The effect of evidence‐based nursing education on nurses' clinical decision making: A randomized controlled trial

INTRODUCTION: Nurses are the largest group of health‐care providers and their clinical decisions have an essential role in patients' clinical condition. Evidence‐based nursing has been proposed as a health‐care method based on the latest findings and evidence. Therefore, we aimed to determine the effect of evidence‐based nursing education on dialysis nurses' clinical decision‐making. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This single‐blind experimental study conducted in 2021 at dialysis wards of teaching hospitals affiliated to Urmia University of Medical Sciences. In this study, a total of 60 dialysis nurses were recruited using convenience sampling and allocated to two groups of intervention (n = 30) and control (n = 30). Data were collected at three time points of before, 1 week after, and 1 month after the intervention using a demographic questionnaire and the Lauri and Salantera Clinical Decision‐Making Questionnaire (LSCD‐MQ). Nurses in the intervention group received 12 sessions of evidence‐based nursing education, while nurses in the control group received no intervention. RESULTS: The results showed the mean score of clinical decision‐making had a significant decreasing trend over time (p < 0.001) so that it decreased significantly 1 week after the intervention (72.83 ± 4.90) compared with before the intervention (69.5 ± 67.34) in the intervention group. Moreover, participants' decision‐making moved toward analytical decision‐making. The results also indicated there was a significant difference between the baseline mean score of clinical decision‐making and the postintervention mean scores obtained 1 week (p = 0.025) and 1 month (p = 0.001) after the intervention. However, this difference was not found to be significant in the control group (p = 1.000). CONCLUSIONS: The study results indicate the positive effect of evidence‐based education on nurses' clinical decision‐making. Therefore, nurses are recommended to apply evidence‐based education methods to improve their level of clinical decision‐making. Health officials are also recommended to hold in‐service evidence‐based workshops to update nurses' knowledge.