Evidence-Based Practice: Working Together Towards Excellence in Resident Care

McConnell, Heather

Saturday, 29 October 2011: 3:55 PM

Heather McConnell, RN, BScN, MA (Ed)
International Affairs and Best Practice Guidelines Programs, Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO), Toronto, ON, Canada
Josephine Santos, RN, BScN, MN
International Affairs and Best Practice Guidelines Program, Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO), Toronto, ON, Canada

Learning Objective 1: identify the key elements of a successful initiative focused on the creation of evidence based practice cultures with an aim to enhance quality of resident.

Learning Objective 2: outline successful strategies that support integration of practice change and the creation of evidence informed cultures in the long-term care sector.

Supporting the uptake of evidence-based practices within the long-term care (LTC) sector is critical in order to ensure the provision of safe, effective care to residents of long-term care homes. A provincial nursing association in Canada is leading an initiative, with funding from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, which seeks to support long-term care homes in implementing best practices and enhancing the quality of resident care. The benefits of this initiative include improved delivery of effective care to residents; capacity building in the LTC sector; promotion of interdisciplinary knowledge transfer; utilization of evidence-based decision making in professional practice; and, improvement in work environments.

The framework that has provided direction to this initiative for the past five years includes the following elements: raising awareness; engagement; capacity development; guideline implementation; integration and evaluation. A team of Registered Nurses, located geographically across the province, support the implementation efforts of LTC homes at the local level, while linkages to provincial initiatives are coordinated centrally. This initiative has resulted in: the development and dissemination of online educational resources, created to meet the unique needs of the sector; enhanced capacity for knowledge transfer; the establishment of strategies for sharing successes; and, the promotion of collaboration with other.

This presentation will share key strategies that have proven to be effective in facilitating the creation of evidence-based practice cultures in the long-term care sector, and plans for the evolution of the initiative to expand its reach. Highlights will illustrate how supporting nurses as knowledge professionals has enhanced evidence informed resident care.

See more of: Global Evidence-Based Practice Strategies
See more of: Oral Paper & Poster: Evidence-Based Practice Contest