Introduction
Being essential to public health, program evaluation is the process of thorough collecting, analyzing, and using data in order to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of the program. Usually, during the evaluation of a program, program need, program plan, program impact, and program performance are assessed (Holly, 2014). It is considered that an effective program evaluation enables healthcare professionals to improve public health actions by analyzing the benefits of a particular approach (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019). Speaking of the purpose of program evaluation, it is generally used for program development or improvement.
Types of Evaluation
There are several types of evaluation, such as goal-based, outcome, summative, and formative evaluation. A goal-based evaluation is aimed at determining the extent to which the goals set have been met. Thus, this type of evaluation may be utilized to compare several projects based on their feasibility. It is worth mentioning that a goal-based evaluation may be either summative or formative. Outcome-based (or impact) evaluation is regarded as the formal assessment of program outcomes. Unlike a goal-based evaluation, this one is conducted for a single program when there is baseline data for comparison of outcome measures.
The summative evaluation has a retrospective nature and happens at the end of the project with a view to assessing whether the predetermined objectives have been met. In turn, formative evaluation is performed to discover in which way the project can be improved so as to meet the expected outcomes. In contrast to summative evaluation, formative evaluation happens at the early stage of the project when changes can still be made.
An evaluation plan is developed to describe the way in which the evaluation of a program will be conducted. A clinical APN example that will be further discussed is the implementation of hospital-acquired pressure ulcer prevention care bundle in intensive care units.
Firstly, the objectives of the evaluation procedure need to be identified. These include determination of the overall effectiveness of the new care bundle in reducing prevalence rates of hospital-acquired pressure injuries among patients in intensive care units and comparison of the care bundle with standard hospital practices. Other objectives of the program evaluation are the identification of ways in which the given care bundle could be further improved and determination the extent to which the care bundle is sustainable. Finally, the knowledge and skills of the nursing staff need to be evaluated.
Based on the evaluation goals mentioned above, the evaluation plan has been created. At the first stage, methods for data collection need to be discussed. In the given project, it is the prevalence of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers that will be estimated, which is why data collection will be performed by research assistants and nurses during a regular examination of patients. Data regarding the previous rates of the prevalence of pressure injuries should also be collected (Kwong, Hung, & Woo, 2016).
Knowledge and skills of the staff will be assessed using questionnaires. At the second stage, results obtained will be interpreted using statistical tools (t-test in any statistical program, such as STATA or R) (Moore, Notz, & Fligner, 2015). At the third stage, conclusions will be made regarding the chosen objectives of the evaluation. In particular, it will be discussed whether the decrease in the prevalence of pressure injuries is statistically significant. Finally, at the fourth stage, recommendations will be given as to how the staff could improve the care bundle.
Conclusion
In summary, a program evaluation focuses on the permanent improvement of a certain service and determination the reasons why the program appeared to be not as effective as was expected. Depending on the stage at which evaluation is intended to be performed, as well as the measure that needs to be estimated, there are several types of program evaluation. The evaluation plan that precedes any program evaluation must be based on the statement of objectives and an outline of steps which assessment will follow.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). Program performance and evaluation office (PPEO).
Holly, C. (2014). Scholarly inquiry and the DNP capstone. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
Kwong, E. W., Hung, M. S., & Woo, K. (2016). Improvement of pressure ulcer prevention care in private for-profit residential care homes: An action research study. BMC Geriatrics, 16(1), 1-14.
Moore, D. S., Notz, W. I., & Fligner, M. A. (2015). The basic practice of statistics (7th ed.). New York, NY: W. H. Freeman & Company.