Innovation for Improved Practice (evidence-based health care)

Chapter 4: Innovation for Improved Practice

Description:

This Chapter discusses how by 2002 information overload and nihilism had become a very real problem for all types of practitioners. The Institute recognised that it was not enough to provide resources and technology for researchers; clinicians and students also needed these facilities. As the evidence-based approach gathered momentum and the volume of information intensified, it was clear that clinicians also needed to understand how to evaluate the quality of evidence. The evidence-based movement was dictating that practice be supported by evidence; a new skill base was required within the industry that would break down the barriers between science (research) and applied science (practice). Critical appraisal was becoming a vital component of health care practice if clinicians were to become more effective decision makers in practice.


Topics:

• Innovation for improved practice
• A ‘RAPid’ progression
• Clinical information: on the move
• Setting the pace with evidence utilization
• Out in the world

Authors:

Zoe Jordan
Zoe has been actively involved in the field of health research and communication for the last seven years. She has a Master of Arts (Communication Studies) in which much of her work was focused on use of the mass media for the effective and accurate transfer of information. She is currently the Manager of Communications at the Joanna Briggs Institute. Her work at the Institute focuses on contemporary approaches to health communication, specifically with regard to the emerging interrelationship and convergence of communication, media and culture in the context of a global society.

Pauline Donnelly

Pauline is a registered nurse with extensive experience in health services delivery, management and public administration. She has a Bachelor of Nursing degree and a Master of Health Administration degree and main areas of practice have been in community health and aged care in the United Kingdom; she also spent a number of years working in remote areas of Papua New Guinea. Most recently Pauline has worked for the Australian Government in the areas of aged care, rural health and primary health care until her recent retirement to pursue other interests.

Elizabeth Pittman
Elizabeth has a background in nursing and a doctorate in education from Melbourne University. In 2002 she retired as the director of the continuing and distance education unit at LaTrobe University. She is now an adjunct senior lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery. She is also a member of the Mental Health Research and Ethics Committee at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. The history of nursing and medicine is one of her interests and she recently joined the Medical History Society. Last year she published the biography of Luther Christman, an eminent American nurse.

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