Development of an Evidence-Based Practice Education and Research Project to Improve Care of Oncology Patients

Wednesday, 24 July 2013: 2:10 PM

Janine Overcash, PhD, MSN, RN
The Ohio State University, Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and the College of Nursing, Columbus, OH
Lynn Gallagher-Ford, PhD, RN, NE-BC
Center for Transdisciplinary Evidence-based Practice, The Ohio State University College of Nursing, Columbus, OH

The Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC–James) is one of the nation's premier cancer centers and is the Midwest's first and Ohio's only fully dedicated cancer hospital and research institute. Because of its location and specialization, the James has a keen dedication to the prevention, detection and treatment of cancer not only in the local community, but across the state of Ohio also. One of the core values of the nursing department of the James is to improve the quality of oncology nursing care among existing and emerging oncology healthcare systems in Ohio, especially targeting nurses who work with high risk populations in rural and underserved settings. With this unique responsibility in mind, the Director of Nursing Research at the James approached The Center for Transdisciplinary Evidence-Based Practice (CTEP) at the OSU College of Nursing to collaborate in the design of a program to implement a multifaceted, multi-setting EBP education/research project related to implementation of evidence-based nursing practice in the care of oncology patients across the state of Ohio. The partnership forged leveraged the unique strengths of the academic EBP Center and the Comprehensive Cancer Center that culminated in a proposal for a program to comprehensively integrate EBP in nursing practice at the James, create evidence-based implementation guidelines for oncology care practices, disseminate those guidelines to care partners at clinical settings across the state of Ohio, and measure both nursing and patient outcomes to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. The project planning dynamics and outcomes measurement challenges and strategies will be described in detail. In addition, the presenters will reflect on the synergy that emerged from this partnership and the impact it had on the ultimate scope and potential of the final proposal in relation to oncology care and patient outcomes.