Eliminate the silos that inhibit evidence-based practice improvements

Look for a cohesive solution offering history, collaboration, and the right evidence.

With the ever-stronger focus on quality patient care and how hospitals or health systems administer it, professional staff must use a combination of its clinical expertise, patient values, and the best research evidence to drive improvement.

They’re all on the same page when it comes to wanting the facility to be the best place to receive and administer care. But despite that common goal, how often does the left hand know what the right hand is doing? When each department or quality improvement team functions in a vacuum, it’s much more difficult for the entire organization to learn and improve. They need a single location where everyone can see the right evidence and apply it appropriately without starting from scratch.

Information silos are the norm — but shouldn’t be

Generally, employees involved in evidence-based practice are well aware that they’re functioning in an insulated environment. They may be working in a single department on one floor in one building of a large complex, on a project relevant only to that environment. They also recognize that they have little or no awareness of the hospital’s other EBP efforts.

Why don’t they know the history? Because it takes time and more than a bit of detective work to track down the last person knowledgeable about a related project and its results in the hospital. Teams often find it easier and less cumbersome to just start over between personnel turnover and information scattered in multiple locations.

Many quality improvement chiefs and C-suite executives are also aware of the information silos. They recognize that it actually requires all disciplines and departments to work together to implement and sustain most improvements.

Efforts to break down silos limited so far

Hospitals don’t purposely choose siloed EBP; many do make efforts to share information. Spreadsheets, a channel in Microsoft Teams, and group meetings are just some methods for reducing or eliminating the lack of communication. But these tactics often lead to delays, and the shared information is not always evidence-based, detailed, or current enough to successfully implement EBP.

Implementation of evidence-based practice made easier

So how do you improve the quality of evidence-based practice? First, the CEO and executive team must promote a culture of change and value continuous quality improvement (CQI). It’s the best way to increase influencer and stakeholder buy-in and drive advancements. Change management also takes communication, education, monitoring, and continued follow-up. If those in the C-suite aren’t champions of change, the hospital’s values will reflect that, and the silos will remain.

Next, find a single platform that establishes and coordinates EBP workflows — allowing everyone to see and learn from what has happened in the past, what’s being done now, and what is planned for the future. With templates that all participants can easily access and use, it will drive a cohesive process previously unavailable to hospitals and health systems.

Ovid® Synthesis Clinical Evidence Manager is a workflow management solution that organizes, standardizes, and accelerates quality improvement, evidence-based practice, and research projects across your institution. Offering a single, cohesive view of projects, Ovid® Synthesis Clinical Evidence Manager creates transparency and reduces duplication across teams while also fostering collaboration within projects by streamlining the literature search, appraisal process, implementation and dissemination.

Besides identifying, organizing, and filtering the evidence, our new application helps teams appraise it, collaboratively, and determine whether the findings support the project’s objective by identifying critical takeaways. From dashboards offering real-time visibility to an automated assembly of evidence tables and a summary of findings, the right project management solution supports EBP implementation that benefits all stakeholders.

Email sales@ovid.com or visit wltrsklwr.com/ovid-synthesis

Top image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Monkey Business