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Advancing Research and Clinical Practice Through Close Collaboration (ARCC): A Pilot Test of an Intervention to Improve Evidence-Based Care and Patient Outcomes

Completed
Conditions
Evidence-Based Medicine
Physician-Nurse Relations
Interventions
Behavioral: ARCC standard information
Behavioral: Placebo
Behavioral: ARCC enhanced
Registration Number
NCT00635869
Lead Sponsor
State University of New York - Upstate Medical University
Brief Summary

The primary aim of this pilot study is to evaluate the effects of two variations of the ARCC Intervention Program on nursing processes and outcomes (job satisfaction, group cohesion, EBP knowledge, EBP implementation, EBP beliefs), patient/family outcomes (e.g. pt/family satisfaction with care), and institutional processes and outcomes (e.g. nurse-physician collaboration, cost, RN turnover, incidence frequency relevant to the topic). Secondary aims are to test the feasibility of study methods and reliability and validity of questionnaires.

This study is designed as a three-group randomized clinical trial with repeated measures. Three inpatient units (medicine, surgery, surgical intensive care) will be randomly assigned to one of three interventions: ARCC enhanced (didactic content presentations, use of an EBP tool kit which will stay on the unit, environmental EBP prompts, availability of an EBP coach on the unit); ARCC standard (all of the above, but without the coach); non-EBP intervention (didactic content and environmental prompts, but not related to EBP; placebo). The interventions will be implemented over an estimated 14 weeks, including a 4-week training period, and an estimated 10 weeks to implement an EBP initiative that the nurses on the two ARCC intervention units will develop.

Baseline information and questionnaires will be collected from nurses at the start of the study, and again at completion of the intervention phase. Outcome data will be collected from nurses approximately 10 weeks after implementation of the ARCC interventions are completed (i.e., 22 weeks after the study is commenced). Nurse-physician collaboration data will be collected from physicians working with study unit nurses as well as from the nurses. Patient satisfaction data will not be separately collected in this study, but will include use of unit-level Press-Ganey scores immediately prior to and over the study time period. Unit level and institutional RN turnover will be tracked monthly during the entire study period and will be compared across units at the same time as well as compared within each study over time (i.e., unit retention during those same months in the previous year). Costs of each EBP intervention will be tracked during the study and compared descriptively. Survey data will be analyzed using analysis of variance statistics. Questionnaires will be tested for reliability and construct validity. Because this is a pilot study, statistically significant differences are not expected, however, effect sizes will be calculated

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
29
Inclusion Criteria
  • employed by Upstate
  • working full or part time on study unit
  • able to attend all education sessions
Exclusion Criteria
  • employed by temporary agency
  • not able to attend all education sessions

Study & Design

Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Study Design
Not specified
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
ARCC standardARCC standard informationRNs on unit receiving basic ARCC information with staff nurse champion
CPlaceboRNs on the unit receiving the placebo intervention
ARCC enhancedARCC enhancedRNs on unit receiving ARCC standard content plus with an EBP mentor
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
EBP beliefsbaseline, week 5, week 16, week 24
Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
EBP Implementationbaseline, week 5, week 16, week 24

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University Hospital, SUNY Upstate Medical University

🇺🇸

Syracuse, New York, United States

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