This page covers the fifth of the five As -- assessing (and if need be, adjusting) the evidence you have acquired, appraised, and applied as is needed to improve your patient's situation or circumstances. Outcome measures may be psychosocial (quality of life, improved patient perception of care, reduction in depressive and anxiety symptoms), physiologic (improved health, reduced complications), or functional improvement (Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt, 2005). Many outcomes measures are specific to individual areas of the health sciences, such as hand surgery and therapy. Broadly, however, the measures that you can use to assess the effectiveness of the EBP process can be grouped into three categories: patient outcomes, practitioner outcomes (or self assessment, or self reflection), and organization or system outcomes. Each category is discussed in the tabs to the right.Melnyk, B. M., and Fineout-Overholt, E. (2005). Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Information on this page is adapted from the Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts, and from the University of South Australia.
To consider the effectiveness of EBP regarding patient outcomes, ask yourself:
Text on this page is Adapted from the University of South Australia, and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Nenad Stojkovic. (2021, Oct. 31). Female doctor in uniform taking notes and holding smartphone. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/nenadstojkovic/51651057710. Used under the Creative Commons License.
Led by Sharon Straus, one of the founding practitioners of the EBP movement, the Toronto-based Knowledge Translation Program has developed a set of self evaluation questions you can use to reflect on your performance with the EBP process. They have also developed a free self evaluation logbook tool.
This page is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
To consider the effectiveness of EBP at the organizational or system category, ask yourself:
Text on this page is Adapted from the University of South Australia, and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
