Return on Investment: Demonstrating Value to the Organization

Purpose: In order to create and sustain a highly reliable healthcare enterprise, collaborative teams must: deliver evidence-based and patient-centered care, achieve exceptional patient, clinician, and organizational outcomes, and demonstrate measurable and meaningful returns on investments. A comprehensive strategy that can effectively propel organizations toward achieving and sustaining these goals includes: 1. Development of evidence-based practice (EBP) competency in clinicians which includes development of EBP knowledge, skills and attitude combined with 2. Creation and integration of organizational infrastructures that support EBP, and 3. Establishment and sustained commitment to a culture that promotes and reinforces evidence-based decision-making and practice. In this presentation, the collaboration, synergy and outcomes of a 3-year strategic partnership between the Helene Fuld Institute for Evidence-based Practice and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center will be highlighted.

Methods: The strategies implemented in the partnership were critical to success and included: forging of the robust relationship between the organizations: the intentional engagement of all nursing leadership across the enterprise in the early stages of the project; the proactive identification of critical/strategic issues to be addressed through the initiative; the deliberative construction of teams assembled to transcend traditional silos, promote relationship building, and enhance communication across a complex organization; the inclusion of practice partners affiliated with MSK from across the US; the inclusion of MSK academic partners; the EBP programs and infrastructures developed to build and sustain EBP throughout the initiative; the completion of a longitudinal research study to measure EBP attributes across the experience. In addition, MSK leveraged a tenured leadership team and an empowered, engaged front line nursing staff, groomed through a well developed shared governance structure, an established promotional and career development program and recent Magnet designation passion.

The commitment from leaders and clinical staff to raising an already high bar on patient care was instrumental in adoption of EBP competencies and culture and embracing the Helene Fuld partners.

Results: Important and strategic organizational outcomes and critical returns on investment were achieved through the EBP initiatives launched in this partnership. Lessons learned from cohort one and how they impacted planning and execution of cohort two will be described. Data from of the longitudinal study conducted during Year 1 will be shared along with a comparison to results from a large national EBP competency study (conducted concurrently). The significantly better performance of the MSK nurses compared to nurses across the US will be shared and discussed.

Conclusions: The presentation will also include next steps at MSK including plans for cohort 3 and further enhancements of the earlier projects/initiatives. Future plans to continue to grow EBP throughout the nursing enterprise as well as to expand evidence-based decision making and practice throughout the organization are underway and will be discussed.