Evidence-Based Practice

Evidence-Based Practice: An Implementation Guide for Healthcare Organizations was created to assist the increasing number of hospitals that are attempting to implement evidence-based practice in their facilities with little or no guidance. This manual serves as a guide for the design and implementation of evidence-based practice systems and provides practice advice, worksheets, and resources for providers. It also shows institutions how to achieve Magnet status without the major investment in consultants and external resources.

Dr. Houser is the Academic Dean of the Rueckert Hartman College for Health Professions at Regis University in Denver, Colorado. She has a BSN, an MSN in Maternal-Child Health, an MS in healthcare administration, and a PhD in applied statistics and research methods. She has taught nurses, administration, and physical therapy students from undergraduate through doctoral level, primarily in the subjects of biostatistics and quantitative methods. Dr. Houser spent 20 years in health care administration with the Mercy Health System.Her last position was as Regional Administrator for Professional Practice for Mercy Health Partners in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she was responsible for professional practice and clinical research in 29 facilities.During her tenure with MHP, she implemented evidence-based practice as a basis for the procedure manuals and system-wide care delivery policies, a shared governance model, and a collaborative care delivery system. Currently, Dr. Houser’s research agenda is focused on the association of nurse autonomy and outcomes. Dr. Houser has published three books, Clinical Research in Practice: A Guide for the Bedside Scientist (Jones and Bartlett, 2007) , Nursing Research: Reading, Using, and Creating Evidence (Jones and Bartlett, 2008), and Evidence-Based Practice: An Implementation Guide (Jones and Bartlett, 2010) and has more than 30 publications in journals and books. She has presented her research at regional, national and international conferences.She also manages a consulting firm, Abacus Systems, which specializes in biostatistical research analysis, developing measurement systems, and implementing evidence-based models of care delivery.