Summit planned for Oct. 18-20, 2017, to officially launch the Helene Fuld Health Trust National Institute for Evidence-based Practice in Nursing and Healthcare
A transformational $6.5 million grant has been awarded to The Ohio State University College of Nursing to establish The Helene Fuld Health Trust National Institute for Evidence-based Practice in Nursing and Healthcare. This institute will be the national hub for the teaching of best practices to improve healthcare quality and patient outcomes, working with healthcare systems to implement and sustain evidence-based practice (EBP), and conducting research to determine best strategies to translate evidence-based interventions into real world clinical settings.
“This hugely impactful grant will enable us to rapidly accelerate our current efforts with nursing colleges and healthcare systems across the United States to teach, implement and sustain EBP,” said Bernadette Melnyk, PhD, RN, CPNP/PMHNP, FAANP, FNAP, FAAN, associate vice president for health promotion, university chief wellness officer and dean of the College of Nursing. “The Helene Fuld Health Trust National Institute for Evidence-based Practice in Nursing and Healthcare is urgently needed to revolutionize the future of healthcare and ensure the best patient outcomes.”
EBP is a problem-solving approach to the delivery of healthcare that integrates the best evidence from well-designed studies with a clinician’s expertise and patients’ preferences and values. Multiple studies have shown that evidence-based practice improves healthcare quality and patient outcomes while reducing costs.
“Evidence-based practice by clinicians from all disciplines is critical to improving healthcare quality and patient outcomes as well as reducing costs,” said Ohio State President Michael V. Drake. “We are grateful for the opportunity to advance our patient care and nursing education while serving as a national model for evidence-based practice and working with other institutions across the nation.”
The new institute will accelerate and expand the efforts of the College of Nursing’s Center for Transdisciplinary Evidence-based Practice (CTEP), including:
- working with nursing faculty across the nation to integrate EBP throughout their curriculums to produce the highest caliber of evidence-based nursing graduates
- educating nursing students at all levels and nurses on how to access the latest gold standards of care and also how to implement as well as to sustain EBP
- assisting nursing leaders and in hospitals and healthcare systems to advance and sustain evidence-based care to improve the safety and quality of care that is provided to patients and families
- conducting research on the most effective interventions to teach and rapidly accelerate the translation of evidence-based interventions into clinical settings
- providing a web site of the best practices and resources to enhance healthcare quality and core performance metrics
- conducting national webinars and summits on the best and latest evidence to guide the best nursing practice
“In Buckeye Nation, we teach everyone to dream big and accomplish the impossible to transform healthcare and transform lives. We also walk the talk,” said Melnyk, who will lead the efforts of the new national institute with her colleague Lynn Gallagher-Ford, PhD, RN, DPFNAP, NE-BC, current director of the Center for Transdisciplinary Evidence-based Practice at the college. “The Ohio State University College of Nursing is indeed a place where dreams become reality.”
Melnyk is an internationally renowned leader in EBP and intervention research. She is the author of the book Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing and Healthcare: A Guide to Best Practice, now in its third edition, and the editor of the journal Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing. She and Gallagher-Ford, also a nationally recognized expert in EBP, recently published research in Worldviews, showing that implementation of EBP among chief nurses and their hospitals is relatively low.
The Helene Fuld Health Trust National Institute is the nation's largest private funder devoted exclusively to nursing students and nursing education. In 1935, Leonhard Felix Fuld and his sister, Florentine, created a foundation in honor of their mother, Helene.
The Ohio State University College of Nursing is the world’s preeminent college known for accomplishing what is considered impossible through its transformational leadership and innovation in nursing and health, EBP and unsurpassed wellness. As part of the largest health science campus in the United States, the College of Nursing offers seven innovative academic programs. The college’s graduate nursing programs are among the top four percent in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report, while its online graduate program is ranked 4th, and its RN to BSN program is ranked 7th as part of Ohio State’s ranking for online bachelor’s degree programs. Annual college enrollment is nearly 2,000 students. The college celebrated its centennial in 2014.
