Learning Outcomes: On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate a critical understanding of the development of evidence-based practice for quality improvement in healthcare.
• Formulate focused research questions as a basis for searching for evidence to address a healthcare/clinical query concerning quality improvement.
• Analyse and critically examine evidence relevant to student's practice/healthcare area.
• Critically appraise current debates on evidence-based practice and their implications for quality improvement in healthcare.
• Adopt a critical and reflective stance on how practitioners and healthcare providers can engage with the evidence-based practice movement for quality improvement in healthcare.
• Examine strategies to evaluate the effects of evidence-based practice changes in practice.

 

Module Objective: To equip the student with a critical frame of reference with which to evaluate and apply evidence-based practice for quality improvement in healthcare.

Module Content: This module explores the development and substance of evidence-based practice in healthcare in its broadest scope. Turning healthcare and clinical queries into focused questions from which to search the evidence. Search strategies across a range of databases relevant to healthcare. Matching a research question with the most appropriate study design. Critically appraising evidence to understand its quality and implications for translation into quality improvement initiatives in healthcare. Strategies for implementing evidence and for developing an evidence-based culture for quality improvement in healthcare are explored. Evaluating the effects of evidence-based practice changes in practice.