DR. EMILIA J. FLORES LEADS RESEARCH ON EVIDENCE-BASED CARE

Dr. Emilia J. Flores, Hillman Scholar ’17, is making strides in incorporating evidence-based care at the bedside. She is the first author of the November 2018 BMJ Quality and Safety original research article, “Using a 10-step Framework to Support the Implementation of an Evidence-Based Clinical Pathways Program,” which describes how multidisciplinary care plans can be used for translating evidence into local settings, thus improving the value of patient care.  Using innovative cloud-based technology, Flores and her team were able to support and disseminate their work throughout a major academic healthcare system – covering 6 acute care hospitals (with more than 2700 licensed beds).

The success of this study garnered interest and funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), who is now providing funding for the Center for Evidence-based practice to develop a clinical pathway for Clostridium difficile (one of the most prevalent hospital acquired infections) treatment and to disseminate it through electronic medical record. This clinical pathway will therefore reach thousands of practitioners quickly and help mitigate the complications of Clostridium difficile.

AHRQ also launched CDS Connect. CDS Connect will facilitate the sharing of Clinical Decision Support tools across healthcare settings, in which Flores’ team published the Clostridium difficile infection treatment pathway.

Dr. Emilia J. Flores is the current Program Manager at the Center for Evidence-based Practice at University of Pennsylvania Health System. She is also on faculty at Penn Nursing, and the Associate Director for Clinical Integration and Knowledge Translation at Cochrane Affiliate Center. Flores completed her PhD as a Hillman Scholar at University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in 2017.