This paper will focus more specifically on the reasons for implementing evidence-based practice. Positive results of using the evidence-based practice and possible negative results of failing to address it properly will be the focus. Indeed, there are several possibilities that this approach may lead to in health care. However, the lack of spread of the practice that the medical institutions are now experiencing creates certain limitations that must be eliminated.
PICOT Question Restatement
As stated before, the main PICOT question is as follows: what is the effect of sepsis recovery time in the elderly population compared to the young adults?
The abbreviation PICOT stands for Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, and Timeframe. Regarding sepsis, all of these components stand for the particular effect that it has on elderly patients (as well as other age groups, but the elderly group was chosen in the previous parts of the research). Once again, the elderly group is in focus because older people tend to have a lot less tolerance for diseases and trauma.
To limit the older adults’ affection by sepsis, timely identification is recommended so that the measures may be implemented in shorter terms. Naturally, as with any other disease, prolonged identification may result in additional complications and severe threats to the patient’s health. The best possible effect that the project may cause is decreased mortality amongst the elderly.
Literature Review
Since the focus of this paper is primarily on the impact of the evidence-based practice, it is important to understand what benefits it may bring and what the possible negative outcomes of not addressing it properly are. Across the history of researches that dwelled on the topic of evidence-based practice’s implementation and the possibilities it provides, several significant works were published. For example, works by Lo-Biondo-Wood, Haber, Berry, and Yost (2013), DiCenso, Guyatt, and Ciliska (2014), and Schneider, Whitehead, Lo-Biondo-Wood and Haber (2016). Each of these works provides significant coverage of the essential aspects of evidence-based practice, its benefits, and its limitations.
However, it is important to identify which practices are influenced by the evidence-based approach. An article by Stevens (2013) suggests that evidence-based practice (EBP) affects several different nursing practices such as nursing practice itself, nursing models and frameworks, nursing education, and nursing research. However, it is also stated that the EBP has several limitations (specifically – its implementation). According to the author, it is especially hard to translate evidence into practice due to the number of steps required to implement evidence successfully. Naturally, each piece of evidence (especially newly found) calls for confirmation and evaluation.
Further, research performed by Melnyk, Gallagher-Ford, Long, and Fineout-Overholt (2014) gives a precise definition of EBP: “Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a life-long problem-solving approach to the delivery of health care that integrates the best evidence from well-designed studies (i.e., external evidence) and integrates it with a patient’s preferences and values and a clinician’s expertise, which includes internal evidence gathered from patient data” (p. 5). More importantly, however, the authors proceed to determine why exactly the EBP helps improve the quality of health care delivered, patient outcomes, and costs. The authors conclude that the establishment of specific EBP competencies is crucial to achieving greater results in health care delivery quality.
Finally, it becomes evident in the article by Dogherty, Harrison, Graham, Vandyk, and Keeping-Burke (2013) that there are a lot of factors that influence nurses’ experience with the EBP.
Evidence-based Practice and Better Outcomes
As stated before, the EBP has the potential to improve patient outcomes, quality of health care delivered, costs, and other various aspects of the health care system. As of now, the EBP is not implemented as broadly as it may. Therefore, every possible negative outcome that the current health care system may experience will proceed to be possible. However, if the implementation of EBP is successful, many of those negative results may be nullified. Thus, it is not a question of whether or not the adoption of EBP will lead to better outcomes (it is quite evident); rather, it is a question of how many and which potentially adverse outcomes may be eliminated by incorporating the EBP in the current framework.
Disseminating and Implementing the Practice and Conclusion
No practice may currently be implemented without making the health care workers learn about it first. Therefore, it is important to show the health care practitioners the importance of EBP as an asset that will improve the health care system on many levels. Probably the most successful way to do so would be meetings and seminars focusing on the positive qualities of EBP. However, it is also important to demonstrate what obstacles the workers may face when implementing the EBP.
After these events would take place, the workers would be offered an opportunity to test the possibilities that the EBP provides. This would allow the EBP to be successfully transaction from being just a theory to being a fully incorporated practice that would allow the institution to achieve better outcomes in various fields. Also, it will allow negating any possible concerns and opposition to this approach.
Thus, the EBP can become a valuable asset of any health care. It provides much more opportunities than challenges which will become evident as soon as the practice is implemented.
References
DiCesno, A., Guyatt, G., & Ciliska, D. (2014). Evidence-based nursing: A guide to clinical practice. Atlanta, GA: Elsevier.
Dogherty, E. J., Harrison, M. B., Graham, I. D., Vandyk, A. D., & Keeping-Buke, L. (2013). Turning knowledge into action at the point-of-care: The collective experience of nurses facilitating the implementation of evidence-based practice. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 10(3), 129-139.
LoBiondo-Wood, G. L., Haber, J., Berry, C., & Yost, J. (2013). Study guide for nursing research: Methods and critical appraisal for evidence-based practice. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
Melnyk, B. M., Gallagher-Ford, L., Long, L. E., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2014). The establishment of evidence-based practice competencies for practicing registered nurses and advanced practice nurses in real-world clinical settings: Proficiencies to improve healthcare quality, reliability, patient outcomes, and costs. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 11(1), 5-15.
Schneider, Z., Whitehead, D., LoBiondo-Wood, G., & Haber, J. (2016). Nursing and midwifery research (5th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
Stevens, K. R. (2013). The impact of evidence-based practice in nursing and the next big Ideas. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 18. Web.