Nursing, Respiratory Care, and Social Work Undergraduate Students' Practices, Attitudes, and Knowledge/Skills With Evidence-Based Practice

Nursing, Respiratory, and Social Work programs are complementary to each other in the pursuit of health and wellness promotion. However, the evidence-based practice paradigm is not fully actualized in nursing, respiratory care and social work practices. Therefore, there is a call for EBP to be integrated into healthcare providers’ education and practice, and translate the evidence into a viable practice to ensure quality, cost-effective care and improved outcomes. Healthcare organizations are challenged with providing the best care based on the best available evidence, rather than tradition or assumptions. The EBP process is a clinical decision-making approach to care that is fundamental to the provision of quality healthcare. There is a lack of research on the interdisciplinary approach to teaching EBP in the academic setting to prepare the next generation of healthcare providers. This interdisciplinary research study will help others improve and transform curricula design for nursing, respiratory care, and social work. All three programs are required by their accreditation bodies to ensure students learn and apply EBP competencies. Practices based on research findings are more likely to result in the desired patient outcomes across various settings and geographic locations. The impetus for EBP comes from payer and healthcare facility pressures for cost containment, greater availability of information, and greater consumer savvy about treatment and care options. EBP demands changes in education of students, more practice-relevant research, and closer working relationships between clinicians and researchers. EBP also provides opportunities for patient care to be more individualized, more effective, streamlined, and dynamic, and to maximize effects of clinical judgment. When evidence is used to define best practices rather than to support existing practices, patient care keeps pace with the latest technological advances and takes advantage of new knowledge developments. Each department (nursing, social, work, respiratory) must produce students to keep pace with these advances and developments. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to identify students’ engagement with and implementation of EBP competencies. The study served to find patterns of adoption and implementation of EBP throughout the learning process. This presentation will highlight how students can best be supported during their academics to ensure they are ready with the necessary skills and competencies upon graduation. The results of this study will be shared so participants will be informed about implementing EBP competencies in nursing, respiratory care, and social work programs. It will inform faculty to respond to areas where students require further support and development of EBP competencies. In combination, this will help those areas, which need particular focus to ensure that the students learning needs are met by educational programming.