Texas Christian University - News and Events

TCU to collaborate with international research organization to help improve health care

Fort Worth, TX

7/7/2009

By Aundrea Eichman, TCU Schieffer School of Journalism

TCU’s Center for Evidence-Based Practice and Research (CEBPR) has been accepted as a collaboration center with the Joanna Briggs Institute, an international non-profit research organization for health care professionals. TCU is only the fourth university in the U.S. to be accepted as a collaboration center.

“The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI), with more than 54 centers servicing more than 90 countries, bridges the gap between academia and practice,” said Dr. Susan Mace Weeks, associate dean of Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences and director of the Center for Evidence-Based Practice & Research. “As a JBI collaborating center, the CEBPR will promote the mission of the JBI, which is a global leader in evidence-based health care.”

“The proposed collaborating center will engage both academic and practice associates in evidence generation, synthesis, transfer, and utilization,” Weeks said. “JBI specializes in evidence-based resources for health care professionals in nursing, midwifery, medicine, and allied health."

This collaboration will help both the CEBPR and JBI further extend their reach. The practice of nurses and other health care professionals will be enhanced and the quality of care delivered by agencies affiliated with the CEBPR JBI Collaborating Center will be enhanced.

The interest in the collaboration was solidified following a trip last fall when four TCU doctoral students, Dean Paulette Burns and Kathy Baker, director of the Doctor of Nursing Program, made a trip to the JBI in Adelaide, Australia to take a training course.

“I had the opportunity to travel to Australia to study at the Joanna Briggs Institute,” said Robin Christian, Doctor of Nursing Practice student, “It was an amazing experience. It opened my eyes to the importance of research critique, synthesis, and translation.”

“The collaboration of JBI with TCU is an invaluable asset to the school and the medical community,” Christian said, “The collaboration will encourage researchers to seek the best practice and to facilitate the creation of systematic reviews.”

“It will give students hands-on experience on how to do a rigorous systematic review, bring the best evidence to practitioners and provide an opportunity for the medical community to have access to evidence-based practice and research,” continued Christian.

The CEBPR and Research, originally funded by TCU’s Vision in Action program, was established by TCU in June 2006. The goal was to infuse evidence-based practice and research into the practice setting by connecting academic and practice partners. It was founded on the belief that caring for clients and their families using generally accepted practices and interventions is no longer sufficient in health care, Weeks said.

"Best practices" or care that is evidence-based health care must now be provided, which means it must be grounded in research and known to promote better quality and cost outcomes, Weeks said.

The CEBPR hosts an Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) and Research Collaborative of more than 40 hospital partners in the North Texas area that meet to exchange ideas and best practices to support evidence-based practice and research in the practice setting, Weeks said.

“These quarterly events have drawn as many as 150 attendees,” Weeks said. “Among these clinical partners, there is a lack of awareness of the products, services, and benefits of the JBI. With an existing platform to launch innovations, the CEBPR hopes to serve as an effective link between the Joanna Briggs Institute and our practice partners.”

The CEBPR provides an opportunity for collaborative learning and research by faculty and students interacting with real world health care practice problems through faculty experts who serve as evidence-based practice and research consultants to area health care organizations. It also accelerates the connection with the health care community and TCU by its sponsorship of the TCU evidence-based practice and research collaborative.

“The CEBPR has continued to collaborate with clinical partners in the Dallas-Fort Worth area through an EBP Fellowship that brings together staff nurses from various hospitals across the Dallas-Fort Worth area who are learning techniques to infuse evidence-based practice into their own settings,” Weeks said. “During the Fellowship, each EBP Fellow has worked on a project designed to solve a clinical problem or question in their own institution. It is hoped that this will further the work of the CEBPR by facilitating evidence-based practice and research in the practice setting.”