Encouraging Best Practice in Residential Aged Care Program: Final Evaluation Report

2.1 - Evidence used in the program

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The evidence implemented by the 13 EBPRAC projects involved three types of evidence, with some projects focusing on one type of evidence whereas others sought to implement more than one type:

• Practice level evidence i.e. the evidence with the potential to directly impact on residents such as the evidence about pain management or wound management.
• Evidence about key processes in caring for residents e.g. assessing residents, care planning, case conferencing.
• Context level e.g. person-centred care, palliative approach to care.

Some projects used one or two main sources of evidence whereas others used a considerable number of additional sources, primarily the results of individual studies and guidelines for specific areas of practice e.g. venous leg ulcers. Table 4 summarises the main sources of evidence used by the projects.

Table 4 Main sources of evidence implemented in the EBPRAC program

Source of the evidence	Title of the evidence	Year of publication
Victorian Quality Council	Minimising the risk of falls and fall-related injuries: guidelines for acute, sub-acute and residential care settings.	2004
Australian Safety and Quality Council	Preventing falls and harm from falls in older people. Best practice guidelines for Australian hospitals and residential aged care facilities.	2005 (updated in 2009)
Central Coast Area Health Service (NSW)	Best practice food and nutrition manual for aged care facilities.	2004
Australian Pharmaceutical Advisory Committee	Guidelines for medication management in residential aged care facilities, 3rd edition.	2002
Australian Pain Society	Pain in residential aged care facilities - management strategies.	2005
Joanna Briggs Institute	Best practice: oral hygiene care for adults with dementia in residential aged care facilities (part of the series, Best Practice: Evidence Based Practice Information Sheets for Health Professionals).
Primary Dementia Collaborative Research Centre	A review of the empirical literature on the design of physical environments for people with dementia.	2008
National Health & Medical Research Council	Guidelines for a palliative approach in residential aged care (enhanced version).	2006
Department of Health and Ageing	Infection control guidelines for the prevention and transmission of infectious diseases in the health care setting.	2004 (updated in 2010)
Australian Wound Management Association	Standards for wound management	2002

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