As one of the Evidence Foundation's fall 2021 scholars, Reena Ragala attended the most recent GRADE guideline development workshop, held virtually. As part of her application, Reena discussed her current project to develop a clinical guideline development "bootcamp" within her new position at Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Health, and presented this project to her fellow participants during the workshop.
Below, Reena provides an update on her exciting work.
"I work in MUSC Health’s Value Institute as an evidence-based practice analyst.
"Our GRADE bootcamp training is 'in progress.' The presentation content and audio are being finalized for the target audience (MUSC rural health network care team members). We have also decided to expand the target audience to include any subject matter expert that serves on our clinical practice guideline (CPG) workgroups, allowing all clinicians (MD, RN, therapist, SW, etc.) the opportunity to become more confident about what GRADE is, why it is used in decision-making at MUSC Health, and how evidence-based decisions are made using the GRADE methodology. Once the training module is recorded, we will begin sending it out as 'homework' for all subject matter experts in advance of each new CPG kickoff meeting. The training module will also be uploaded into our new education platform which goes live in November 2022.
"The dissemination of this training program has been delayed to November 2022 due to unexpected systemwide changes to our education platform. In addition, nursing shortages and COVID-related high census have limited our ability to get the necessary approvals for training that is not directly related to patient care or patient safety.
"Since attending the GRADE workshop, I have also worked with colleagues to update the formatting of our evidence brief template. We adopted the 'Summary of Findings Table' and expanded the details of evidence appraisal based on the GRADE criteria, allowing the end users to more appropriately interpret the recommendations for clinical practice."
