Because enhancing patient outcomes is the main objective of any evidence-based nursing endeavor, it is imperative to measure the effects of introduced changes to be able to determine whether the new intervention or strategy is beneficial to practice. Impact analysis using patient recorded outcomes (PROs) can be used to to identify and introduce the necessary changes to the nursing profession (Jensen et al., 2015). It is a holistic approach for analyzing the effectiveness of changes because it concentrates not only on quality indicators but more thoroughly on the actual patient outcomes. Therefore, impact analysis is appropriate to use to determine the effectiveness of introduction of AccuVein in hospitals.
Impact analysis is not limited to only qualitative or quantitative methods. Instead, it uses a comprehensive approach to describe the accurate picture of current patient outcomes. There are different ways of how a study can be conducted, but the most cost-effective and efficient one is when nurses are part of the evaluation team. Because the data will be collected from patients themselves, nurses are the most appropriate choice for gathering the information because of their exceptional relationship with patients. The patients will share their experiences with invasive methods of inserting a intravenous catheter and their counterpart – AccuVein. The data will be collected throughout a certain period as nurses gain experience working with AccuVein. The information will be then compared to the results of invasive methods.
Measuring impact is critical when it comes to assessing effectiveness both in the context of a single intervention and an entire organization. PROs provide tools for yielding accurate information on patient outcomes. This information can be used to determine if the introduction of AccuVein is producing favorable results and if the organization is using the resources efficiently. Nurses are more suitable for data gathering because they are closer to patients than any other personnel.
Reference
Jensen, R. E., Rothrock, N. E., DeWitt, E. M., Spiegel, B., Tucker, C. A., Crane, H. M.,… Cella, D. (2015). The role of technical advances in the adoption and integration of patient-reported outcomes in clinical care. Medical Care, 53(2), 153-159.