What challenges might you face when sharing knowledge from your project and how will you overcome them?
what are your plans for dissemination? What challenges might you face when sharing knowledge from your project and how will you overcome them?
PAPER2: Once you finish your DNP Scholarly Project, what are your plans for dissemination? What challenges might you face when sharing knowledge from your project and how will you overcome them?
Dissemination
We will start the final lesson for this course with a few hypothetical questions.
• What is the value of disseminating work from a DNP scholarly practice project?
• Who could benefit from this information?
• What mechanisms are available to help in this effort?
These questions may seem superficial, but the reality is that a successful project that is not disseminated is merely homework with a grade. All professions have a duty to those that they serve, and to not share findings from a practice-change or quality-improvement project would be depriving those identified in the project from much-needed improved outcomes. As Zaccagnini and White pointed out in 2014, the information and results of the successful DNP project will have application beyond the immediate practice environment. It is important to share the findings of the project regardless of whether the project produced the results you expected or different results.
Did you know that, within the National Institutes of Health, there is an Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) that funds research that explores the implementation and dissemination of research findings?
More present than ever within the research community is the belief that to optimize public health we must not only understand how to create the best interventions, but how to best ensure that they are effectively delivered within clinical and community practice. This is the focus of dissemination and implementation research, and building this knowledge base is imperative to get the best return on decades of investment in biomedical and behavioral research (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, HIH, OBSSR, 2013, para. 1).
There are many stakeholders in the results of a DNP scholarly practice project. The first stakeholder that cannot be overlooked is the patient. “The patient is the reason that a project is being developed, implemented, evaluated and disseminated. The patient is the ultimate evaluator of outcomes” (O’Dell, 2014). Other stakeholders include the specific healthcare system that hosted the project, including all levels of administration and practice in that facility, the healthcare delivery system in general, the nursing profession, and all other professions that were involved or could be involved in the project or its findings. Of course, the consumer, which includes the patient, family, community, and affiliation group, are in the top of this list. Please note that the instructors and those in academia are not in the top of the list of groups that rely on your dissemination. The faculty, program, and university are a part of your process and benefit from seeing your success but do not directly benefit from the work done by you the DNP nursing professional.
Mechanisms of dissemination include opportunities that may surprise you. Consider the following options offered by O’Dell in 2014.
• Professional organizations
• Internet dissemination
• Conferences and symposia
• Continuing education offerings
• Collaboration with community organizations
• Peer-reviewed publications
• Consumer-driven publications
• Organizational policies, procedures, and protocol
• Legislative initiatives
All are routes to dissemination. As you create and develop your project for implementation in your practicum courses and later continue this work after graduation, consider the above opportunities to share your findings to expand your opportunities to improve outcomes.
Summary
Dissemination is a critical final step in the world of the DNP professional. In closing, consider the words of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2013, p. 13) regarding the expectations of the DNP graduate. Though focused on issues of policy, they ring true with all aspects of nursing practice that can be affected by the DNP scholarly practice project.
• Critically analyze health-policy proposals, health policies, and related issues from the perspective of consumers, nursing and other health professionals, and other stakeholders in policy and public forums.
• Demonstrate leadership in the development and implementation of institutional, local, state, federal, and/or international health policy.
• Influence policy makers through active participation on committees, boards, or task forces at the institutional, local, state, regional, national, and/or international levels to improve healthcare delivery and outcomes.
• Educate others, including policy makers at all levels, regarding nursing, health policy, and patient care outcomes.
• Advocate for the nursing profession within the policy and healthcare communities.
• Develop, evaluate, and provide leadership for healthcare policy that shapes healthcare financing, regulation, and delivery.
• Advocate for social justice, equity, and ethical policies within all healthcare arenas.
References
Once you finish your DNP Scholarly Project, what are your plans for dissemination? What challenges might you face when sharing knowledge from your project and how will you overcome them?
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2006). The essentials of doctoral education for advanced nursing practice. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from https://www.aacn.nche.edu/publications/positoni/dnpessentials.pdf
O’Dell, D. G. (2014). Implementation and dissemination of DNP practice scholarship. In B. Anderson, J. Knestrick, & R. Barroso (Eds.), DNP capstone projects: Exemplars of excellence in practice (pp. 171–182). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Office of Behavioral and Socials Sciences Research. (2013). Dissemination and implementation. Retrieved from https://obssr.od.nih.gov.sc9entif9c_areas/translation/dissemination_and_implementation/index.aspx
Zaccagnini, M. E., & White, K. W. (2014). The Doctor of Nursing Practice essentials: A new model for advanced practice nursing (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publisher.