Evidence-Based Practice and the Quadruple Aim
The Triple Aim was aimed at increasing the effectiveness of healthcare organizations. This was to be achieved by improving the quality of care provided to patients and the population while reducing the cost of care. However, very little attention was given to the well-being of healthcare workers. And that is why the improvement of work-life of healthcare workers was added to form the Quadruple Aim. Inclusion of evidence-based practices in the Quadruple Aim considerably impacts it. This is because Lavenberg et al. (2019) say that the inclusion of evidence-based care practices involves the addition of scientifically tested and proven methodologies. Thus, it improves the efficiency and the effectiveness. This paper will look at the connection between the Quadruple Aim and evidence-based practices.
The inclusion of Evidence-based practices has been shown to affect the experience of patients in various ways. For instance, according to EBP, healthcare workers are supposed to thoroughly clean their hands and change some personal protective equipment like gloves when moving from one patient to the other. This is aimed at curtailing the spread of hospital-acquired infections. Moreover, when healthcare workers are updated on current treatment protocols, they provide up to date care and thus increase the probability of positive patient outcomes. Inclusion of EBP like interprofessional collaboration (IPC) has been shown to reduce the occurrence of medical errors and increase the quality of services provided to patients (Lavenberg et al., 2019). IPC also promotes the inclusion of patients in their management. This improves patients’ experiences as it enables to air out their grievances and preferences (Reeves et al., 2017).
Numerous direct and indirect effects can result from the inclusion of EBP in population health. For instance, the inclusion of EBP provides a chance for public health workers to promote best practices in their work. This can be seen in the targeted vaccination of populations at risk of being exposed to a specific disease. For example, the vaccination of healthcare workers and intravenous drug users against hepatitis B. When it comes to population health, Lhachimi et al. (2016) say that EBP enables efficient use of scarce resources to prevent diseases. There is a need to raise more finances and adequate time provided to allow for optimal utilization of EBP in population health.
EBP has significantly impacted the cost of care. The cost of care has reduced while the quality of services has improved. For instance, estimation and analysis of the cost of care provide an avenue for the most crucial course of actions to be taken when providing care. According to Eaton et al. (2017), EBP eliminates the repetition of some laboratory tests, and thus promotes cost effective use of the laboratory. EBP have a significant impact on the practice of clinicians. This is because evidence-based practices like interprofessional collaboration have been shown to empower clinicians by providing a level playing field for all physicians. This, in turn, increases their morale and job satisfaction. However, for this to be successful, healthcare professionals have to be trained in evidence-based practices. There is a need to speed up the development of evidence-based practices. This will help reduce the duration of time between carrying out of research and implementation of research findings.
Conclusion
Evidence practices have been shown to improve the quality of care provided to patients and improve the job satisfaction of healthcare workers. EBP has also been shown to reduce the cost of care and promote population health. Even though evidence-based practices can help achieve the Quadruple Aim in an organization, there various barriers that have to be sorted out that slow down the implementation of evidence-based practices.
