identify an issue or opportunity for change within your healthcare organization and propose an idea for a change in practice supported by an EBP approach.

Step 1: Determine the issue or change opportunity

Identifying a change or issue within the healthcare system is the first step. Data and feedback provided by patients, employees, and other stakeholders can help you identify an issue or opportunity for change. Here are some examples of areas or changes that can be made within healthcare organizations:

• Infections hospitalized at high rates
• Patient satisfaction is low
• Staff turnover rates are high
• Unproductive use of resources
• Communication problems among members of healthcare teams

Step 2: Review Relevant Evidence

After identifying a problem or an opportunity for change, it is important to examine the evidence. It is important to conduct a literature search in order to determine the best guidelines and practices for dealing with an issue or change opportunity. Other healthcare organizations can provide evidence of how they have dealt with similar challenges or changed opportunities.

Step 3: Identify a new practice to change

The next step, based on the information gathered is to create an idea that will change the practice. The idea must be specific, measurably achievable, realistic, time-bound, and relevant (SMART). It is important that the change be designed around the opportunity or issue identified at step 1. The evidence should also be used to support the change.

Step 4: Change the Practice and Implement it

This involves engaging stakeholders, providing education and training to staff, monitoring progress and collecting data to assess the impact of the change. The final step is to implement the changes in practice and evaluate their effectiveness. This includes engaging stakeholders, providing training and education to staff, tracking progress and collecting data. It is important to maintain and integrate the successful change into practice. In the event that it does not work, changes should be implemented based on additional feedback.

The conclusion of the article is:

Finding an issue, or opportunity, for change, within an organization of healthcare and proposing a practice change supported by EBP can enhance overall care quality, improve staff satisfaction, as well as patient outcomes. Engaging stakeholders is key to developing and implementing changes that are efficient, effective and sustainable.