A nursing scholar who has helped usher in methods for continual improvement in health care will be the keynote speaker at the fourth annual Fall Nursing Forum Nov. 11 at the University of Houston System at Sugar Land.

The event is sponsored by the UHV School of Nursing and Methodist Sugar Land Hospital.

Kathleen Stevens

Kathleen Stevens is recognized as a national trailblazer in evidenced-based practice, a method of identifying health care innovations so that successful practices can more quickly be incorporated by nurses to improve patient care. She is a professor and director of the Improvement Science Research Network and Academic Center for Evidence-Based Practice at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Her topic, “Evidence-Based Improvement at the Point of Care,” will address bedside nursing improvements and how those produce positive patient outcomes.

The forum will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the Ryon Davis Multi-Purpose Room at the UH System at Sugar Land, 14004 University Blvd. It is open to any licensed vocational nurse, registered nurse or advanced practice nurse. The fee is $25 or $10 for UHV nursing students. The event ends at noon.

“The delivery of best practices in direct patient care is highly valued and must be skillful,” Stevens said. “Evidence-based improvement is science-based care, and it must be informed by research evidence that enables us to select the intervention that will produce the desired result.

Stevens said she and the Academic Center for Evidence-Based Practice have studied evidence-based improvement for 15 years.

“Since 2004, national surveys show that we’re making small but positive steps toward improving quality, yet we have made large steps in improving patient safety,” she said.

Stevens is one of 65 fellows in the Academy of Nursing Education, an honor reserved for those who have made significant, long-term contributions to the nursing profession, and also is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Eugenia Blomstrom

“Evidence-based improvement is where we explore the best available research and integrate it into the bedside where it belongs,” said Eugenia Blomstrom, event host and an assistant clinical professor in the UHV School of Nursing. “Since we now have patients for such a short time, we need to educate them on caring for their wound or infection or what they were admitted for. The decisions we make, based on the best data available, produce better patient care and satisfaction. It’s a win-win situation for all.”

Seating is limited, and early registration is encouraged. To register online, visit www.uhvconnect.org/event/fallnursingforum by Wednesday. Participants also may register at the door.

For more information, contact the UHV School of Nursing at 281-275-3060 or email nursing@uhv.edu. Methodist Sugar Land Hospital is an approved provider of continuing education units by the Texas Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

The Fall Nursing Forum is sponsored by the UHV School of Nursing, Methodist Sugar Land Hospital, the UH System at Sugar Land, the UHV Nursing Honor Society and the UHV Alumni Association.