Using Evidence-Based Practice to Identify Opportunities for Change in Healthcare Organizations

Reflecting on Critical Appraisal of Peer-Reviewed Articles

The collection of evidence is an activity that occurs with an endgame in mind. For example, law enforcement professionals collect evidence to support a decision to charge those accused of criminal activity. Similarly, evidence-based healthcare practitioners collect evidence to support decisions in pursuit of specific healthcare outcomes.

In this Assignment, you will identify an issue or opportunity for change within your healthcare organization and propose an idea for a change in practice supported by an EBP approach.

To Prepare:
Reflect on the four peer-reviewed articles you critically appraised in Module 4, related to your clinical topic of interest and PICOT.
Reflect on your current healthcare organization and think about potential opportunities for evidence-based change, using your topic of interest and PICOT as the basis for your reflection.
Consider the best method of disseminating the results of your presentation to an audience. 

Briefly describe your healthcare organization, including its culture and readiness for change. (You may opt to keep various elements of this anonymous, such as your company name.)

Describe the current problem or opportunity for change. Include in this description the circumstances surrounding the need for change, the scope of the issue, the stakeholders involved, and the risks associated with change implementation in general.

Propose an evidence-based idea for a change in practice using an EBP approach to decision making. Note that you may find further research needs to be conducted if sufficient evidence is not discovered.

Describe your plan for knowledge transfer of this change, including knowledge creation, dissemination, and organizational adoption and implementation.

Explain how you would disseminate the results of your project to an audience. Provide a rationale for why you selected this dissemination strategy.

Describe the measurable outcomes you hope to achieve with the implementation of this evidence-based change.