Evidence-Based Practice / Unit 13 EBP 1825 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Working an Unclosable Problem
The idea
The technique: establish whether the problem is wicked before choosing a method; if it is, expect contested aims and no final solution, and set out to improve the situation rather than close it; keep appraisal standards intact; watch for effects outside where the change was made; and let the people doing the work hold a share of the decisions.
In practice
A recurring problem examined and found wicked — its aims disputed among the people affected, its causes each opening into another problem. Improvement chosen as the goal rather than resolution, with progress measured continuously. Candidate approaches still appraised to the unit's usual standard, because complexity is not a licence to skip that. Balancing measures set outside the unit where the change lands, since effects will not stay put. The decision shared with the clinicians who will carry it, and the gap between intended and actual performance kept visible rather than reviewed quarterly.
Where people slip
Decide first whether the problem is genuinely wicked. Labelling a definable problem wicked excuses the work of defining it, and that is the more common error by a distance.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
- 1801Evidence and Innovation Are Partners
- 1803The Cybernetic Evidence-Innovation Dynamic
- 1806The Complex Adaptive System
- 1808Wicked Problems
- 1809Unclear in Aims and in Solutions
- 1811No Final Solution
- 1812Complexity Leadership
- 1817Courage to Challenge the Evidence
- 1818The Innovator Role
- 1819Any Point on the Continuum
- 1821Shared Governance
- 1824Misconception: Complexity Means Anything Might Work
Unlocks
- Nothing yet depends on this.
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