Evidence-Based Practice and the Quadruple Aim - Essay Example

"Evidence-Based Practice and the Quadruple Aim" is a decent example of a paper on the health system.
The healthcare industry is one of the most fragile and essential industries, and this has been the case for a significant amount of time. A healthy population is a productive one, and productivity within the human race will always be a priority. Hence, any activity that can be done to improve this has to be held in very high esteem. In order to enhance this industry, various approaches have been being applied, for instance, the Triple Aim, which mainly focused on providing healthcare to the general population, while at the same time reducing cost significantly, and also ensuring that patients going through the healthcare system go through as little trouble as possible. However, this approach is being phased out, with the introduction of a fourth measure of improving healthcare, which focuses on the work-life experience of healthcare workers, bringing about what is known as the Quadruple Aim (Batcheller et al., 2017).

Evidence-based practice (EBP), as the name suggests, involves coming up with clinical decisions based on a meticulous and thorough collection of evidence, ranging from control trials to expert opinion and consensus (Reynolds, 2008). Once conclusive findings have been obtained, they can then be put into practice through roll-outs depending on the scale of requirement. From this definition, it is evident that the Quadruple Aim is influenced by EBP in several ways, as discussed below.

 In terms of patient experience, EBP plays a significant role in improving patient conditions. Through control trials, facilitators and practitioners can determine the best course of action that would ensure patients receive healthcare services smoothly and efficiently, which can be determined by conducting interviews and obtaining data from the participants of control trials. In the event that patients do not have the necessary knowledge about what should be done to improve their conditions, medical practitioners with expertise and experience might be better positioned to suggest what might be done to improve these conditions. These suggestions are also subject to review by a panel of peers and professionals.

 Population health can be facilitated by conducting randomized control trials. Control trials with random participants can help cover a more extensive base of individuals with different backgrounds and medical histories when administering certain medications. Since the population is chock-full of individuals with diverse backgrounds and conditions, randomization can, therefore, influence the quality of healthcare that the community received, with sufficient evidence to back any conclusions made.

 Additionally, the cost of healthcare provided is also influenced by EBP in that, for instance, trials being conducted by medical specialists and professionals might involve administering trial medication before it is rolled out into the population. Once a viable sample has been approved, the industries producing that medication are able to provide an estimated cost of production and distribution. Since the health sector has evolved into a business enterprise, the medication's final cost (market price) is determined by the total of these costs, as well as other costs such as tax (Sikka et al., 2015).

 With respect to the newest addition to the approaches for improving health conditions, evidence obtained from observation of trends within the community can help the industry to ensure that the workforce is not left behind. Analysis of trends in staff turnover and burnout ratio can help determine what was being done wrong concerning motivating healthcare providers, and what can be done to improve these conditions. A comparison between facilities with different ratios can help suggest methods in which working conditions for healthcare workers can be improved.