The Connection
Healthcare organizations continually seek to optimize healthcare performance. The Triple Aim model was first developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in 2007. It was focused on concurrently reducing per capita healthcare costs, improving population health, and enhancing patient care experience. However, the major setback in implementing this extremely ambitious plan and achieving its objectives is that it failed to account for the need practitioners’ and organization-wide buy-in and support (Lippincott Solutions, 2017). Through an evidence-based practice [EBP] framework, the healthcare system soon realized that the Triple Aim could not sufficiently optimize health system performance.
EBP refers to the integration of clinical expertise, patient values, and best evidence that have been derived from researches into the patient cares’ decision-making process (Melnyk, 2018). For instance, healthcare workers have reported widespread dissatisfaction and burnout. Some of the end-results associated with these experiences include reduced health outcomes, lower patient satisfaction, increased medical and medication errors’ possibility, healthcare cost increase, etc. Consequently, the Triple Aim has been expanded to Quadruple Aim, thus accounting for the goal of enhancing the health care providers’ [clinicians, staff, etc.]work-life. At the core of the success of the Quadruple Aim is the evidence-based practice (EBP). EBP underlies all the foundational principles of the Quadruple Aim.
The four principles that specifically complement the four Aims include the optimization of a holistic patient and population health, the harnessing of the Quadruple Aim as a dynamic whole, therapeutic relationships’ prioritization, and the application of crucial healthcare performance measurement indicators as a tool for, rather than the outcome of, quality (AAFP, 2018). Burnout among the health care workforce can threaten the success of Triple Aim by lowering patient satisfaction and increasing the possibility of errors. Caregiver burnout among nurses and other team members may contribute to the overuse of resources and increased costs of care. For instance, evidence-based research has determined that burnout amongst caregivers, clinicians, and other physicians may cause increased care costs and resources’ overuse. Furthermore, research findings suggest that there is always a marked improvement in patient outcomes when practitioners deliver evidence-based healthcare.
The finding has been consistent regardless of the disparity in the providers’ skillsets. Consequently, Bodenheimer & Sinsky (2014) have proposed the implementation of team documentation, pre-visit planning, and pre-appointment laboratory testing, workflow standardization and synchronization, and team co-location, etc. to reduce practitioners’ burnout. EBP helps empower care providers to be freely excited and engaged during work, decreases healthcare costs, and increases healthcare safety, quality, and outcome.
The practice model supports healthcare providers to translate findings from research into clinical practice. The healthcare practitioners can use the scientific knowledge derived from existing clinical practices to provide patient-based care, thanks to their ability to apply effective literature-searching skills and formal evidence rules in the research findings’ evaluation process (University of Canberra Library, 2019). Evidence-based practice has often been the driving aim behind the achievement of the Quadruple Aim. The only setback, however, is that the uptake of EBP within and amongst many care systems and practitioners as a result of lack of sufficient understanding, investment, or leadership buy-in, although many healthcare providers perceive it positively. The model involves applying the best available evidence to support the making of best clinical decisions and achieve the best clinical outcomes at a reduced cost while also enhancing providers’ welfare.
References
AAFP. (2018, December 12). Report: Follow Four Principles to Meet Quadruple Aim. Retrieved June 2, 2020, from American Academy of Family Physicians: https://www.aafp.org/news/practice-professional-issues/20181212qualityprinciples.html
Bodenheimer, T., & Sinsky, C. (2014, November 1). From Triple to Quadruple Aim: Care of the Patient Requires Care of the Provider. The Annals of Family Medicine, 12(6), 573-576.
Lippincott Solutions. (2017, September 5). Moving from Triple to Quadruple Aim. Retrieved June 2, 2020, from 2020 Wolters Kluwer: http://lippincottsolutions.lww.com/blog.entry.html/2017/09/05/moving_from_triplet-uouA.html
Melnyk, B. (2018, October 26). Why Choose Evidence-based Practice? Retrieved June 2, 2020, from 2012 – 2020 American Association of Nurse Practitioners: https://www.aanp.org/news-feed/why-choose-evidence-based-practice
The University of Canberra Library. (2019, September 6). Evidence-Based Practice in Health. Retrieved June 2, 2020, from University of Canberra Library: https://canberra.libguides.com/evidence