Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Capstone

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Committee Chair

Camille Reese

Abstract

Purpose: Does tradition or "we have always done it this way" provide for safe, confident care? The care nurses provide should be based on evidence. Many barriers to evidence-based practice (EBP) exist. Nurses' lack of knowledge about EBP and nurses' beliefs/attitudes toward and implementation of EBP need to be addressed. Hospital administration and nursing staff must be aware of current practice guidelines. Awareness of the need for EBP demands a process/action to change practice habits. The rewards of implementing EBP should motivate a transformation leading to adaptation of EBP care. The research question this project proposed to answer was: Will a training program designed to educate nurses about EBP improve the beliefs/attitudes toward and intent to use EBP?

Methods: Nurse participants attended a seven hour training program on EBP. Pre- and post- mean scores on the EBP Beliefs/attitudes and EBP Implementation scales were compared using paired t-test to determine the effect of the program.

Results: Participants scored higher on both the EBP Beliefs/attitudes and EBP Implementation scales following the educational program. Paired t-test indicated a significant difference in means for both scales (p < 0.01).

Conclusions: Findings of the project demonstrated that education can affect the nurse's belief/attitude and intent to use EBP. Additional work needs to be done on the use and implementation of EBP in health care organizations. The long-term effect of education on nurses' beliefs/attitudes and use of EBP should be fostered and built into the organization's culture and competencies. Bedside nurses must be convinced that the translation of research into practice is truly a vital part of everyday nursing care.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Included in

Nursing Commons

Share

COinS