Standardization of Nursing Protocol for Cardiac Arterial Bypass Patients
Abstract
Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) is an important factor in determining medical courses of action. Nurses have long used tradition rather than evidence in making decisions about beside care; to convince them to switch practice, it is useful to draw a comparison between the efficacy of these disparate routes. Our study designed a research question based on the PICOT model for the cardiac floors and designed procedures using the Kotter and Cohen’s Model of Change. In order to study the effect discussed in our PICOT question, a web search was conducted and the quality of each pertinent study reviewed.
Introduction
In the nursing staff of an adult Cardiac Surgical Care unit, how does the buy-in from the staff for Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) changes in a new Coronary Arterial Bypass Graft (CABG) pathway affect the decreases in infection rate among this patient population when compared to the old way of delivering patient care through nursing tradition in a six month time frame?
The formation of a guideline for practice in nursing is not a new occurrence; books and manuals have been a reality for many years. However, in the past these resources lacked the evidence for standards of care, which traditionally have been based on professional consensus and tradition. The Joint Commission has recognized processes that can be measured regarding patient outcomes and care in order to meet standards for Medicare qualification. These standards, known in cardiac care as the Surgical Care Incision Protocol (SCIP), help to guarantee that cardiac surgical patients receive the best standard of care because it is based on evidence-based practice (EBP). Within our facility the Cardiac Critical Care unit was not meeting this requirement for SCIP standards by 15%, so the facility did not receive the full