A newly available platform through UAB Libraries enables clinicians and health care faculty and students to better organize and manage evidence-based practice and quality improvement projects.
Ovid Synthesis (available at no cost to UAB students and employees through UAB Libraries following a licensure request) provides templates for project management, guiding users through the steps of an evidence-based practice or quality improvement project. It includes an integrated search feature to access to more than 6,000 e-books and more than 1,400 peer-reviewed journals, and users also can add team members in a variety of project roles, set goals and deadlines, and, once a project is complete, generate presentations for public dissemination.
Librarians in the Clinical, Academic, and Research Engagement (CARE) and Clinical Services departments in UAB Libraries and faculty from the School of Nursing, led by Shea Polancich, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Family, Community and Health Systems, spent two years piloting the software with test users in quality improvement in UAB Medicine and students and faculty in the School of Nursing’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program, then customizing the platform based on the unique needs and wants of users from the UAB enterprise.
“The great thing about Ovid Synthesis is that provides users pathways through an entire project from start to finish,” explained Emma O’Hagan, clinical services librarian in Lister Hill Library at University Hospital, a branch location of Lister Hill Library that provides hospital staff with accurate, reliable, and timely information in support of patient care, education, and research.
“What starts as a single idea turns into a project, and then from that project come evidence-based outcomes that are ready for the real world.”
Heather Nelson-Brantley, Ph.D., director of the Executive DNP Pathway in the School of Nursing, says having the option to use Ovid Synthesis is reducing apprehension about project management for her students.
“Students have shared how this approach has reduced the anxiety they have historically experienced from the daunting thought of needing to develop an entire proposal starting from a blank page,” she explained. “The ability to generate a literature appraisal table, a draft manuscript, and draft presentation slides also are features that our students have expressed enthusiasm for.”
Nelson-Brantley also uses the platform to oversee her students’ project; she adds that Ovid Synthesis has simplified this as well.
“As a program director, I appreciate the ability to view and provide feedback on all student projects in one place,” she said.
For DNP students working on quality improvement projects, Tedra Smith, DNP, associate professor in the Department of Family, Community and Health Systems, says that the tool’s functionality “offers a robust, systematic and structured approach to education,” and that it enables better communication between faculty and students while providing a centrally located hub for each of a project’s vital components.
“Overall, Ovid Synthesis is becoming an essential tool for design, implantation and evaluation of robust quality improvement products.”
Ovid Synthesis is available at no cost to the user through a partnership between UAB Libraries and the School of Nursing. To request a license and/or training, complete this form; a limited number of licenses currently are available.