The Helene Fuld Health Trust National Institute for Evidence-based Practice (EBP) in Nursing and Healthcare funded six awards to stimulate and advance EBP and implementation science in nursing and healthcare across the United States. There are two categories: one focused on application of evidence to improve practice quality and safety using the evidence-based practice (EBP) process, and the other on stimulation of the science related to EBP and implementation of evidence into practice.

 The EBP funds were awarded to Nimian Bauder, AGCNS-BC, NPD-BC, and Christine Tarver, DNP, RN, CNS, NEA-BC, of City of Hope National Medical Center; Holly Chignolli, DNP, APRN-CNP, of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center; Jennifer Cunningham, RN, BSN, of the University of Illinois at Chicago; Dawn Neuhauser, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, OCN^®, of City of Hope National Medical Center; and the research funds were awarded to Jeannine Brant, PhD, APRN-CNS, AOCN, FAAN, of City of Hope National Medical Center; and Cheryl Monturo, PhD, MBE, ACNP-BC, of Chester County Hospital at University of Pennsylvania Medicine.

Bauder and Tarver were awarded nearly $2,500 for their EBP project titled, “Nurse-Driven Clostridiodes difficile Screening: An Evidence-based Practice Approach.” The evidence-based intervention includes implementation of a Clostridiodes difficile infection (CDI) screening tool, healthcare team education and clinical decision support implementation. As a result, they hope to decrease the number of CDI screening lab tests ordered pre- and post-intervention through lab reports and to decrease hospital-acquired CDI rates through the Infection Prevention team. The adoption of the Bristol Stool Form Scale will also be recorded, and staff knowledge pre- and post-educational intervention will be evaluated.

“Thank you to the Fuld Institute for EBP for this generous [gift]. It allows us to move our initiative forward and implement best practices to improve our patient care and reduce the incidence of hospital-acquired infections,” said Bauder and Tarver.

Chignolli was awarded approximately $2,500 for her EBP initiative titled, “Tumble Tuesdays: A Proactive Approach to Decreasing Falls on an Inpatient Unit.” Tumble Tuesdays uses the most up-to-date evidence to improve patients’ safety by reducing falls and fall-related injuries. This project aims to utilize evidence demonstrating the benefits of nurse-leader rounding and implementing a standardized fall bundle approach to reduce patient falls and, therefore, improve patient safety and health outcomes.

“Our team is honored to have been awarded [funding] from the Helene Fuld Health Trust National Institute for EBP in Nursing and Healthcare. Your generous contribution will be utilized to implement an evidence-based quality improvement initiative to hopefully reduce falls and falls with injury for patients in our medical-surgical/solid organ transplant unit,” said Chignolli. “We are so excited to begin work on this initiative and are very grateful to the Fuld Institute for EBP for providing our organization with this opportunity to implement an evidence-based initiative that has the potential to significantly improve fall rates and patient outcomes!”

Cunningham received $2,500 for her EBP project titled, “Utilizing Sexual and Reproductive Health Education to Reduce Risky Sexual Behaviors in Justice-Involved Youth.” This initiative is focused on improving sexual and reproductive health literacy – both knowledge and understanding – in adolescent males involved with the juvenile justice system. By improving their health literacy surrounding this topic, the goal is to decrease the rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the population. Not only will this improve the overall health of the population, but in time, it will also improve the general health of communities and decrease healthcare spending on the treatment of new STIs.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to offer more choice to the youths involved with our project, particularly around their level of participation. We are eager to be able to offer our training in a format that the youths will be able to access even after release from the detention center and one that they have had a voice in creating,” said Cunningham.

Neuhauser was given approximately $2,500 for her EBP project titled, “Evidence-based Practice Strategies to Improve Nurses’ Professionalism.” The purpose of the project is to measure improvements in nurses’ professional values and professional practice as a result of the evidence-based implementation strategies. The design is a pre- and post-intervention survey. The intervention is the completion of the six modules of the Fuld National Institute’s “Foundations of Evidence-based Practice in Healthcare” Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). EBP mentors will be assigned to participants to provide support and to be available for questions throughout the intervention phase. 

"The Fuld Institute for EBP [award] gives me the opportunity to provide incentives to the participants in my project that also creates a connection throughout the process where I can encourage participants to reflect on what they have learned and to see the intervention through to completion," said Neuhauser.

Brant was awarded $5,000 for her research project titled, “Patient Deterioration in Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell or Bone Marrow Transplantation: Development and Implementation of the Deterioration in TrAnSplant City of Hope (DASH) Model.” Through the DASH Model, she and her team plan to develop an early warning system that can predict the deterioration of patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell/bone marrow transplants. The predictive artificial intelligence (AI) science and implementation science will facilitate the real-world translation of findings that are meaningful to both clinicians and patients in the clinical setting.

“We are so honored to receive this funding. This will allow us to turn a predictive model developed through AI to be seen in the real world,” said Brant. “Through this funding, we are now able to refine this model, implement it in a way that is meaningful to nursing, and then impact patient outcomes. It doesn’t get any better than this!”

Monturo was awarded nearly $5,000 for her research study titled, “Community Cardiac Rehabilitation Program: Long Term Outcomes.” This project uses a mixed-method, pre- and post-experimental design and phenomenology in a sample of adult participants in a cardiac rehabilitation program to investigate patients’ ability to sustain physiologic and psychologic changes achieved through cardiac rehabilitation (CR) (six months post) and to examine the lived experiences of these patients after completion of the CR program. The goal is to use the results of this study in combination with available telehealth and digital technologies to create a distinct and inclusive path forward for CR long-term care at a community hospital.

“This opportunity and funding supports the continued mentoring of our Cardiac Rehab RN and co-investigator, Carol Smith, in examining the evidence and conducting research,” said Monturo.

 The Helene Fuld Health Trust National Institute for Evidence-based Practice (EBP) in Nursing and Healthcare is committed to supporting EBP initiatives and research that stimulate and advance EBP and implementation science in nursing and healthcare across the United States.

The Fuld National Institute acknowledges and thanks the review committee members, led by Dr. Sharon Tucker, for their time and expertise.