Towards evidence-based quality improvement: Perspectives from nursing practice

Abstract

This paper explores how the evidence-based practice and quality improvement movements are informing our understanding of what counts as quality patient care. Implicit in the debate is that we have understood and can manage the concept of patient safety. Using a true case study, the paper will illustrate how a clearer, more integrated understanding of safety, evidence-based practice and quality improvement principles can lead to more effective care. Central to this shift is the ability to move out of traditional, professionally bound ways of thinking to new systems and new ways of providing patient-centered care. Equally, how we generate the evidence to find out how safe or otherwise health care delivery systems are, must be as important an area of investigation as the search for a new therapy or treatment for a particular disease.