Question

Propose an evidence-based idea for a change in practice using an EBP approach to decision making in my organization.

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 abound.1–4 Traditionally, 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.5 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.5 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.5

Nursing has a rich history of using research in practice, pioneered by Florence Nightingale.6–9 Although during the early and mid-1900s, few nurses contributed to this foundation initiated by Nightingale,10 the nursing profession has more recently provided major leadership for improving care through application of research findings in practice.11

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the conscientious and judicious use of current best evidence in conjunction with clinical expertise and patient values to guide health care decisions.12–15 Best evidence includes empirical evidence from randomized controlled trials; evidence from other scientific methods such as descriptive and qualitative research; as well as use of information from case reports, scientific principles, and expert opinion. When enough research evidence is available, the practice should be guided by research evidence in conjunction with clinical expertise and patient values. In some cases, however, a sufficient research base may not be available, and health care decision making is derived principally from nonresearch evidence sources such as expert opinion and scientific principles.16 As more research is done in a specific area, the research evidence must be incorporated into the EBP.

Models of Evidence-Based Practice

Multiple models of EBP are available and have been used in a variety of clinical settings.Although review of these models is beyond the scope of this chapter, common elements of these models are selecting a practice topic (e.g., discharge instructions for individuals with heart failure), critique and syntheses of evidence, implementation, evaluation of the impact on patient care and provider performance, and consideration of the context setting in which the practice is implemented.1The learning that occurs during the process of translating research into practice is valuable information to capture and feed back into the process, so that others can adapt the evidence-based guideline and/or the implementation strategies.

A recent conceptual framework for maximizing and accelerating the transfer of research results from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) patient safety research portfolio to health care delivery was developed by the dissemination subcommittee of the AHRQ Patient Safety Research Coordinating Committe.This model is a synthesis of concepts from scientific information on knowledge transfer, social marketing, social and organizational innovation, and behavior changeAlthough the framework is portrayed as a series of stages, the authors of this framework do not believe that the knowledge transfer process is linear; rather, activities occur simultaneously or in different sequences, with implementation of EBPs being a multifaceted process with many actors and system.

Steps of Evidence-Based Practice

Steps of promoting adoption of EBPs can be viewed from the perspective of those who conduct research or generate knowledge, those who use the evidence-based information in practice1 and those who serve as boundary spanners to link knowledge generators with knowledge users.

Steps of knowledge transfer in the AHRQ represent three major stages: (1) knowledge creation and distillation, (2) diffusion and dissemination, and (3) organizational adoption and implementation. These stages of knowledge transfer are viewed through the lens of researchers/creators of new knowledge and begin with determining what findings from the patient safety portfolio or individual research projects ought to be disseminated.

Knowledge creation and distillation is conducting research and then packaging relevant research findings into products that can be put into action—such as specific practice recommendations—thereby increasing the likelihood that research evidence will find its way into practice.37 It is essential that the knowledge distillation process be informed and guided by end users for research findings to be implemented in care delivery. The criteria used in knowledge distillation should include perspectives of the end users (e.g., transportability to the real-world health care setting, feasibility, volume of evidence needed by health care organizations and clinicians), as well as traditional knowledge generation considerations (e.g., strength of the evidence, generalizability).

Diffusion and dissemination involves partnering with professional opinion leaders and health care organizations to disseminate knowledge that can form the basis of action , essential elements for discharge teaching for hospitalized patient with heart failure) to potential users. Dissemination partnerships link researchers with intermediaries that can function as knowledge brokers and connectors to the practitioners and health care delivery organizations. Intermediaries can be professional organizations such as the National Patient Safety Foundation or multidisciplinary knowledge transfer teams such as those that are effective in disseminating research-based cancer prevention programs. In this model, dissemination partnerships provide an authoritative seal of approval for new knowledge and help identify influential groups and communities that can create a demand for application of the evidence in practice. Both mass communication and targeted dissemination are used to reach audiences with the anticipation that early users will influence the latter adopters of the new usable, evidence-based research findings. Targeted dissemination efforts must use multifaceted dissemination strategies, with an emphasis on channels and media that are most effective for particular user segments .