Evidence-based practice healthcare interventions are essential in meeting the needs and expected outcomes for the intended target population. There are always opportunities to increase healthcare access, reduce cost, and improve the overall health of Americans (U.S Government Information, 2008). Within the mental health population there are numerous healthcare interventions to help stabilize and improve the mental wellbeing of individuals. I was appointed by the Nurse Executive at my hospital to formulate a position to better service the hospital’s mental health population.
Creating a position in a hospital has allowed me to use various dissemination strategies. Dissemination is defined as intent to distribute information and intervention materials to a specific targeted audience (McCormack et al., 2013). When I see an area that could be improved in the mental health population I create hard evidence of the problem, use evidence-based research to support the solution to the problem, and then formulate how I will deliver the evidence to my intended audience. Two dissemination strategies that I would be most inclined to use within my healthcare organization is to present my proposal of information during an organizational level meeting or a hospital level meeting (Ross et al., 2020). An example of an organizational level meeting would be the Behavioral Health forum and a hospital level meeting would be the Best Practice Council, both of which I’m an active member. From my experience in the past with presenting proposals to my organization to facilitate change, the most important aspect is where and when is your target audience available. This is strategically planned to increase the reach of the evidence and increase leadership’s motivation to use and apply the evidence.
Barriers that may present itself when relying on an intended organization or hospital level meeting is some of your intended audience may not be present like you had thought, or the meeting might be pushed back to the following month. I’ve had both barriers happen. If I was expecting a specific person to be at the meeting I was presenting at and they ended up not being present, I would then reach out to them directly to discuss the information. If the meeting was pushed back to the following month, I have been known to discuss my information with the chair and co-chair so I can possibly be given advice on how to move forward in the next month while waiting for the meeting.
Two dissemination strategies that I would be least inclined to use is to share information through organization’s social media page or create informational flyers, guides, or pamphlets to distribute (National Health and Medical Research Council, 2019). I would not use a strategy where I could not be face-to-face with my audience. I enjoy communicating with my audience when advocating for a specific topic to gain their prospective and insight.
References
McCormack, L., Sheridan, S., Lewis, M., Boudewyns, V., Melvin, C. L., Kistler, C., & Lohr, K. N. (2013). Communication and dissemination
strategies to facilitate the use of health-related evidence. https://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/products/medical-evidence-Links to an external site.
communication/research-protocolLinks to an external site.
National Health and Medical Research Council. (2019) Guidelines for Guidelines: Dissemination and
communication. https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelinesforguidelines/implement/dissemination-and-communicationLinks to an external site..
Ross-Hellauer, T., Tennant, J. P., Banelytė, V., Gorogh, E., Luzi, D., Kraker, P., & Vignoli, M. (2020). Ten simple rules for innovative dissemination of
research. PLoS computational biology, 16(4), e1007704.
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