Science-Driven Care: Can Education Alone Get Us There by 2020?

Abstract

M ore than a decade ago, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recognized evidence-based practice (EBP) as a key solution to ensure that the care delivered has the highest clinical effectiveness known to science.1 To reach the IOM's 2020 goal that "90% of clinical decisions will be supported by accurate, timely and up-to-date clinical information, and will reflect the best available evidence," 2(p4) clinicians need EBP competencies to guarantee that applicable research findings are integrated into clinical situations when congruent with patients' preferences or values. Relevant EBP domains include (1) attitudes, (2) knowledge, (3) skills (application of knowledge by performing EBP steps in the clinical situations shown in Figure 1), and (4) behaviors (actual performance of EBP in practice). 4 Thus, the PICO (patient, intervention, comparison, outcome) question chosen for this review was "What educational interventions are effective in building EBP attitudes, knowledge, skills, and/or behaviors of clinicians?" MethodThe search strategy included searches of CINAHL and MEDLINE with the key words EBP, teaching methods, and educational interventions. Only research focused on practicing clinicians in the past 5 years was included.

Bathing With 2% Chlorhexidine Gluconate

“…Poor staff adherence to infection prevention practices and policies during insertion, poor care for the devices after insertion, and extended durations of catheter use are all important factors for the development of serious and costly infections. 26,30 Patients deserve to have a healthy hospital environment with the least possible risks during the course of their hospital stay. Halm 30 points to an environment where the "search for and use of evidence" is contributory to an evidence-based culture, effecting improved outcomes in nursing.…”

Evaluating the Impact of EBP Education: Development of a Modified Fresno Test for Acute Care Nursing

“…A recent evidence synthesis reported 10 studies evaluating the effectiveness of educational interventions in building EBP attitudes, knowledge, skills, and behaviors of nurses (Halm, ). Interventions were primarily workshop or immersion programs, but seminars, journal clubs, and EBP and research councils were also evaluated via: (a) self‐reported EBP attitude, knowledge, and behavior (Chang et al., ; Dizon, Somers, & Kumar, ; Edward & Mills, ; Leung, Trevana, & Waters, ); (b) PICO questions and activity diaries (Dizon et al., ); (c) Edmonton Research Orientation (Gardner, Smyth, Renison, Cann, & Vicary, ) and Clinical Effectiveness or EBP Questionnaire (Sciarra, ; Toole, Stichler, Ecoff, & Kath, ; White‐Williams et al., ); and (d) interviews and focus groups to identify qualitative themes about nurses’ experience in EBP programs (Balakas, Sparks, Steurer, & Bryant, ; Nesbitt, ; Wendler, Samuelson, Taft, & Eldridge, ).…”