The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has announced the winners of the Evidence-Based Care (EBC) Challenge, an initiative to broaden stakeholder engagement in the AHRQ Effective Health Care Program. Hosted by AcademyHealth, the Challenge charged nurse practitioners, physicians assistants and other professionals with finding creative ways to translate existing AHRQ research reports into provider-friendly resources for use in convenient care settings. These resources are intended to be used by providers at the point-of-care and aim to package evidence-based information in clear, concise, and useful formats. By engaging directly with those who deliver convenient care, the EBC Challenge was designed to increase awareness and use of AHRQ’s evidence reports, and to provide additional tools for practitioners working to improve the health and health care outcomes of those served in these settings.
The Challenge offered the opportunity to focus on obesity counseling for adolescents and children or the treatment of ear infections, both areas in which there is reliable, actionable evidence and significant opportunity for impact. All three winning teams developed resources aimed at conveying evidence guidelines on the treatment of ear infections.
An Advisory Committee composed of academics, practitioners, and representatives from convenience care organizations assisted AcademyHealth with the conceptualization and conduct of the Challenge. Winning teams were selected by an independent judging panel with a wide range of relevant experience and expertise.
1st place: A beta website featuring patient and provider portals with relevant, customized evidence-based information on otitis media. The resource displays information in text, graphics, videos and decision-making tools. Future versions of the website may include content on other key conditions, such as sinus infection and sore throat, both of which are commonly treated in the convenience care setting. This resource was developed by a team led by nurse practitioner Kelly McGee from New Albany, Ohio.
2nd place: A double-sided brochure on otitis media with evidence based information. This resource includes a decision tree, which enables patients to consider all treatment options, including the “wait and see approach,” in consultation with their care provider. Future adaptations of the resource may allow for presentation in an electronic format. This resource was developed by a team led by nurse practitioner Janette Capaci from Lexington, South Carolina.
3rd place: A paper brochure “flipbook” designed so that as providers view clinical information on one side of a page, patients simultaneously see the corresponding plain language information on the opposite side. Visuals and graphics are included on every page which assists providers in explaining clinical information at the point-of-care. This resource is currently being pilot tested by team members as they train staff in their individual retail clinics. It was developed by a team led by nurse practitioner Nicola Archie from Tampa, Florida.
In the coming weeks, all three teams will continue to refine and enhance their resources for use in their own – and potentially other - retail clinics. The winning team will use their first prize of a $7,500 "seed funding" award to build out and deploy the website. Further developments for all teams may include adapting resources into new formats and layouts, altering the videos and images used, and testing the resources in teaching environments.