So What? An Invitation to Nurses To Tell Us How They’re Translating Research into Practice

By Inge B. Corless, PhD, RN, FAAN, professor at the MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston, and Brian Goodroad, DNP, RN, AACRN, nurse practitioner and associate professor at Metropolitan State University in Minneapolis–St. Paul, Minnesota

by centralasian/via Flickr

Crossing the Quality Chasm, an Institute of Medicine report from 2001, bemoans the chasm between our current research knowledge and the current state of care. Back in 2003, Don Berwick, now the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, provided the following pithy codification of the problem in a JAMA article called “Disseminating Innovations in Health Care” (subscription required; click here for the abstract): “Failing to use available science is costly and harmful; it leads to overuse of unhelpful care, underuse of effective care, and errors in execution.” Berwick pondered the slow pace of innovation adoption and attributed it to three factors:

  • the characteristics of the innovation
  • the characteristics of the potential adopters
  • contextual factors

Berwick also made this observation about innovations that do get adopted: “Health care is rich in evidence-based innovations, yet even when such innovations are implemented successfully in one location, they often disseminate slowly—if at all.”

Given these obstacles, what can be done to facilitate the integration of research findings into practice? What can be done to change this situation, and what would this entail?

One step is to […]

2017-05-27T10:28:00-04:00June 17th, 2011|nursing perspective, nursing research|1 Comment
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True Believers at the 2011 Clinical Nurse Leader Summit

By Maureen ‘Shawn’ Kennedy, AJN’s editor-in-chief, who is in Florida this week attending meetings and visiting local schools

It’s January and I’m in Miami (I know, I know). I just finished attending the CNL 2011 Summit (CNL = clinical nurse leader). It was a relatively small meeting, as nursing meetings go, with about 350 attendees who were CNLs, faculty or students in CNL programs, or chief nursing officers from clinical facilities employing CNLs. They were all believers in the value the role brings to clinical practice. There was an energy, an atmosphere of being in on a new and growing phenomenon.

Some background: the CNL is a relatively new role in nursing, first formally proposed by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing in 2003 after several meetings with other nursing groups concerned with nurses’ “education for practice” (see the white paper on the development of the role). CNLs function at the unit level, coordinating care, working with staff, focusing on improving outcomes.

Described as “master’s-prepared advanced generalists,” CNLs now number about 1,300, according to Mary Stachowiak (see photo), president of the Clinical Nurse Leader Association (CNLA). There are currently about 100 institutions with master’s programs preparing CNLs and about 1,800 CNLs in programs.

AJN carried a short news article back in October 2004 noting the creation of the […]

2016-11-21T13:14:15-05:00January 26th, 2011|career|1 Comment
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An NP Prepares: Calling All Nurse Mentors

Well, I’m here to tell you, from the evidence gathered in my own laborious, and mostly fruitless, job search, that archaic ideas about the ease of finding a position as a nurse are dead wrong.... A seasoned professional or trusted peer is crucial in providing helpful advice, guidance, and inspiration.

2016-11-21T13:14:23-05:00January 7th, 2011|career, students|4 Comments
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‘Problems Worthy of Attack’: Takeaways from IOM Summit on Nursing’s Future

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN interim editor-in-chief

Last week, I spent two days at the summit convened by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to launch the Campaign for Action—the strategic plan to implement the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report on the future of nursing.

The days were packed with presentations from key players in health care, who offered their perspectives for implementing the recommendations (plus lots of networking, hallway “sidebars,” animated dinner conversation, and commitments from individuals and organizations to continue the momentum). Here are some quotes and snippets of conversation that stick with me as I work on a more comprehensive report:

IOM president Harvey Fineberg, in his opening remarks: “It’s our turn to act to advance nursing and health.”

Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, opening the event: “We will remember that we were here on November 30 at the beginning of a new future for nursing.” And cautioning: “scope of practice is the hot button that could blow all this apart.” (A thought echoed by Jack Rowe, an IOM committee member, professor at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and former CEO of Aetna, who used the term “combustible.”) […]

2016-11-21T13:14:45-05:00December 6th, 2010|career, health care policy, nursing perspective|0 Comments
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To Err is Human . . . To Improve Elusive?

Peggy McDaniel, BSN, RN, is an infusion practice manager and occasional blogger

As a nurse working in the quality improvement and patient safety arena, I’m not surprised that the title of a recent article at Fierce Healthcare got my attention: “Hospitals Are Bad for Your Health.” The article highlights a recently released report from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General based on a study of Medicare patients discharged in 2008. Among other things, it revealed that “44% of adverse or temporary harm events were clearly or likely preventable.” The usual culprits were to blame:

  • infections
  • medication errors
  • surgery-related errors
  • patient care issues

Most of these have been previously labeled as “never events” by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), and currently hospitals are not being reimbursed for the costs incurred if one or more of these happen to a patient while in the hospital. CMS was the first to implement such a pay-for-performance model—and major insurance companies have followed their lead.

In recently published NEJM study, 63% of the adverse events reported in the hospitals studied were deemed preventable. This study was disheartening because we recently passed the 10-year anniversary of the release of the

2016-11-21T13:14:47-05:00December 1st, 2010|nursing perspective|3 Comments
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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