Week 4: Evidence-Based Practice, Quality Improvement, and Implementation Science: Interrelationships
From your experience as a registered nurse or APRN, how does change occur in a health care setting? How do outdated protocols get updated or the actual root cause of a persistent problem get uncovered and resolved?
You may have answers that speak to the commitment of health care organizations to continually improve. You may also have examples that demonstrate the inherent challenges in any change initiative. If only change were as clear and quick as striking a key. Rather, it requires a whole series of figurative keystrokes and, depending on the setting, may seem as though the whole world needs to be onboard.
This week you will explore a particular set of keys to quality improvement in health care. It involves reliance on science for evidence to inform nursing practice and implementation that makes sense to practitioners and patients. Your getting-started activities will include observing for and blogging about evidence-based practice, and looking for health care settings in your locale for investigating needs and acceptance of practice change.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
- Evaluate application of evidence-based practice in health care organizations
- Analyze approaches to advocacy of evidence-based practice in health care organizations
- Compare health care settings for quality improvement projects
- Justify practice problems for quality improvement
- Analyze site and stakeholder requirements for quality improvement projects in nursing practice settings
- Compare stakeholder requirements for quality improvement projects across nursing practice settings
- Apply implementation science frameworks/models for evidence-based practice quality improvement projects
Learning Resources
Required Readings (click to expand/reduce)
Required Media (click to expand/reduce)
Optional Resources (click to expand/reduce)
Blog: Observation of Evidence-Based Practice
- As a DNP, you will have a significant voice in your health care setting to advocate for evidence-based nursing practice. Understanding how evidence can inform better nursing care and patient outcomes is fundamental to successful advocacy, as are examples of where, why, and how evidence-based practice is needed.
For this activity, you will essentially observe for evidence to support evidence-based practice. You will write and post a blog in which you identify examples of evidence-based practice in your health care organization and/or examples of need for application of evidence-based practice. Although the blog functions like a Discussion Board, the aim is to be somewhat more informal in sharing your perspectives. Colleagues will respond to your blog, as you will respond to theirs.
To prepare:
- Review the Learning Resources, particularly the chapter on evidence-based practice from McEwen and Wills, and readings in the White, Dudley-Brown, and Terhaar text.
- With your understanding of evidence-based practice in mind, observe for examples of evidence-based practice (EBP) in the health care organization where you practice, and/or examples of nursing practice that are tradition bound and lack an evidence base.
- Consider conditions that support EBP within health care organizations and recommendations for application of EBP.
With these thoughts in mind …
By Day 3 of Week 4
Post a blog on the topic of evidence-based practice in the health care organization where you practice. Drawing on your understanding of EBP and your firsthand observations within your organization, include the following content in your blog:
- Briefly describe one specific example of evidence-based practice that produced/is producing significant patient outcomes. Or, if you are lacking examples, describe a recent patient experience that might have been improved through application of evidence-based practice. Explain your reasoning. Note: To maintain confidentiality, do not refer to individuals by name or with identifying details.
- Evaluate the overall application of evidence-based practice within your health care organization, including conditions that support it or roadblocks to overcome. Explain your reasoning, including how you have arrived at your conclusions.
- Describe how you can advocate for application of evidence-based practice within your health care organization.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ blogs.
By Day 6 of Week 4
Respond to at least two of your colleagues on 2 different days. Compare their observations and evaluations of EBP in their health care organizations with your own and offer recommendations for advancing EBP or identify suggestions you will apply in your own practice setting.
