Following completion of a practice development (PD) project in a hospital emergency department (ED,) a pluralistic evaluation was undertaken to assess staff perspectives on the impacts of PD on the ED. Individual and focus group interviews were used to gather data, and thematic and integrative analyses of these were undertaken. The overall findings of the evaluation revealed that the participants consistently felt that PD was a valuable undertaking, was useful for engaging in processes of change and offered positive outcomes both for staff and for patients. The research results generate confidence in the methods of pluralistic evaluation to evaluate the impacts of PD. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Diffusion of innovation; Emergency services; Focus groups; Pluralistic evaluation; Practice development; Semi-structured interviews
Research Division:	Medical and Health Sciences
Research Group:	Clinical Sciences
Research Field:	Emergency Medicine
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Health and Support Services
Objective Field:	Health and Support Services not elsewhere classified
Author:	Walsh, K (Professor Kenneth Walsh)
ID Code:	92282
Year Published:	2008
Deposited By:	Health Sciences B
Deposited On:	2014-06-12
Last Modified:	2014-10-01
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