Question

From your experiences as a Registered Nurse, identify two (2) items in the health institution where you work that can lend or has been lending to the creation of supportive environment for EBP. Express what factors you think would have caused them to be the creators of supportive environment.

List five (5) positive features that could enhance the successful implementation of the items you listed above in actually being implemented in your work environment. What strategies can you employ to help strengthen those positive features?

Answer 1

The dynamic and competitive U.S. healthcare environment requires healthcare practitioners who are accountable to provide efficient and effective care. This environment also mandates continuous improvement in care processes and outcomes.EBP requires the creation of an environment that fosters lifelong learning to increase the use of evidence in practice.Because of the emphasis on quality and safety, many healthcare organizations have created strategic initiatives for EBP.The most obvious answer of why be concerned for creating a supportive enviornment for EBP is that new evidence is continually surfacing in nursing and medical environments. Practitioners must incorporate the tremendous increase in the generation of new knowledge into their daily routines for their practices to be evidence-based, yet there is a well-documented delay in implementing new knowledge into practice environments.

As a Registered Nurse in the health institution where we work, national pay-for-performance initiatives, both voluntary and mandatory, provide reimbursement to hospitals and practitioners for implementing healthcare practices supported with evidence.Consumer pressure and increased patient expectations place an even greater emphasis on this need for true EBP.

The healthcare decision-making be evidencebased, to ensure that patients receive care based on the best scientific evidence available and that this evidence is transparent to patients and their families to assist them in making informed decisions.This could be the factor that has caused them to be the creators of supportive enviorment.

The 5 positive features that could enhance the successful implementation are as follows in our work enviorment :

• delivering patient-centered care,
• working as part of interprofessional teams,
• focusing on quality improvement,
• using information technology
• practicing evidence-based medicine.

The strategy that can be employed to help strengthen these features are to focus on the need to expand opportunities for nurses to collaborate with physicians and other healthcare team members to conduct research and to redesign and improve both practice environments and health systems to deliver quality healthcare. For this to happen, there is  urges for schools of nursing to ensure that nurses achieve competency in leadership, health policy, systems improvement, teamwork and collaboration, and research and EBP.