Healthcare organizations continually seek to optimize healthcare performance. For years, this approach was a three-pronged one known as the Triple Aim, with efforts focused on improved population health, enhanced patient experience, and lower healthcare costs.

More recently, this approach has evolved to a Quadruple Aim by including a focus on improving the work life of healthcare providers. Each of these measures are impacted by decisions made at the organizational level, and organizations have increasingly turned to EBP to inform and justify these decisions.

To Prepare:

• Read the articles by Sikka, Morath, & Leape (2015); Crabtree, Brennan, Davis, & Coyle (2016); and Kim et al. (2016) provided in the Resources.
• Reflect on how EBP might impact (or not impact) the Quadruple Aim in healthcare.
• Consider the impact that EBP may have on factors impacting these quadruple aim elements, such as preventable medical errors or healthcare delivery.

To Complete:

Write a brief analysis (no longer than 2 pages) of the connection between EBP and the Quadruple Aim.

Your analysis should address how EBP might (or might not) help reach the Quadruple Aim, including each of the four measures of:

• Patient experience
• Population health
• Costs
• Work life of healthcare providers

Weekly Resources

• Schmidt, N. A. & Brown, J. M. (2025). Evidence-based practice for nurses: Appraisal and application of research (6th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning
  
  • Chapter 1, “What is Evidence-based practice?” (pp 3-31)
    • Chapter 1 will help students understand the importance of EBP, the research process, barriers to the adoption of EBP and strategies to overcome them as well as strategies to transition evidence into nursing practice.  
• Boller, J. (2017). Nurse educators: Leading health care to the quadruple aim sweet spot.Links to an external site. Journal of Nursing Education, 56 (12), 707–708. doi:10.3928/01484834-20171120-01
• Crabtree, E., Brennan, E., Davis, A., & Coyle, A. (2016). Improving patient care through nursing engagement in evidence-based practiceLinks to an external site.. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 13 (2), 172–175. doi:10.1111/wvn.12126
• Kim, S. C., Stichler, J. F., Ecoff, L., Brown, C. E., Gallo, A.-M., & Davidson, J. E. (2016). Predictors of evidence-based practice implementation, job satisfaction, and group cohesion among regional fellowship program participantsLinks to an external site.. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 13 (5), 340–348. doi:10.1111/wvn.12171
• Melnyk, B.M., Fineout-Overhold, E., Stillwell, S.B., & Williamson, K.M. (2010). Evidence-based practice step-by-step: The seven steps of evidence-based practiceLinks to an external site.. American Journal of Nursing, 110 (1), 51-53.
• Melnyk, B. M., Gallagher-Ford, L., Long, L. E., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2014). The establishment of evidence-based practice competencies for practicing registered nurses and advanced practice nurses in real-world clinical settings: Proficiencies to improve healthcare quality, reliability, patient outcomes, and costsLinks to an external site.. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 11 (1), 5–15. doi:10.1111/wvn.12021
• Sikka, R., Morath, J. M., & Leape, L. (2015). The Quadruple Aim: Care, health, cost and meaning in workLinks to an external site.. BMJ Quality & Safety, 24 , 608–610. doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2015-004160
• Walden University Library. (n.d.-a).Databases A-Z: NursingLinks to an external site.. https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/az.php?s=19981