Assignment: The Connection between EBP and the Quadruple Aim

Assignment: The Connection between EBP and the Quadruple Aim

The health care industry in the increasingly adopted the practice of evidence-based practice. The application of EBP stratagems allow nurse practitioners as well as care providers to undertake the process of translating health care research into evidence-based clinical practice. According to proponents of the EBP, the concept plays a crucial role in the quest to achieve the quadruple aim in health care. The application of evidence-based practice in health care might or might not help in achieving aspects of the Quadruple Aims as will be discussed below.

            The improvement of patient experience is one of the foremost aims of the Quadruple Aim in health care. The adoption of evidence-based practices has been demonstrated to enhance patient experience through hardwiring contemporary knowledge into clinical decisions so as to enhance the processes of care hence patient outcomes. Evidence based practice is used in health care settings to move care processes to a high probability for producing the targeted health outcomes. Thus, the necessity to produce quality in care is foundational to the adoption of evidence-based practice. In order to improve patient experience through bridging the quality chasm, EBP is used to inform clinical decisions regarding interventions supported by research, which will alter a patient’s current condition to the desired outcome (Boller, 2017). In addition, evidence-based practices have reduced the role of medication errors as it supports the adoption of technologies such as the electronic health record. The EHR has numerous benefits such as reductions of medications errors according to several EBP studies. Thus, the alignment of clinical services with contemporary research evidence is a vital goal in quality improvement and patient satisfaction hence patient experience.

            Moreover, evidence-based practice also supports the improvement of population health as demanded by the Quadruple Aim. Among the steps of evidence-based practice includes asking a burning clinical question using the PICOT format. By doing this, the

Assignment The Connection between EBP and the Quadruple Aim

relevant interventions necessary for treating certain conditions such as depression amongst a population, say adolescents, becomes answered via empirical evidence. As such, EBP allows clinicians to apply appropriate and effective interventions when addressing population health conditions.

Costs

            Evidence-based practice may also play a role in reducing per capita costs in certain situation. The issue of costs in health care is directly correlated with the length of hospital stay. To this end, certain evidence-based studies have suggested interventions that could reduce the length of hospital stay hence the costs (Sikka, Morath, & Leape, 2015). A randomized control trial that was funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research revealed that the adoption of the Creating Opportunities for Parent Empowerment (COPE) Program reduced the length of stay at the neonatal intensive care unit by prenatal infants by 4 days and 8 days for those born by less than 32 weeks. This reduces the associated costs of such hospital stays, further supporting the third aspect of the Quadruple Aim.

Work Life of Health Care Providers

            The EBP has also been discovered to empower practitioners and provide higher job satisfaction levels. Studies have revealed that working for 8 hours per day for nurses is requisite for improved services, job satisfaction and, most importantly, the reduction of burnout (Kim et al., 2016). Therefore, the execution of such work hours enables hospitals to achieve the fourth goal of the Quadruple Aim.

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

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.