Using Outcomes To Keep Your Practice Vibrant and Viable

The purpose of this project was to develop a method of evaluating the efficacy and efficiency of our departmental activities.  Our objective was to align our practice with the ever-changing needs of our client base.

                The contemporary health care market drives the WOC nurse to run a lean but effective practice.  While much emphasis is on best evidence at the bedside, what evidence can we use to direct the rest of our practice in planning activities and programs?  Our department’s project list was extensive and we added new initiatives regularly.  We needed evidence to identify which projects were truly effective, and which ones were “just the way we’ve always done it.”  Our team designed a model to critically assess all projects, activities, classes and committees in which we participated.  Next we identified our customers and our goals.   We then systematically assessed our current activities to determine which customers they served and what goals they were meeting.  These steps enabled decisions to eliminate overlap, combine programs, and identify remaining gaps for future planning.  This newly revised activity list was   then tied to organizational and our departmental goals and assigned measureable parameters.   As a result of this process we were able to eliminate and/or modify 48 percent of our activities with a confidence that every activity had value.  By linking our activities to organizational goals we could clearly articulate to administration the impact of our work on those priorities.  Having quantifiable outcomes at the end of the year gave us a feeling of accomplishment and empowerment; we could show the impact of our activities on our customers and our organization.  Ongoing use of this model helps us to critically assess, prioritize and plan our departmental objectives and activities.