The healthcare industry continues to raise the quality of its services while also striving to reduce costs, improve population health, and create a positive working environment. The combination of these goals is known as the quadruple aim – the central concern of the field and the main vision for the future of healthcare. To address these often-conflicting elements of practice, an evidence-based practice (EBP) approach is often recommended (Stein et al., 2021). In turn, EBP holds that new practices, developments, and technologies should be introduced only if supported by research (Gallagher‐Ford et al., 2020). The scientific foundation of this framework implies that only well-documented and tested ideas can be used in the industry to improve its performance.
EBP can be beneficial for reaching each of the quadruple aim measures. For instance, the patient experience segment is linked to patients’ perceptions of their clinic visits and hospitalizations. Here, EBP can be useful through articles investigating patient surveys, qualitative investigations of people’s perceptions, and dialogue between scholars and patients (Arnetz et al., 2020).
The second goal of population health requires professionals to consider the big picture, for which data in EBP studies are essential. Research that considers global, national, state, city, and community statistics can reveal problems within a population (Arnetz et al., 2020). Some papers may also explore solutions and unseen connections between issues and underlying factors.
The use of EBP investigations to reduce costs is similarly helpful in achieving the quadruple aim. Articles that explore new practices and compare them with less-optimized older strategies can provide clinics with the information they need to reduce spending. Finally, as EBP addresses patient experiences, it can also engage healthcare providers in industry development (Marker, 2022). Surveys of workers, observational studies of their daily tasks and teamwork, and other types of studies can establish a sound scientific basis for developing new interventions and advancing healthcare toward a better future.
References
Arnetz, B. B., Goetz, C. M., Arnetz, J. E., Sudan, S., van Schagen, J., Piersma, K., & Reyelts, F. (2020). Enhancing healthcare efficiency to achieve the Quadruple Aim: An exploratory study. BMC Research Notes, 13(1), 1-6.
Gallagher‐Ford, L., Koshy Thomas, B., Connor, L., Sinnott, L. T., & Melnyk, B. M. (2020). The effects of an intensive evidence‐based practice educational and skills building program on EBP competency and attributes. Worldviews on Evidence‐Based Nursing, 17(1), 71-81.
Marker, J. E. (2022). Leadership development, well-being, and performance improvement: achieving the quadruple aim in your practice. Family Practice Management, 29(5), 17-22.
Stein, K. V., Amelung, V. E., Miller, R., & Goodwin, N. (2021). The fourth dimension of the Quadruple aim: Empowering the workforce to become partners in health and care. International Journal of Integrated Care, 21(2), 34.
