Radiography in Zambia has experienced a wealth of changes involving learning methods, curriculum, professional status and public expectations. Consequently, there has been a gradual transition of radiography from a mainly knowledge-based profession to an evidence-based discipline and the concept of clinical effectiveness has become ever more important in health care delivery in recent years. Solwezi general hospital is a 2nd level public hospital serving a local population of over 200,000 people and receives referrals from all over the rural North Western Province of Zambia. The hospital faces several challenges such as; staff shortages, inadequate medical equipment and has one of the highest mortality rates in the country. One thing that stands out clearly in the quarterly clinical and performance review meetings, is the need for evidence-based practice and achievement of clinical effectiveness in all the departments of this hospital. Therefore, this exposition specifically focuses on the radiology department at this hospital and addresses the mechanisms required to achieve clinical effectiveness. Clinical Effectiveness Graham (1996) describes clinical effectiveness as been about “the right persons, doing the right thing, the right way, in the right place, at the right time with the right result” (cited in Bury and Mead 1998, p.27). The National Health Service Executive (NHS E 1996a) further defines it, as the extent to which specific clinical interventions achieve what they are intended to perform when utilized for a particular patient or population. The above definitions indicate that the concept of clinical effectiveness involves making clinical decisions based on solid evidence of what is effective in securing maximum he... ... middle of paper ... ...y, T., Mead, J. 1998. Evidence-based Healthcare: A Practical Guide for Therapists. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann, p.27 2) McKibbon, K.A. 1998. Evidence based practice. Bulletin of the Medical library Association, 83(3) pp. 396-401. 3) Muir, J.A.G. 2007. Evidence - based healthcare: How to make health policy and Management decisions. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone. 4) National Health Service Executive. 1996. Promoting clinical effectiveness: A framework for action in and through the NHS. London: DOH 5) Royal college of nursing. 1996. The royal college of Nursing clinical effectiveness initiative-A strategic framework. London: RCN 6) The Evidence based radiology working group. 2001. Evidence-based radiology: A new approach to the practice of Radiology. [Online] Available at: http://www.radiology.rsna.org/content/220/3/566.full [Accessed January 5 2011].
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) developed the area of their concern for quality improvement in relation to t prevention and treatment of various kinds of health conditions or services. Therefore, in the course of this innovation, team members will make sure patients are safe and not harm by the change that aims to help them; care is effective, practising with the best available evidence based practice, is person centred; making patients first concerned when making clinical decision; avoiding unnecessary delays and provide care in timely manner (Health Foundation, 2013).
It is essential that when using evidence-based practice guidelines to choose a treatment, that variety of research methods are applied so that the best relevant data can be produced. Such methods include qualitative/quantitative research, randomised controlled trials and systematic reviews. Both qualitative and quantative methods produce valuable data. Quantative research produces numeric evidence that is necessary for practice and can be measured and qualitative research produces descriptive data about the subject by using patients views etc. which can also be applied to clinical practice (Broeder et al, 2010)
Davies, K. S. (2011). Formulating the evidence based practice question: A review of the frameworks. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 6(2), 75–80. Retrieved from https://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP/article/viewFile/9741/8144
What is meant by evidence-based practice and how is this different from an historical standpoint.
middle of paper ... ... International Journal for Quality in Healthcare, 25(3), 261-269. Retrieved from http://intqhc.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/3/261.short Smedley, B., Stith, A., & Nelson, A. (2003). The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary'.
... used a broad and a variety of literature review but looking on the reference list some of the literature is ten or more than ten years old which in this case cannot give enough support to the study, however Booth (2007) explain the factors that might affect communication in radiography and she gives some suggestion of how this problems might be solved. She does discuss the study clinical relevance and recommendation for further studies is stated. Overall the study can be categorised as a good qualitative study with a few pitfalls and also researcher is well informed and organised in conducting a qualitative study, the present article has a little value in radiography and probably further studies in this matter can give different results in relation to radiographer’s communication with the patients. The actual findings are not applicable to Evidence Based Practice.
Gardener, A., Hase, S., Gardner, G., Dunn, S. V., & Carryer, J. (2007). The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary'. From competence to capability: a study of nurse practitioners in clinical practice. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 250-258. doi: 10.111/j.1365-2702.2006.01880.x.
When caring for patients it is fundamentally important to have a good selection of up to date evidence Based Practice clinical articles to support research strategies, this allows professionals to assemble the most resent and accurate information known which enables them to make decisions tailored to the individual’s plan of care. It is essential to have clinical expertise and have the involvement from the individual patient, they must have full engagement and incorporation in order to have the accurate evaluation.
In health care, evidence-based research is crucial. Nurses revolve their practice on evidence so that they may provide the best health care. Without research, there would be no evidence to prove health care related findings (Shmidt & Brown, 2012). With appropriate
The overall goal of performance management is to ensure that an organization and its subsystems (processes, departments, teams, etc.), are optimally working together to achieve the results desired by the organization. Performance management has a wide variety of applications including measuring the leader performance, such as, staff performance, business performance, or in health care, health outcome performance measures. To manage and measure performance of leaders are directed to the organizational strategic goals and mission. The primary reason to measure and manage performance of leaders is to drive quality improvement. The Clinical performance of a leader are derived from evidence-based clinical guidelines and measurement allows an evaluation of an important outcome of care for patients, and it is a proxy to understand the effectiveness of the underlying systems of care. Just as there are evidence-based care guidelines for many conditions, there also are established measures that indicate how leaders has effectively guidelines and has translated to
To begin with, how has technology changed the field of radiology? Since the discovery of X-radiation there has been a need and desire for studying the human body and the diseases without actually any intervention. Over the past fifty years there has been a revolution in the field of radiology affecting medicine profoundly. “The ability to produce computers powerful enough to reconstruct accurate body images, yet small enough to fit comfortably in the radiology department, has been the major key to this progress”(Gerson 66). The core of radiology’s vast development consists of four diagnostic techniques: computed tomography (CT), digital subtraction angiography (DSA), ultrasonography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These methods of diagnostic imaging provide accurate information that was not seen before. Amid this information advancement, radiologists have broadened their role of diagnostician. Gerson writes, “With the advent of computer-enhanced imagery and new interventional techniques, these physicians are able to take an active part in performing therapeutic procedures”(66). A radiology breakthrough in 1972 was computed tomography discovered by Godfrey Hounsfield and Allan Cormack. Unlike standard radiography, computed tomography would spin the X-ray tube 360 degrees and inversely another 360 degrees while the patient ta...
Plecas, D., McCormick, A. V., Levine, J., Neal, P., & Cohen, I. M. (2011). Evidence-based
There are some key distinctions between Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) in a psychotherapeutic context and a medical context. There are key differences between the design of an RCT to evaluate a new drug and an RCT to evaluate a new form of couples’ therapy. However, it is important to begin by defining and understanding the importance of RCT in research (O'Brien, 2013).
Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has been described as “the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decision about the care of individual patients” . Evidence-Based Practice is a thoughtful integration of the best available evidence, coupled with clinical expertise. It enables one to address healthcare questions with an evaluative and qualitative approach. It is about applying the best available research evidence in provision of health, behavior and education services to enhance outcomes. Evidence-Based practice is about performing the best possible practice in order to provide the best possible care .
The importance of Evidence-Based Practice is to ensure the best possible care is provided for patients. Evidence-Based Practice functions by measuring the effectiveness of a treatment and differentiating findings between high-quality and low-quality. It also helps with health development and improves the reliability and facilitates students to become reflecti...