Evaluation Plan Project: Tools for Evaluation
Much as modern travelers rely on tools to plan, research, and implement journeys, nurse informaticists and others have at their disposal tools to best approach the evaluation of HIT and healthcare information systems. But not every tool is appropriate for every situation, so an understanding of goals and which measures will best help evaluate success is necessary.
For example, surveys are a popular tool for gathering information. For the results of the evaluation to be meaningful, however, the survey used must be both reliable and valid. What does that entail? A reliable instrument is one that would yield similar results when given to different groups under identical circumstances. For example, if a survey was given to nurses on the use of a certain piece of technology, all respondents would understand the phrasing of the questions the same way. Validity refers to how well the instrument actually measures what it is intended to measure. Determining the reliability and validity of a survey instrument can be complicated and involves the use of statistics. For this reason, many researchers opt to use instruments that are already developed and tested.
For this Assignment, you research potentially appropriate HIT evaluation tools. You then select and describe one tool for use in your Evaluation Project Plan.
To prepare:
- Locate two full-text research articles in the Walden Library to add to your Evaluation Plan Project.
- The Walden Library recommends the following:
- Navigate to the Nursing Research databasesLinks to an external site. in the Walden Library.
- Select a database with which to start. You can try more than one.
- Perform a basic search with one of the concepts presented. Use quotation marks around a phrase like “HIT evaluation instruments.” Do not select any limiters yet.
- Look at results, especially the title and subject words, to see related concepts and terms to add to your search.
- Use or between related words, which means you’ll take either term.
Example: health information technology or HIT - Add a second concept in Box 2 to focus your search. It helps to keep concepts separate, especially when multiple boxes are provided. Try: nursing in Box 2.
- Refine your results depending on what you find. Don’t be afraid to try other words or combinations of words to get a sizeable list, and then you can apply limits.
- To apply limits, scroll down in the left column to limit by date (last 5 years) and limit the results to peer-reviewed scholarly journals only. It helps to do this after you know that you have performed a successful search and identified possible synonyms and sub-topics.
- To retrieve the full text of individual items, click on the Find@Walden button and follow the prompts. Sometimes this step takes persistence, since there are so many different publishers supplying content to these databases.
- Select articles that focus on survey tools that you can apply to your own Evaluation Plan Project.
Resources
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
WEEKLY RESOURCES
Day 7
In a 2- to 3-page paper, describe the evaluation tool that you selected for your Evaluation Plan Project. Provide a rationale for your selection. Develop a plan for utilizing the tool for your Evaluation Methodology Plan.
