NURS 6052: Essentials of Evidence-Based Practice | Module 1

Learning Objectives – NURS 6052 Module 1: Evidence-Based Practice and the Quadruple Aim Week 1

Students will:

• Evaluate healthcare organizations for evidence-based practices
• Analyze the relationship between evidence-based practice and the Quadruple Aim in healthcare organizations

 

Discussion: Where in the World Is Evidence-Based Practice?

March 21, 2010, was not EBP’s date of birth, but it may be the date the approach “grew up” and left home to take on the world.

When the Affordable Care Act was passed, it came with a requirement of empirical evidence. Research on EBP increased significantly. Application of EBP spread to allied health professions, education, healthcare technology, and more. Health organizations began to adopt and promote EBP.

In this Discussion, you will consider this adoption. You will examine healthcare organization websites and analyze to what extent these organizations use EBP.

To Prepare:

• Review the Resources and reflect on the definition and goal of EBP.
• Choose a professional healthcare organization’s website (e.g., a reimbursing body, an accredited body, or a national initiative).
• Explore the website to determine where and to what extent EBP is evident.

By Day 3 of Week 1

Post a description of the healthcare organization website you reviewed. Describe where, if at all, EBP appears (e.g., the mission, vision, philosophy, and/or goals of the healthcare organization, or in other locations on the website). Then, explain whether this healthcare organization’s work is grounded in EBP and why or why not. Finally, explain whether the information you discovered on the healthcare organization’s website has changed your perception of the healthcare organization. Be specific and provide examples.

By Day 6 of Week 1

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by visiting the websites they shared and offering additional examples of EBP or alternative views/interpretations to those shared in your colleagues’ posts.

Assignment: Evidence-Based Practice and the Quadruple Aim

Healthcare organizations continually seek to optimize healthcare performance. For years, this approach was a three-pronged one known as the Triple Aim, with efforts focused on improved population health, enhanced patient experience, and lower healthcare costs.

More recently, this approach has evolved to a Quadruple Aim by including a focus on improving the work life of healthcare providers. Each of these measures are impacted by decisions made at the organizational level, and organizations have increasingly turned to EBP to inform and justify these decisions.

To Prepare:

• Read the articles by Sikka, Morath, & Leape (2015); Crabtree, Brennan, Davis, & Coyle (2016); and Kim et al. (2016) provided in the Resources.
• Reflect on how EBP might impact (or not impact) the Quadruple Aim in healthcare.
• Consider the impact that EBP may have on factors impacting these quadruple aim elements, such as preventable medical errors or healthcare delivery.

To Complete:

Write a brief analysis (no longer than 2 pages) of the connection between EBP and the Quadruple Aim.

Your analysis should address how EBP might (or might not) help reach the Quadruple Aim, including each of the four measures of:

• Patient experience
• Population health
• Costs
• Work life of healthcare providers

By Day 7 of Week 1

Submit your anaylsis. NURS 6052 Module 1: Evidence-Based Practice and the Quadruple Aim Week 1

 

 

ADDITIONAL INFO 

Evidence-Based Practice and the Quadruple Aim

Introduction

A 2013 article by “The New England Journal of Medicine”

“Clinical Nurse Specialist: A Myth or Reality?” suggests that the term has become a “lump of awareness.”

It states, “the term “clinical nurse specialist” was coined in 1981 to describe clinical nurse practitioners who had earned master’s degrees in nursing. By 1990, however, the term had been applied to a wide range of advanced practice nurses and certified nurse-midwives at all levels of education.”

The article also discusses the differences between an LPN and an LIS.

Better patient outcomes

The Quadruple Aim is a framework for healthcare improvement. It has four goals:

• Better patient outcomes

• Improved population health, including better disease prevention and management, improved access to care and services, better diabetes and cardiovascular disease management through integrated care teams in primary care settings, etc., or whatever other chronic conditions you may have or might be considering treating with evidence-based interventions that have been proven effective at improving health outcomes (e.g., high blood pressure). This would include things like following your doctor’s advice on diet or exercise more closely; getting regular checkups; taking medications as prescribed by your doctor; wearing sunscreen daily when outdoors during peak sun hours (generally between 10am-3pm); eating plenty of fruits & vegetables every day; getting enough sleep at night so you can wake up feeling refreshed rather than groggy from lack of sleep—and so on! If these tips don’t seem like enough for maintaining good health overall then maybe try adding some mindfulness meditation practice into your routine every morning before work/school begins each week…

Improving the provider’s work life

• Quality of life. The first aim of evidence-based practice is to improve the quality of care provided by healthcare professionals, by improving their ability to provide safe, effective and high-quality care. This can be done through training, education and supervision.

• Work-life balance. The second goal is a work environment that promotes healthy work–life balance for all employees in order to ensure they have time away from their jobs which allows them to live a balanced life outside of work (e.g., family or personal interests).

• Employee retention/retirement benefits are also important as these may include paid holidays or sick leave if an employee needs time off due to illness or other reasons (such as vacation).

Lowering the per capita cost of healthcare

The cost of healthcare is a major burden for families, employers and the government. Recent increases in the cost of healthcare have increased pressure on patients and their families to pay more out-of-pocket or through private insurance. While there are some reasons why this might happen (such as competition from other countries), most people agree that it’s just not right.

The goal here is not only to lower costs by reducing waste, but also bring down overall spending by incentivizing better practices within our system.

Enhancing the experience of care for patients and families.

The experience of care for patients and families is one of the most important aspects to consider when developing a patient centred approach. This can be achieved by ensuring that patients and families are involved in their care from an early stage, including providing information about their condition, how it affects them and what they can expect from treatment.

In practice this means that:

• Patients should feel part of the team working towards improving outcomes for all individuals within your organisation;

• Patients have rights to be involved in decisions which impact upon them;

• You need to ensure that there is clear communication between doctors/nurses/other healthcare professionals working together with patients/families (for example through quarterly review meetings).

The Quadruple Aim was introduced by Clifton R. Gaus, MD, in his seminal article published in May 2008.

The Quadruple Aim was introduced by Clifton R. Gaus, MD, in his seminal article published in May 2008. It is a framework for healthcare organizations to achieve better patient outcomes, improve the provider’s work life, lower the per capita cost of healthcare and enhance the experience of care for patients and families.

Conclusion

We have discussed some of the key principles of evidence-based practice, such as stakeholder engagement and effectiveness. We also discussed a few of its major benefits and how it can help health care providers in their daily work life by improving patient outcomes through better decision making and resource allocation.