PLENARY II SESSION: From Evidence to Outcomes: Creating the Future Today

Description/Overview: This presentation highlights major break-throughs from a research program focusing on evidence-based quality improvement and knowledge transformation. This research program was catalyzed by the broad initiatives in healthcare quality improvement. The unwavering aim of evidence-based practice (EBP) is to improve healthcare outcomes by applying our knowledge of “what works.” An underlying belief is that research-generated knowledge provides the highest certainty about effectiveness of healthcare interventions. While health science and technology have advanced at a rapid pace, the healthcare delivery system has not followed suit to provide high-quality services, even causing preventable harm in many instances. Commonly, research results were not translated into practice and practice lagged behind knowledge. Among the proffered solutions was employment of evidence-based practice (EBP). This stimulated a program of research to build explanations about knowledge transformation from evidence to outcome, through the study of the processes of EBP. Over a decade, a progressive series of investigations built the foundation for advancement in the field. To prepare current and future workforce capacity for employing EBP, studies established national consensus on performance competencies and developed approaches for measuring these competences. Systematic reviews were also conducted to show the strength of evidence for clinical interventions; yet, systematic reviews were not enough to change clinical practice. So, impact of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines on decision making was investigated; yet, the barriers to integrating guidelines into practice demanded innovation. Practice innovations frequently fell short of providing evidence of effectiveness and did not change care systems. So, rigorous testing of innovations and improvement strategies was undertaken to yield credible and generalizable evidence about process and outcomes. This steady evolution of EBP research proved to be a journey to the new field of improvement science. Today, the future of healthcare is being created by research conducted in this nascent scientific field.