The Implementation and Dissemination of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) at an Academic Medical Center: Creating a Hospital-Academic Partnership

To develop and implement a comprehensive program that facilitated EBP projects and nurse-initiated research in a large medical center through the formation of a strong academic-hospital partnership. With the guidance of two PhD-prepared nurse researchers, UUHCs and CON formed an EBP Council to foster clinician education and utilization of EBP. The team included the 2 CON faculty, staff nurses, nurse leaders, hospital educators, pharmacists, librarians, RTs, LCSWs, and value engineers among others. Face-to-face initiatives to educate providers on integration of EBP in the clinical setting provides some benefit, but ‘holding the gains' over time is more difficult. The two-part EBP educational series produced important results (e.g. increased comfort in implementing EBP and more likely to use a PICOT question to guide clinical inquiry), but it did not significantly alter clinical practice in many of the areas six months following education. We are now creating a series of short on-line modules and will re-assess optimal educational approach.

Lorem Ipsum: Consectetur Adipise Quis Presenter Names The Implementation and Dissemination of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) at an Academic Medical Center: Creating a Hospital-Academic Partnership Barbara Wilson , University of Utah College of Nursing (CON); and Gigi Austria, Melissa Banner, & Carenina Trujillo, University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics (UUHCs) Purpose of project Synthesis of evidence To develop and implement a comprehensive program that facilitated EBP projects and nurse-initiated research in a large medical center through the formation of a strong academic-hospital partnership. With the guidance of two PhD-prepared nurse researchers, UUHCs and CON formed an EBP Council to foster clinician education and utilization of EBP. The team included the 2 CON faculty, staff nurses, nurse leaders, hospital educators, pharmacists, librarians, RTs, LCSWs, and value engineers among others. Promoting and conducting EBP and research are crucial to build the science of nursing practice, ultimately improving patient outcomes, enhancing safety, and using the best available evidence to answer important clinical questions (Stillwell et al., 2010; Wilson et al., 2013) Methods A two-part EBP / research series was created that focused on system wide implementation of EBP with a focus on minimizing factors knows to inhibit successful implementation. We used both the EBP Beliefs Scale™ and the EBP Implementation Scale™ to assess participants prior to the educational series and 6 months following (n=26). We found significant changes in the EBP beliefs post education in the following 2 areas:  "I am clear about the steps of EBP"  "I am sure that I can implement EBP" In the EBP Implementation Scale™, the only significant changes 6 months post education were the following:  twice as likely to use a PICOT question to answer questions about clinical practice  much more likely (from 30% to 60%) to evaluate a care initiative by collecting client outcome data NIH defines implementation as the use of strategies to adopt and integrate EBP within certain settings, including healthcare (NIH, 2009) While diffusion has been defined as the largely uncontrolled and passive efforts of change, dissemination seeks to actively implement the best available evidence by providing tailored findings to a specified clinical audience, keeping in mind organization factors known to influence successful EBP implementation (Gagnon, 2009) Our goal was to foster system wide implementation and dissemination of EBP by developing an educational program and minimizing factors known to inhibit successful implementation, including lack of access to resources, no administrative buy-in, absence of EBP mentors, perceived lack of time for implementation, lack of authority to implement practice changes, and frontline supervisors who don't hold staff accountable for stated expectations (Brown et al., 2009; Estabrooks et al., 2003; Fink et al., 2005; Hutchinson & Johnson, 2004; Wilson & Phelps, 2013; Rapp et al., 2010) Significance of work Face-to-face initiatives to educate providers on integration of EBP in the clinical setting provides some benefit, but ‘holding the gains' over time is more difficult. The two-part EBP educational series produced important results (e.g. increased comfort in implementing EBP and more likely to use a PICOT question to guide clinical inquiry), but it did not significantly alter clinical practice in many of the areas six months following education. We are now creating a series of short on-line modules and will re-assess optimal educational approach.