Use of research evidence varied in efforts to expand specific pharmacist autonomous prescriptive authority: an evaluation and recommendations to increase research utilization

Background An expanding body of literature shows that pharmacists’ interventions improve health outcomes and are cost-saving. However, diverse state regulations of pharmacists’ scope of practice create a discrepancy between what pharmacists are trained to do and what they legally can do. This study investigated how stakeholders utilized research evidence when developing expanded scope of practice policies in their respective states. Methods Using autonomous pharmacist prescriptive authority as a surrogate for general pharmacist scope of practice, a general policy document analysis was performed to understand the scope of practice landscape for pharmacists across the United States. Next, semi-structured interviews with policy-makers and pharmacy advocates were conducted to explore how the identified states in the policy document analysis utilized evidence during the policy-making process. Investigators analysed findings from the transcribed interviews through application of the SPIRIT Action Framework. Resulting codes were summarized across themes, and recommendations to researchers about increasing utilization of research evidence were crafted. Results Sixteen states with 27 autonomous pharmacist prescriptive authority policies were identified. Public health need and safety considerations motivated evidence engagement, while key considerations dictating utilization of research included perceptions of research, access to resources and experts, and the successful implementation of similar policy. Research evidence helped to advocate for and set terms for pharmacist prescribing. Barriers to research utilization include stakeholder opposition to pharmacist prescribing, inability to interpret research, and a lack of relevant evidence. Recommendations for researchers include investigating specific metrics to evaluate scope of practice policy, developing relationships between policy-makers and researchers, and leveraging pharmacy practice stakeholders. Conclusions Overall, alignment of researcher goals and legislative priorities, coupled with timely communication, may help to increase research evidence engagement in pharmacist scope of practice policy. By addressing these factors regarding research engagement identified in this study, researchers can increase evidence-based scope of practice, which can help to improve patient outcomes, contain costs, and provide pharmacists with the legal infrastructure to practise at the top of their license.

Project PROBE (Providing Research- Based Opportunities for Better Education): Addressing Gaps through Research in Education

This research determined the effectiveness of Project PROBE (Providing Research-Based Opportunities for Better Education) in addressing gaps on teachers’ research capabilities and utilization. Parameters were based on the School PPA Evaluation Tool from a total population of 25 teachers who were the recipients of the project. Through descriptive research design, findings from the evaluation of Project PROBE for the school year 2020 – 2021 were collected and interpreted using weighted mean and analysis of emerging themes. Data suggested that Project PROBE is highly evident as it obtained the overall mean score of 4.92 for Goals and Objectives; 4.99 for Relevance; 5.00 for Time Management; 4.96 for Student Participation; 4.92 for Internal and External Stakeholders Participation; 5.00 for Management of Resources; 4.95 for Effectiveness to Learning Outcomes Results; and 5.00 for Documentation/Accomplishment Report. Further, this is validated by the comments and suggestions provided by the respondents in the assessment of GFINHS PPA Evaluation Tool. Relatively, the outcome is consistent with a multitude of research that suggested that despite the pandemic, educators continuously seek resiliency and education reform. They acknowledged that research skills are critical to sustainable and lifelong learning. Hence, being teachers as researchers, they are innovators, curriculum drivers, agents of school transformation, and directors of their own professional growth. It can also be suggested that this study is vital for opening a better and greater avenue to recognize teachers’ efforts and contributions to the field of research. It will also help in bolstering education environment that spearheads innovations and practices which are evidenced-based for a wider community of greater benefit. you can type your own text. Keywords: teacher-research, research capabilities, research utilization, education research

Health literacy, equity and communication in the COVID-19 era of misinformation – The emergence of health information professionals in infodemic management (Preprint)

UNSTRUCTURED The Health Information Management (HIM) field’s contribution to health care delivery is invaluable, especially in a pandemic context where the need for accurate diagnosis will hasten responsive evidence-based decision making. The COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique opportunity to transform the practice of HIM and bring more awareness to the role the frontline workers play behind the scenes safeguarding reliable, comprehensive, accurate and timely health information. This transformation will support future research, utilization management, public health surveillance and forecasting and enable key stakeholders to plan and ensure equitable health care resource allocation, especially for the most vulnerable populations. In this paper, we juxtapose critical health literacy, public policy, and health information management perspectives to understand the COVID-19 infodemic and new opportunities for health information management in infodemiology.

A Narrative Policy Framework Solution to Understanding Climate Change Framing Research

The climate change framing literature is vast. So much so that researchers—whether seasoned framing scholars or those foraying into climate change framing research for the first time—can easily be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of studies, the vast array of concepts deployed, the variation in how these same concepts are operationalized, the nuance of a barely numerable assortment of contexts, and the effects all of the aforementioned have on interpreting findings. Here we offer a synthetic review of said literature, focusing on adaptation and mitigation framing studies and findings. In so doing, we first briefly distill the overall developmental arc of climate change framing research. We then provide a conventionally styled thematic overview of the mitigation and adaptation climate change studies. Among other conclusions, we find that while there has been a proliferation of climate change framing research, the findings and the studies themselves are often quite disparate from one another. Moreover, as the literature speaks to itself intermittently and in an ad hoc fashion, it is not readily apparent how climate change framing studies holistically fit together. As a solution to this problem, we offer the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) as a narrative heuristic to help climate change researchers and communicators organize and understand the literature. We argue that an NPF integration of this inherently unwieldy literature increases the likelihood of research utilization and improves the ability of climate change communicators to inform people about the risks of climate change.

Integrating evidence-based interventions in clinical settings in Jordan: a policy brief

Background: Evidence-based nursing practice (EBNP) is considered a major and very important global paradigm shift. Unfortunately, most healthcare providers and researchers embrace the concept of evidence-based practice (EBP) without integrating this concept in clinical settings. The current situation of EBP and new practice guidelines utilization in Jordan are scarce. This policy brief aimed to discusses the process of utilizing nursing EBP in clinical settings in Jordan. Methods: The authors adopted an action plan utilizing a systematic approach to develop and implement specific strategies and policies to integrate EBP in clinical settings in Jordanian hospitals. We present an experience of one country in terms of introducing a policy brief to establish an EBP policy accompanied by developing an EBP unit in the hospital's country. Results: A comprehensive description of this policy is provided with reference to the eminent steps of policy analysis and evaluation. In fact, EBP policies and clinical practice guidelines should keep a live document and revise regularly or as needed. Overall, the authors suggest the development of a unit for EBP to deal with issues related to clinical practice guidelines. Conclusions: Expected outcomes for the introduction of the EBP unit and its policy include increase research utilization and accelerated adoption of new evidence, increase the quality of care provided, increase patient, staff, and managers satisfaction, and decrease staff workload by reducing complications associated with medical errors and outdated interventions.

Croatian Registered Nurses - Perception of Barriers to Research Utilization: A Cross-sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Despite positive effects of research utilization on improving the quality of care, nurses meet numerous obstacles when trying to bridge the gap between the theory and utilization of research findings in nursing practice. AIM: The study was conducted to identify barriers to research utilization in daily nursing practice among registered nurses in University Hospital Center Osijek, Croatia. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in University Hospital Center Osijek, Croatia in 2014. The study included 415 registered nurses, randomly selected. The BARRIERS Scale and a demographic data questionnaire were used to collect data. RESULTS: The study identified organizational barriers as major obstacles to implementing research findings. The items rated highest were “there is insufficient time on the job to implement new ideas” (78.2%), “nurse does not feel she/he has enough authority to change patient care procedures” (77.5%), “relevant literature is not compiled in one place” (72.1%), “physicians will not cooperate with implementation” (70.5%), and “nurse does not have time to read research” (70.4%). The item “relevant literature is not compiled in one place” belongs to communication subscale, while the other items belong to organizational barriers subscale. CONCLUSION: Registered nurses employed in University Hospital Center Osijek, Croatia perceived organizational barriers as major obstacles to research utilization.