The healthcare sector, healthcare professionals, and other stakeholders have, in the past and present, focused on improving patient outcomes using various strategies. Such strategies aim at improving the efficiency of patient care and the safety of patients while in the patient care environment. The efforts and initiatives aimed at improving care outcomes are usually triggered by a host of incidences happening in the care settings, such as patient falls, patient injuries, pressure ulcers, and healthcare-acquired infections, among other incidences. (Jaul et al.,2018) Among the most common healthcare-acquired infections are catheter-associated urinary infections (CAUTIs). CAUTIs have been shown to cause various negative impacts, such as increased healthcare spending, longer hospital stays, and other adverse impacts, such as death. Therefore, this evidence-based practice project focuses on lowering the rates of CAUTI among patients in admission settings and using indwelling catheters(Shadle et al.,2021). As such, the purpose of this paper is to formulate aproposal for the EBP. Various aspects which will be explored include the problem statement, the organizational culture, the literature review, the change framework, and the implementation and evaluation plans.
Problem Statement
Hospital-acquired infections have been shown to be on the rise in the past and present. One of the most common types of such infections is catheter-acquired urinary tract infections caused by the use of urinary catheters, especially indwelling ones. According to Flores-Mireles.(2019), CAUTIs lead to various adverse impacts. Even though the condition is largely preventable, it continues to cause havoc as it leads to increased patient morbidity and mortality, longer hospital stay, and increased healthcare spending (Kranz et al.,2020). This problem can, however, be prevented by applying various nursing interventions. It is important to note that, while various nursing interventions have been implemented, especially single activity-based interventions, the problem still persists hence calling for the use of more robust approaches which can integrate various interventions such as the use of CAUTI bundle.
Organizational Culture and Readiness
The process of evidence-based practice is impacted by various aspects, some of which are organizational aspects. The implication is that the EBP implementers should take their time and assess the nature of the organization, such as its culture related to EBP implementation and the readiness of various staff. Such a step is key in determining how easy or difficult the process of implementing an EBP project can be since a positive culture is needed for a successful implementation to occur (Cleary‐Holdforth et al.,2021). The assessment revealed that the organization’s leaders support patient improvement initiatives such as the EBP process for better patient outcomes. The organization also focuses on gaining magnet status, which has made them support various change initiatives. The assessment of the organization’s aim and mission showed that it focuses on offering exemplary and excellent patient services by using the latest care strategies at affordable costs. In addition, it was also noted that the organization adores interprofessional collaborations and teams in the provision of care. Therefore, it is evident that the organization’s culture is ready for change and also supports EBP.
The organization’s culture and readiness were assessed using a chosen tool, the System-Wide Integration of the EBP survey tool. This tool has widely been applied, especially to assess an organization’s capacity to adapt to and cope with change (Melnyk et al.,2022). This tool was used to explore the staff’s and the leader’s understanding of the proposed change of application of the CAUTI bundle to control the CAUTI rates. The survey tools showed that up to 91% of the staff support the proposed change, which is a majority. In addition, the majority of the leaders also supported the initiative, as up to 80% indicated that they were ready for the change. Therefore, this tool also revealed that the organization’s culture could support and sustain the proposed change.
Even though the culture supports the proposed change, it is worth noting that there are potential barriers and weaknesses that may derail implementation. For example, lack of support by minority leaders as staff can be a major drawback. The assessment will also be key in exploring the staff knowledge in using the proposed CAUTI bundle, which will then help to formulate strategies for improving their knowledge. The leaders supporting the initiative will play an important role in availing the required resources and supporting the project through making effective decisions and formulating change champions who can then help on driv
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