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• Evaluation


  Systematic process that judges the worth or value of something, in this case teaching and learning
• Evaluation can provide evidence that what nurses do as educators makes a value-added difference in the care they provide
• Today's healthcare environment demands that "best" practice be based on evidence. Crucial decisions regarding learners rest on the outcomes of learning
• Can the patient go home or remain independent in self-care management at home?


  Does patient education result in better health outcomes or fewer hospital readmissions?
• Is the nurse providing competent, holistic care?

  If education is to be justified as a value-added activity, the process of education must be measurably efficient and must be measurably linked to education outcomes
• The outcomes of education, both for the learner and for the organization, must be measurably effective
• Evaluating education for efficiency and effectiveness is essential
• Patients and their families as well as the public in general must be educated about their health needs and how to manage their own care so that: outcomes are improved, healthcare costs are decreased, well-being is promoted
• Preparing patients for safe discharge from the hospital must extend beyond content of teaching to include validation of learning both before discharge and once the patient is home
• Evaluating the outcomes of a community program to promote health also must include evaluation of long-term community impact on sustained well-being
• As educators, nurses are involved in both patient and professional education. Therefore, equally important is the evaluation of continuing staff development and student-nurse education to improve professional practice
• Given the increasingly complex healthcare needs of communities and the demands for measurable high-quality outcomes despite limited resources, nurses must maintain the knowledge, attitudes, and skills that demonstrate essential competencies for the delivery of safe, excellent, evidence-based patient care
• Evaluation


  A critical component of the nursing practice decision-making process, the education process, and the nursing process
• Evaluation is the final component of these three processes. Because these processes are cyclical, evaluation serves as the critical bridge at the end of one cycle that provides evidence to guide direction of the next cycle
• Steps in conducting evaluation

  1. Determining the focus of the evaluation, including use of evaluation models

  2. Designing the evaluation

  3. Conducting the evaluation

  4. Determining methods to analyze and interpret the data collected

  5. Reporting results and a summary of the findings from the data collected

  6. Using evaluation results
• The results of evaluation provide practice-based evidence to either support continuing an educational intervention as it has been designed or support revising that intervention to enhance learning
• Evidence-based practice (EBP)


  The conscientious use of current best evidence in making decisions about patient care. More broadly, EBP may be described as a lifelong problem solving approach to clinical practice that integrates the most relevant and best research, one's own clinical expertise and patient references and values
• More recent literature describes evidence generated from metasyntheses of rigorously conducted qualitative studies as providing strong evidence for informing nurses' care of patients through a more thorough understanding of the patients' experience, the processes of care delivery, and the context within which care is delivered
• External evidence


  Evidence from research that is intended to be generalizable or transferable beyond the specific study setting or sample
• Internal evidence


  Data generated from a diligently conducted quality improvement project or EBP implementation project within a specific practice setting or with a specific population
• The Institute of Medicine's Roundtable of Evidence-Based Medicine published a report titled The Learning Healthcare System in which use of practice-based evidence along with EBP was recommended to narrow the gap between research and practice
• Evidence-based practice in nursing

  An approach to providing nursing care that uses the most current research available to improve the safety, health, and well-being of patients. This practice focuses on delivering high-quality patient care while reducing healthcare costs and variations in patient outcomes
• EBP in nursing focuses on the integration of clinical expertise including the knowledge, critical reasoning, and judgment skills acquired through nursing training and professional experiences
• Evaluations are not intended to be generalizable but rather are carried out to determine the effectiveness of a specific intervention in a specific setting with an identified individual or group
• Practice-based evidence (PBE)


  Evidence that is collected with particular attention to its relevance under the constraints of real-world practice. It comprises internal evidence that can be used both to identify whether a problem exists and to determine whether an intervention based on external evidence effectively resolved the problem
• Practice-based evidence also can be used to generate research questions
• Implementation science


  The scientific study of methods to promote the systematic uptake of research findings and other evidence-based practices into routine practice, and hence to improve the quality and effectiveness of health services
• The primary difference between implementation science and EBP and PBE is that it uses systematic, rigorous research methods that provide generalizable results
• Assessment


  Focuses on initially gathering, summarizing, interpreting, and using data to decide a direction for action
• Evaluation


  Involves gathering, summarizing, interpreting, and using data after an activity has been completed to determine the extent to which an action was successful
• An important note of caution: Although an evaluation is conducted at the end of a program, that is not the time to plan it. Evaluation as an afterthought is, at best, a poor idea and, at worst, a dangerous one
• Determining the focus of evaluation is the first and most crucial step. The focus then guides evaluation design, conduct, data analysis, and reporting of results
• Components of evaluation focus

  • Audience
  • Purpose
  • Questions
  • Scope
  • Resources
• Audience


  Includes persons or groups for whom the evaluation is being conducted. The primary audience is the individuals or groups who requested the evaluation or who will use the evaluation results and the general audience is those who might benefit from the findings of the evaluation
• Purpose


  Answers the question, "Why is the evaluation being conducted?"
• Questions


  Must be directly related to the purpose for conducting the evaluation, must be specific, and must be measurable
• Scope


  Considers the extent of what is being examined
• Resources


  Include time, expertise, personnel, materials, equipment, and facilities
• Evaluation models


  The RSA model provides a visual of five basic types of evaluation in relation to one another based on focus, purpose, related questions, scope, and resources available

  
• Process (Formative) Evaluation


  The purpose is to make necessary adjustments to an educational activity as soon as they are identified, such as changes in personnel, materials, or teaching methods