Question

In considering quality improvement in the healthcare industry:

Why is it important to determine the impact of evidence-based interventions through measurement of outcomes?

If you were to implement your practice change, how would you plan to evaluate the outcome (dependent variable)?

Answer 1

Evidence-based health care practices are available for a number of conditions such as asthma, heart failure, and diabetes. However, these practices are not always implemented in care delivery, and variation in practices. 4Traditionally, patient safety research has focused on data analyses to identify patient safety issues and to demonstrate that a new practice will lead to improved quality and patient safety. Much less research attention has been paid to how to implement practices. Yet, only by putting into practice what is learned from research will care be made safer. Implementing evidence-based safety practices are difficult and need strategies that address the complexity of systems of care, individual practitioners, senior leadership, and—ultimately—changing health care cultures to be evidence-based safety practice environments. Multifaceted implementation strategies are needed to promote use of research evidence in clinical and administrative health care decisionmaking.

Although the science of translating research into practice is fairly new, there is some guiding evidence of what implementation interventions to use in promoting patient safety practices. However, there is no magic bullet for translating what is known from research into practice. To move evidence-based interventions into practice, several strategies may be needed. Additionally, what works in one context of care may or may not work in another setting, thereby suggesting that context variables matter in implementation.

This is an exciting area of investigation that has a direct impact on implementing patient safety practices. In planning investigations, researchers must use a conceptual model to guide the research and add to the empirical and theoretical understanding of this field of inquiry. Additionally, funding is needed for implementation studies that focus on evidence-based patient safety practices as the topic of concern. To generalize empirical findings from patient safety implementation studies, we must have a better understanding of what implementation strategies work, with whom, and in what types of settings, and we must investigate the underlying mechanisms of these strategies. This is likely to require mixed methods, a better understanding of complexity science, and greater appreciation for nontraditional methods and realistic inquiry.

Outcome evaluation provide information on how well the implemented plans works and accomplish it's goal. It depends on:

1 selecting the plaid action
2 sample size
3 timing and frequency of follow-up
4 preparing and tracing clients for follow-up interviews
5 conduct of follow-up interviews
6 selection and training of interviewers