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. Evidence Based Practice and the Quadruple Aim Essay Paper
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
Submit your analysis
Evidence-Based Practice and the Quadruple
The occurrence of preventable errors is a source of concern in health care delivery, especially when there is evidence that care delivery and outcomes can be achieved. In fact, it is not unusual for health care providers and facilities to establish care delivery goals. Evidence-based practice (EBP) helps in achieving health care improvement goals through integrating evidence with clinical experience and clinical perspectives to develop a targeted problem-solving approach for improving healthcare for patients, their families, and health care providers (Schmidt & Brown, 2019).
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Integrating EBP into practice is helpful for reaching the four measures in Quadruple Aim Initiatives. Firstly, it helps in improving patients’ experiences by giving them the perception that the care delivery is concerned with their needs. This includes demonstrating a commitment to safety, minimizing wait times, expressing concerns over their needs, demonstrating interest in the patients, having conversations with patients, making the patients feel comfortable, and making the waiting areas more comfortable for the patients. Also, managing patients’ expectations, helping them complete paperwork, making the patient feel important, and demonstrating empathy. Secondly, it helps in improving population health by providing the most effective care that is available. EBP promotes an attitude of inquiry in which the stakeholders think about what actions they are undertaking, why they are undertaking the actions, and if there is evident of more effective ways of undertaking the actions. In essence, EBP informs the best public health practices, such as recommending vaccination to protect the public against a viral infection (Christenbery, 2017).
Thirdly, it helps in reducing/lowering health care costs. It does this by optimizing the appropriate use of less expensive interventions. EBP develops and presents care pathways that are less expensive without compromising outcomes. In addition, EB ensures that the best care outcomes are achieved so that no additional costs are incurred in recurrent care needs. For instance, if a disease can be prevented, then EBP ensures that prevention is in place so that the disease does not occur and treatment is not required. Finally, it helps in improving workflows so that providers work more efficiently, are more productive and achieve good care outcomes. It allows providers to focus more on critical tasks thus making efficient use of providers (Loversidge & Zurmehly, 2019).
References
Christenbery, T. L. (2017). Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing: Foundations, Skills, and Roles. Springer Publishing Company.
Loversidge, J. M., & Zurmehly, J. (2019). Evidence-Informed Health Policy: Using EBP to Transform Nursing and Healthcare. Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.
Schmidt, N., & Brown, J. (2019). Evidence-Based Practice for Nurses: Appraisal and Application of Research (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC. Evidence Based Practice and the Quadruple Aim Essay Paper