2010 Award Finalist

Best Practices at Point of Care: Harnessing Innovative Technology

Category - Improving Evidence-based Practice

The Problem

Since 1999, the RNAO, with funding from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOHLTC), has developed, implemented and evaluated 43 clinical and healthy work environment Best Practice Guidelines (BPGs) to meet client needs and enhance clinical nursing care in healthy work places. The challenge for the RNAO is that accessing information of this type can be difficult for busy nurses as they give care – even more difficult for nurses working in various community settings in remote and rural areas of the province with limited Internet access. In order to successfully integrate current research knowledge during patient care delivery, best practice information needs to be readily available at the nurses' fingertips.

The Innovation

The innovation is simply to use current eHealth technology to do what it does best – convey information. The project focused on delivering critical research information related to key patient health problems to nurses through mobile devices such as blackberries and iPhones, for use during the care giving process. In 2007-2008, RNAO produced condensed versions of 18 guidelines for use through PDAs. In 2008-2010, the remaining 24 guidelines were condensed and made available. In addition, the condensed versions of the BPGs were made available in September of last year for download to a mobile device through iPhone and Blackberry devices, and thousands of nurses and others from around the world have accessed the BPG App.

The Results

The project has resulted in a more educated nursing community related to both use of eHealth in nursing care delivery, and knowledge and use of evidence based practices through the RNAO BPGs. Surveys reveal a 31-38 percent increase across all sectors in the number of participants who reported their knowledge of the BPGs and using eHealth as good or excellent.

Next Steps

RNAO continues to integrate best practices and eHealth to maximize the uptake and impact of evidence based practice at the point-of-care. Additionally, continued expansion of the best practice guidelines for use in clinical decision-making through the electronic health record are being explored and applications developed to enhance knowledge transfer and provide evidence-based decision supports for nurses. For more information visit: www.rnao.org/bpgapp