Clinical Innovation

Bridging Clinical Innovation with Evidence-based Practices

Dr. Kenneth Nash	Dr. Rasim Diler

The Department of Psychiatry and its clinical partner, the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC, have been leaders in implementing evidence-based practices to improve the quality and provision of behavioral health care.  At the 2012 Clinician Educator Showcase, Kenneth Nash, MD, MMM, Chief of Clinical Services and Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs, chaired a breakout session on Bridging Clinical Innovation with Evidence-based Practices that addressed some of the barriers to implementing evidence-based practices in a clinical setting and the strategies utilized to overcome them.

At this breakout session, Rasim Diler, MD, Medical Director of the Child and Adolescent Inpatient Unit (In-CABS), reviewed some of the challenges, surprises and successes encountered in the process of establishing an evidence-based protocolized treatment program using the inpatient treatment track for adolescents diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The In-CABS program earned the Patient Care Award in 2011 from the Hospital Association of Pennsylvania for its innovative work to improve the quality of care for bipolar children and adolescents.

The interactive session also included a more in-depth discussion of the conceptualization-to-implementation process that may serve as a template for other quality improvement initiatives in various service lines.  A framework for developing, implementing and evaluating clinical innovations was presented in parallel with interactive discussions about opportunities for clinical innovation in their areas of interests.