Enhancing utility and understanding of evidence based practice through undergraduate nurse education

BACKGROUND: The concept of evidence-based practice is globally relevant in current healthcare climates. However, students and teachers struggle with integrating evidence based practice effectively into a curriculum. This has implications for nurse education and in particular the way in which research is presented and delivered to students. A new undergraduate Evidence Based Practice module (Evidence Based Nursing 1) was developed in a large University within the United Kingdom. It commenced in October 2014 running in year one of a 3 year undergraduate nursing programme. This study sought to formally evaluate attitudes and beliefs, knowledge level and utilization of evidence based practice though using two validated questionnaires: Evidence Based Practice Beliefs Scale© and Evidence Based Practice Implementation Scale©. METHOD: This was a pilot study using quantitative pre and post-test design. Anonymised data was collected from Year 1 undergraduate student nurses in the September 2014 intake (n = 311) at two time points. Time 1: pre-module in September 2014; and Time 2: post –module in August 2015. All data was collected via Survey Monkey. RESULTS: Results demonstrate that the educational initiative positively impacted on both the beliefs and implementation of evidence based practice. Analysis highlighted statistically significant changes (p < 0.05) in both the Evidence Based Practice Beliefs Scale (7/16 categories) and the Evidence Based Practice Implementation Scale (13 / 18 categories). CONCLUSIONS: The significance of integrating evidence based practice into undergraduate nurse education curriculum cannot be underestimated if evidence based practice and its positive impact of patient care are to be appreciated in healthcare settings internationally.