Evidence-Based Practice and Quality Improvement

Evidence-based Practice

The decision to integrate evidence-based practice (EBP) in the intensive care unit is sound, especially when one considers the need to continuously improve patient outcomes in the broader healthcare system. Yoder-Wise (2012) argues different researchers have demonstrated that evidence-based practice has led to better patient outcomes. Therefore, it is inappropriate to do evidence-based nursing only if the hospital needs to deliver high-quality care and/or decrease the levels of stay at the hospital. Physicians are important in the process of diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, they should be involved in this initiative in an ICU. Indeed, quick treatment and recovery initiate with a quick and accurate diagnosis.

Nurse Managers Response

One of the critical building blocks for evidence-based care is continuous research to guarantee the delivery of care that is consistent with the current healthcare diagnosis and treatment approaches. In a situation where a nurse says, I dont want to do research. I became a nurse to practice nursing, the manager needs to inform the nurse that she or he has no place in an organization that wants to adopt evidence-based practice without participating in research. New evidence and better nursing approaches keep on emerging. Therefore, the participation of the nurse in research is mandatory if he or she needs to continue working in an organization that has adopted the evidence-based practice.

The ICUs Plan to Establish an Initiative that focuses on Inter-professional EBP

The ICU unit can design an initiative to focus on inter-professional EBP by first establishing a patient-centered policy that encourages, motivates, and inspires people drawn from different professions to share knowledge and new research findings. Such a policy should persuade all professionals to contribute willingly to care delivery with the objective of increasing nursing outcomes. The initiative at the ICU needs to draw people from various professions, including surgeons, physicians, nurses, health information specialists, ICU systems experts, and any other professional who contributes to the success of any ICU work.

Quality Improvement

Meaningful Use

The meaningful use refers to the appropriate utilization of the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system in a way that improves the storage, management, and retrieval of medical reports. It also involves proper maintenance of files, including boosting their surveillance and security to ensure minimal invasion and misuse. Nurses should only use the Electronic Medical Record for both pro-active and reactive purposes provided the use does not contradict or violate the hospital policy (Bridges, Davidson, Odegard, Maki, & Tomkowiak, 2011).

The Importance of the Questions

In a meeting where nurses meet to discuss the issue of EBP, the questions the members ask are important since they are part of the meetings agenda where the health facility wishes to evaluate the performance of its EMR that has been operational for one year. Therefore, the nurses opinions count, including the queries they pose. The questions also help the members to brainstorm and/or seek relevant measures for handling the EMR in the hospital. With the questions, the members find a guideline and direction for managing the problems, including any new challenges that might arise. In this case, they provide additional information that the hospital can add to its database for use to improve its operations.

Impact of Meaningful Use on the Taskforce

Meaningful use can affect what the task force does on more than one level. For starters, it increases the responsibilities if it does not feature on the to-do list of the workforce. In addition, meaningful use can also interrupt all new and on-going activities if they are regarded as more crucial or urgent when compared to the existing ones. Moreover, according to Bridges et al. (2011), meaningful use influences what the workers do by minimizing any duties that seem irrelevant or redundant. This effect implies the laying off of many workers who might be found counterproductive to an organization that upholds the meaningful use concept.