In your practice as a nurse, you may use procedures and methods that did not necessarily originate in evidence, but instead were derived from informal and unwritten conventions, traditions, and observations. While these techniques may have merit, practices are constantly being updated and contradicted by information from scholarly research studies and professional guidelines. This new information serves as “evidence” for revising practices to improve outcomes across health care.

Based on this evidence, you can formulate a question. In this Discussion, you consider the use of evidence-based practice in your own organization and formulate a question that you will need to answer for your portfolio project. This is called a PICOT question. You will also investigate strategies for overcoming barriers to implementing evidence-based practice (EBP).

To prepare:

• Consider a recent clinical experience in which you were      providing care for a patient.
• Determine the extent to which the care that you      provided was based on evidence and research findings or supported only by      your organization’s standard procedures. How do you know if the tasks were      based on research?
• What questions have you thought about in a particular      area of care such as a procedure or policy?
• Review Chapter 2, pages 31–34 on “Asking Well worded      Clinical Questions” in Polit & Beck and consult the resource from the      Walden Student Center for Success: Clinical Question Anatomy & examples      of PICOT questions (found in this week’s Learning Resources). Formulate      your background questions and PICOT question.
• Reflect on the barriers that might inhibit the      implementation of evidence-based practice in your clinical environment.
• Review the article “Adopting Evidence-Based Practice in      Clinical Decision Making” in this week’s Learning Resources. Select one of      the barriers described that is evident in your organization and formulate      a plan for overcoming this barrier.

Post an evaluation of the use, or lack thereof, of EBP in a recent clinical experience. Identify which aspects of the care delivered, if any, were based on evidence and provide your rationale. List your background questions and PICOT question about this nursing topic. Critique how the policies, procedures, and culture in your organization may hinder or support the adoption of evidence-based practices. Identify the barrier you selected from the article and explain how this barrier could be overcome within your organization.

The 1999 landmark study titled “To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System” highlighted the unacceptably high incidence of U.S. medical errors and put forth recommendations to improve patient safety. Since its publication, the recommendations in “To Err Is Human’ have guided significant changes in nursing practice in the United States.

In this Discussion, you will review these recommendations and consider the role of health information technology in helping address concerns presented in the report.

To prepare:

• Review the summary of “To Err Is Human” presented in      the Plawecki and Amrhein article found in this week’s Learning Resources.
• Consider the following statement:

“The most significant barrier to improving patient safety identified in “To Err Is Human” is a “lack of awareness of the extent to which errors occur daily in all health care settings and organizations (Wakefield, 2008).”

• Review “The Quality Chasm Series: Implications for      Nursing” focusing on Table 3: “Simple Rules for the 21st Century Health      Care System.” Consider your current organization or one with which you are      familiar. Reflect on one of the rules where the “current rule” is still in      operation in the organization and consider another instance in which the      organization has effectively transitioned to the new rule.

Post your thoughts on how the development of information technology has helped address the concerns about patient safety raised in the “To Err Is Human” report. Summarize how informatics has assisted in improving health care safety in your organization and areas where growth is still needed.