The Helene Fuld Health Trust National Institute for Evidence-based Practice in Nursing and Healthcare has awarded its inaugural round of grants. The grants are intended to provide an opportunity to stimulate and advance evidence-based practice (EBP) and implementation science in nursing and healthcare across the United States.
The grants were awarded to Linda Quinlin, DNP, APRN-CNS, APRN-CNP, ACHPN, and Kerry A. Milner, DNCs, RN, for EBP and research projects, respectively.
Quinlin was awarded the EBP grant for “Quality Improvement Project: Incorporating Evidence Based Practice into the Nursing Culture at Ohio’s Hospice Inc.” The purpose of her project is to incorporate EBP into the nursing culture at Ohio’s Hospice Incorporated (OHI). Implementing EBP will involve a systematic culture change within OHI.
The funding from the grant will be applied to professionally recording a presentation, “Questioning Common Clinical Practices: What does the Evidence Show? A Primer to EBP,” to educate OHI nurses onsite and online about how to begin their journeys with EBP and put science into practice.
Other interventions will be implemented to enrich nurses’ knowledge leading up to OHI Poster Day 2018, a celebration of EBP. This interdisciplinary event is designed to inspire excellence in innovation, research and EBP. The celebration will begin with an EBP presentation by a local nurse researcher and be followed by a poster display of EBP projects completed by OHI nurses.
Milner was awarded the research grant for “Visitation Practices in Magnet and Pathway to Excellence Facilities with Adult Intensive Care Units.” This study aims to answer the questions “What are the visitation policies in adult ICUs in Magnet and Pathway to Excellence designated healthcare facilities?” and “What are the methods for implementation and sustainment of open visitation in these facilities?”
The study stems from the conflict of restrictive visitor policies in adult ICUs, which continue to be the norm across the U.S. Milner hopes to alleviate the lack of research surrounding methods for implementing and sustaining open-visitation policies.
The study will use cross-sectional, sequential and mixed-method survey designs to identify facilities with open-visitation adult ICUs, survey program directors of eligible facilities about methods of implementation and lay the foundation for future studies on the impact of open visitation policies on patient and family outcomes.
Nursing and social work students will be engaged in all aspects of the research under investigator mentorship.
All grant proposals were reviewed by a committee chaired by Sharon Tucker, PhD, RN, FAAN, with members Kirsten M. Hanrahan, ARNP, DNP; Richard Ricciardi, PhD, NP, FAANP, FAAN; Sheila C. Sullivan, PhD, RN; Elisa Jang, RN; Sonia A. Duffy, PhD, RN, FAAN; Beth A. Vottero, PhD, RN, CNE; and Ruth Labardee, DNP, RN, CNL, NEA-BC.
