Determining whether a challenge represents an opportunity for evidence-based improvement depends on the available research evidence and its applicability to EPB. Address the following questions, using your findings from an initial review of the literature to evaluate each of the three challenges you identified as possible opportunities for evidence-based improvement:
Is there sufficient and high-quality evidence available in the literature to substantiate the challenge?
Based on your initial search and review of the literature, how large is the body of evidence that supports the challenge?
How would you describe the range of available sources of evidence to substantiate the challenge?
What level and quality of evidence did you find?
Is the identified challenge specific to the P in the PICOT question?
Is the challenge one that the organization is facing?
Is it population- or setting-specific? Why?
How do you know?
What evidence did you find that shows that the challenge occurs in organizations with characteristics similar to your prospective practicum site?
Is the challenge currently occurring in specific organizations?
What current metrics and benchmarks related to the challenge are tracked and measured by organizations with characteristics similar to your prospective practicum site?
What are possible outcomes for an organization and its population?
How would you go about defining measurable objectives for an organization to achieve the benchmarks?
What are possible outcomes for an organization and its population that directly relate to the challenge?
How long does it take for the outcomes to be achieved by an organization?
Based on what you found in the literature, what’s a possible PICOT question for one of the organizational challenges?
Which element in the PICOT question is the most difficult to define? Why?
What additional research is needed to better define each element in the PICOT question?