| Learning Objective #1: describe a method for identifying clinical issues amenable to evidence-based practice investigation | |||
| Learning Objective #2: identify clinical questions related to care of geriatric patients in the acute care setting |
Hospitals are faced with a rapidly growing number of elderly patients in their care; a number which is expected to rise over the next few decades. Therefore, our hospital has adopted the Nurses Improving Care for Health System Elders (NICHE) model in an effort to improve the culturally competent care of older patients. With grant support from the Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), our institution was able to expand education for nurses who care for elderly patients and implement innovative strategies to develop evidence-based practice (EBP) on units that care for elderly patients. We believe that elderly individuals are entitled to optimal nursing care, which can best be accomplished when the gap “between the best evidence available and the most appropriate nursing care” is realized.
This presentation will discuss creative strategies used to implement EBP on a NICHE unit. After hospital-based nurse researchers educated Geriatric nurses (GRNs) about EBP, providing baseline knowledge about the background of EBP, nurses explored high volume patient diagnoses, care needs, and nursing interventions and identified clinical practice questions with a national consultant. These “brainstorming” sessions occurred over a period of 3 months and were conducted on their units during working hours, underscoring the importance of clinical questions arising from the practice setting. After prioritizing their questions, teams were formed, consisting of unit nurse educators, Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs), and both novice and expert staff nurses. National experts on EBP then provided workshops for the teams to implement their projects while unit-based APNs guided their progress.
To date, four EBP topics concerning care of geriatric patients are under investigation. Once the topics are thoroughly explored, practice changes will be implemented, evaluated, and presented by the GRNs at a Geriatric Best Practices Conference.
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See more of The 17th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice (19-22 July 2006)