Researching a Clinical Issue – Instructions
Overview:
Choose an issue or concern on the clinical side of health care and write an assessment in which you identify sources of evidence-based management data and information, assess the credibility and validity of your sources, and analyze and synthesize the data and information you have collected.
Decision making is a critical skill for health care managers. Understanding social and behavioral modifications and hard evidence will enable you to help lead your organization in the optimal direction for success. Fact-based decision making can be the difference between success and failure.
- Competency: Analyze key components of the evidence-based management process.
- Identify the goal for resolving a clinical health care issue and the information needed to enable evidence-based decisions.
- Competency: Analyze sources of information utilized in the practice of evidence-based management.
- Assess the validity and credibility of information sources used in researching a health care issue.
- Competency: Demonstrate analytical decision-making skills through the evidence-based management process.
- Synthesize research data and information gathered from multiple sources.
Suggested Resources:
- Academy of Management Journal.
- Academy of Management Learning and Education.
- Academy of Management Perspectives.
- Administrative Science Quarterly.
- Decision Sciences.
- Human Relations.
- Human Resource Management.
- Group and Organization Management
- The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science.
- Journal of Business Research.
- Journal of Behavioral Decision Making.
- Journal of Change Management.
- Management Learning.
- Management Science.
- Organization Science.
- Organization Studies.
- Research in Organizational Behavior.
- Strategic Management Journal.
Internet Resources:
- Eysenbach, G., &Jadad, A. R. (2001). Evidence-based patient choice and consumer health informatics in the Internet age. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 3(2), e19. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1761898
- In2: InThinking Network. (n.d.). Retrieved from
- The aim of the In2: InThinking Network is to promote study and awareness of individual and collective thinking about sub-systems, psychology, variation, knowledge, and their interactions—elements recognized as the basis of Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge (SoPK).
- (n.d.). Google scholar. Retrieved from http://scholar.google.com
Instructions:
For this assessment you will collect, analyze, and synthesize data and information from relevant sources. Because there are two aspects to health care—business and clinical—this assessment provides you with an opportunity to examine the clinical side. For example, are the readmission rates for congestive heart failure improving? Are we achieving accreditation standards that are above the national average? Are the benchmarks for orthopedic surgeries above the national norm?
Choose an issue or concern on the clinical side of health care and write a paper in which you will:
- Identify sources of evidence-based management data and information.
- Assess the credibility and validity of your sources.
- Analyze and synthesize the data and information you have collected.
Ultimately, the data and information sources you identify will help determine how to address your issue or solve a particular problem.
Directions:
Step One: Identify a Clinical Issue
Think about clinical issues that contemporary health care organizations likely confront, and choose an issue of interest that you would like to address. Consider the following questions:
- What goal are you (and the organization) trying to achieve?
- What do you need to know to achieve this goal? What kind of information is needed?
- How can you obtain this information? How will you collect relevant data?
- What are the risks in finding valid and credible sources of information?
- Once you have collected the data and information, what should you do with it?
- Who are the stakeholders on this issue? What do they need to know?
- What successes have you achieved with the clinical issue you have identified for this assessment?
- Using evidence, what could have been done differently to improve outcomes?
Begin your paper by rephrasing your chosen issue as a question. For example, the following questions might be asked about hiring the right health care administrators:
- How can we be more successful in hiring operations department administrators?
- We hire administrators, and they keep quitting. What do we need to know to reduce the high turnover?
- Where can we collect data and information about hiring trends and compensation strategies?
Remember that lack of a clear question or properly defined problem could skew your research.
Step Two: Gather Relevant Data and Information
Identify and examine potential sources of data and information relevant to the clinical issue you have identified that will assist you in making evidence-based decisions. Consider sources both internal and external to the organization.
Although many sources may seem relevant on the surface, closer examination may reveal them to be inadequate for your purposes. As you search, analyze your search strategies and consider how you can make your research more effective.
Cite at least three (3) valid and credible sources, and provide a brief description of each source. Keep in mind that your sources might not focus specifically on your chosen issue but may address one that is similar. Therefore, determining whether you should use a source for your research is part of the validation process.
Answer the following questions for each source you keep, and explain why you consider each source to be valid and credible for your research.
- What journal published the source?
- What was the objective of the study or research? What was the study or research trying to accomplish?
- Who conducted the research? Is the institution or person considered credible in the field?
- What was the sample size or population used in the research?
- What was the length of the study or research?
- How was the research conducted?
- How was information collected?
- Could the information collected be used to conduct further research? Did it validate various assumptions?
- How were the results interpreted?
- Who developed the data?
- Who interpreted the data?
- What were the outcomes of the study or research?
- How did, or how could, the outcomes produce a better, safer, faster, or more efficient health care setting?
Synthesize the Data and Information
Analyze and synthesize the data and information you have gathered. Examining and interpreting information from multiple sources will likely generate useful insights into the issue or problem at hand. Consider the following questions:
- What is the information telling me?
- How can I apply this information to my issue?
- What insights or ideas emerge from the data and information?
Additional Requirements
- Written communication: Your writing should be free of errors in grammar and mechanics that detract from the overall message.
- APA formatting: Your paper should include a table of contents, headings, and a references page. Source citations and references should be formatted according to current APA style and formatting guidelines.