Evidence-Based Practice and the Quadruple Aim Essay

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 Required Readings Melnyk, B. M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2018). Evidence-Based Practice and the Quadruple Aim Essay. Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer. Chapter 1, “Making the Case for Evidence-Based Practice and Cultivating a Spirit of Inquiry” (pp. 7–32) Boller, J. (2017). Nurse educators: Leading health care to the quadruple aim sweet spot. Journal of Nursing Education, 56(12), 707–708. doi:10.3928/01484834-20171120-01 Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases. Crabtree, E., Brennan, E., Davis, A., & Coyle, A. (2016). Improving patient care through nursing engagement in evidence-based practice. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 13(2), 172–175. doi:10.1111/wvn.12126 Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases. Kim, S. C., Stichler, J. F., Ecoff, L., Brown, C. E., Gallo, A.-M., & Davidson, J. E. (2016). Predictors of evidence-based practice implementation, job satisfaction, and group cohesion among regional fellowship program participants. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 13(5), 340–348. doi:10.1111/wvn.12171 Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases. Melnyk, B. M., Fineout-Overholt, E., Stillwell, S. B., & Williamson, K. M. (2010). Evidence-based practice: Step by step. The seven steps of evidence-based practice. American Journal of Nursing, 110(1), 51–53. doi:10.1097/01.NAJ.0000366056.06605.d2 Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases. 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. doi:10.1111/wvn.12021 Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases. Sikka, R., Morath, J. M., & Leape, L. (2015). The Quadruple Aim: Care, health, cost and meaning in work. BMJ Quality & Safety, 24, 608–610. doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2015-004160 Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases. Walden University Library. (n.d.-a). Databases A-Z: Nursing. Retrieved September 6, 2019, from https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/az.php?s=19981 Required Media Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). Introduction to Evidence-Based Practice and Research [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author. Evidence-Based Practice and the Quadruple Aim Essay.

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Evidence-ba sed practice (EBP) entails the incorporation of clinical expertise, the best research evidence available, and patient values into patient care decision-making. Through EBP strategies, nurses and other healthcare professions can translate research findings into their practices. Healthcare providers can also use their efficient literature-searching skills and apply existing scientific knowledge in their practice for every patient. Currently, providers make health-related decisions based on research to promote quality of life. EBP positively impacts the Quadruple Aim. The Quadruple Aim, initially, known as the Triple Aim constitutes of four component, minimizing healthcare costs, improving patient experience, promoting population health, and improving healthcare providers experiences in their work life.

Patient Experience

            EBP significantly impacts the patient experience. Nurses are obligated to formulate an intervention based on scientific research. Evidence-based practice allows nurses to evaluate research that helps them comprehend the effectiveness or risks of a diagnostic test or treatment. Additionally, the implementation of EBP enables healthcare providers to involve patients in their care plan. Thus, patients have a proactive role in their healthcare as they can raise their concerns, share their preferences, choices, and values, and suggest what they want during the treatment process. Examples of EBP interventions improving patient experience are hourly rounding, AIDET, and Bedside Shift Report (Skaggs et al., 2018).

Population Health

Improving population health relies on evidence-based practice. Healthcare professionals use EBP to determine conditions prevailing in a specified population and their causes. For instance, obesity is a condition that can affect a particular community. Providers have to conduct studies to determine its cause to reduce its prevalence. EBP allows access to higher-quality information on best practices that facilitate the success of prevention policies and programs (Lhachimi et al., 2016). Further, the elimination of a healthcare issue in a population depends on EBP interventions.

Costs

Patients usually spend a huge sum of money when not receiving the highest quality of services from healthcare settings. Rates of readmissions also increase as a result of the low quality of services. Extra costs are incurred during readmissions by patients and the involved healthcare facility. For example, healthcare institutes can be fined for readmissions within a month for similar conditions, and patients have to pay for services that they would not need to suppose they received the appropriate treatment. Evidence-Based Practice and the Quadruple Aim Essay.  However, by embracing EBP, healthcare facilities can cut costs incurred due to readmission by providing evidence on the proper treatment intervention for a specific condition (Melnyk et al., 2014).

Work-Life of Healthcare Providers

Evidence-based practice ensures that healthcare providers achieve resilience, well-being, joy, and have better experiences when working. Knowledge retrieved from EBP guides healthcare professionals and makes it easy for them to settle on a particular intervention. Without EBP, providers would experience burn-outs and fatigue from making the right decisions on using a specific initiative. Further, research has enabled technological advancements that promote healthcare providers’ well-being. An example of these technologies is the implementation of electronic health records that replaced tedious paperwork.

Conclusion

In summary, evidence-based practice positively impacts elements of the Quadruple Aim. The delivery of research-approved services improves the quality of care, which, in turn, promotes patient outcomes, including patient experiences. EBP improve population health by enabling healthcare providers to determine the cause of a health issue and providing prevention strategies for the problem. Also, evidence-based practice minimizes healthcare costs as it provides the appropriate treatment procedure that hinders readmissions. Lastly, EBP improves the well-being and work experiences of healthcare providers. Evidence-Based Practice and the Quadruple Aim Essay. 

References

Lhachimi, S. K., Bala, M. M., & Vanagas, G. (2016). Evidence-based public health.

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. doi:10.1111/wvn.12021

Skaggs, M., Daniels, J., Hodge, A., & DeCamp, V. (2018). Using the Evidence-Based Practice Service Nursing Bundle to Increase Patient Satisfaction. Journal Of Emergency Nursing, 44(1), 37-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2017.10.011 . Evidence-Based Practice and the Quadruple Aim Essay.