide 10: Keeping It Working
Monthly bin review by the materials supervisor
Stockout calls and cost per patient day on the floor quality board
Two-bin rule added to orientation for nurses and technicians
Speaker notes: None of this depends on me or on the champions staying on the floor. Each step belongs to a role that already exists.
Slide 11: Three Decisions We Are Asking For
Approve extending the system to the orthopedic floor next quarter
Ask finance to report supply cost per patient day for all surgical floors
Send the eight high-demand wound care items to value analysis review
Speaker notes: These are the three things I am asking you to decide today. The orthopedic floor shares our central stores and a similar supply mix, and it would launch with a volume-adjusted measure from day one. Reporting per patient day would let every surgical floor see efficiency separately from volume. And two of the eight wound care items have lower-cost equivalents already on contract.
Slide 12: Questions
Full final status report and data tables available on request
Speaker notes: I am happy to take questions, and I can walk through any of the monthly data. Thank you again to the materials team and the four nurse champions, who did most of the work.
References
Langley, G. J., Moen, R. D., Nolan, K. M., Nolan, T. W., Norman, C. L., & Provost, L. P. (2009). The improvement guide: A practical approach to enhancing organizational performance (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Provost, L. P., & Murray, S. K. (2011). The health care data guide: Learning from data for improvement. Jossey-Bass.
Rosales, C. R., Magazine, M., & Rao, U. (2015). The 2Bin system for controlling medical supplies at point-of-use. European Journal of Operational Research, 243(1), 271-280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2014.10.041
What the D161 Task 2 instructions ask
The second D161 task asks you to present your capstone results to a leadership audience, usually as slides with notes or narration. Expect to recap the project, show results with data, explain what was learned, describe sustainment and make recommendations or requests. The audience is busy, so the presentation should lead with the conclusion and use simple visuals. Evaluators look for accurate data consistent with the final report, clear interpretation, and a closing that asks leaders for specific decisions rather than thanking them for their time. The presentation should be consistent with the written report in every figure.
How this D161 Task 2 example is built
The deck opens with a verdict slide, so leaders know the result immediately. The starting point and the change are each covered in one slide. Results are split across slides by measure, calls by month, waste, spending and balancing measures, each with one message in its title. Speaker notes carry the explanation and the data source. The lessons slide gives one lesson per project phase. The sustainment slide names who will keep the system working. The request slide asks for three decisions, each with timing, and the final slide offers the full report for questions. Each slide title states its message, so a leader skimming titles alone would follow the story.
Where the D161 Task 2 rubric puts the marks
For D161 Task 2, evaluators mark each aspect competent, approaching competence or not evident, beginning with whether the project is introduced clearly. Results aspects look for accurate data presented in a way leaders can read quickly. An interpretation aspect asks what the results mean. Lessons and sustainment aspects want specific content. A recommendation aspect rewards clear requests. Presentation aspects cover readable slides and complete notes or narration. Evaluators check that figures match the final report, and slides that quote research or benchmarks should credit them. Evaluators notice when the verdict comes early and when every chart has a title that states its message. Requests that include timing and cost, rather than a general wish to continue, show the leadership skill the capstone is meant to demonstrate.
D161 Task 2 help: what sends it back
Presentations are returned most often when they bury the result. Put the verdict on the second slide. Second, slides carry too much text. Use one message per slide and move explanation to the notes. Third, figures differ from the written report, which undermines credibility. Check every number. Fourth, the ending thanks the audience without asking for anything. Close with the decisions you need. Finally, include balancing measures. Leaders want to know the change did not create new problems, such as extra work for materials staff or longer nurse trips. Time the talk so the requests are not rushed at the end. Rehearse with a colleague who did not work on the project.
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Send the Task 2 instructions and rubric aspects from your D161 course of study. We write a custom results presentation with speaker notes to those exact aspects, returned in 24-48h. The first custom sample is free.
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D161 Task 2 questions, answered
How many slides should a D161 presentation have?
Follow your instructions. The sample uses twelve slides, enough to cover the verdict, baseline, change, results by measure, lessons, sustainment and three requests without crowding any slide.
Do D161 slides need citations?
Yes, where you use research or benchmarks. Place citations on the relevant slide or in the notes and add a references slide, even if most figures come from your own project data.
Should the D161 presentation repeat the whole report?
No. Present the key results and decisions, and offer the full report for detail. The sample keeps each slide to one message and puts the explanation in speaker notes.
Is the D161 surgical floor in the sample real?
No. The floor, its figures and the project were invented to model the capstone. The improvement science texts cited for measures and run charts are published sources.
Where can I find a free D161 Task 2 sample paper?
The full slide deck and speaker notes are reproduced above with comments. Share your D161 task and results, and a first tailored presentation is prepared for you free.