SIGNIFICANCE:  Public expectations for evidence-based quality improvement have generated the need for updated professional proficiency in EBP.  These new expectations necessitate revision of academic and professional development education so that students and clinicians acquire these EBP skills. Until this project, no consensus on EBP competencies in nursing were articulated.  These competencies are being used to assess proficiencies and guide interventions that prepare nurses to contribute to this important movement.

 METHODS:  Consensus was established through multiple approaches:  open-ended survey of nurses; content analysis; generation of competency statements; indexing statements to national recommendations (e.g., IOM, 2003); and establishing agreement among members of an expert panel. 

 The national panel of EBP experts specified structure for competency development:  Socio-political impetus for defining competencies; trends in healthcare quality; general and discipline-specific EBP competency recommendations; work-to-date in nursing; and the ACE Star Model (Stevens, 2004). Following a face-to-face meeting, the panel responded to written surveys that elicited agreement on statements.  According to panel responses, competency statements were revised and a minimum level of 90% agreement was established.

 FINDINGS:  Resulting EBP competency statements were classified across three levels of nursing education and organized into five stages of knowledge transformation (Stevens, 2004). Competency statements for each level of education program are as follows:
Undergraduate, 20 statements; Masters, 32; and Doctoral, 31.

 CONCLUSION: Statements were developed at a detailed level to specifically guide curriculum revisions during this time of fairly wide variation in understanding of EPB. The statements provide common understanding of competencies necessary in employing EBP. The EBP Competencies are also being used as a basis for clinical performance competencies and instrument development.