Description/Overview: Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a conceptual ideal that has captured the attention of health care providers and organizations across the international landscape as they engage in efforts to improve clinical care outcomes. The acceptance of this ideal is as universal as the desire for progress in the healthcare setting. However, many clinicians have come to recognize that the EBP process is complicated and not simply a matter of spreading a best practice to get the best outcomes. A more realistic conception of the term EBP understands evidence-based practice to be fundamentally an approach to decision making. As such, EBP is viewed as a process, not simply the end product of knowledge transfer. The fundamental activity of EBP is evidence-based decision making (EBDM), and EBDM is the foundation for best clinical outcomes. This symposium will present a case for the process-focused conception of EBP, by introducing challenges and opportunities inherent in the reality of evidence-based decision-making in clinical practice. Specifically, each paper will focus upon one of six fundamental processes of EBDM. Nurses engaged in evidence-based decision-making initiatives at a large multi-state/multi-site medical center in the U.S. will share challenges and opportunities from their current research in this field. Presenters will report research findings and provide select representative strategies for actuating key processes of EBDM in the clinical setting. These strategies will be grounded in the research study findings of the presenters. Dialogue with conference participants will be built into this interactive symposium.

Learner Objective #1: Identify three challenges and opportunities related to building essential EBP knowledge and skills.

Learner Objective #2: Describe future implications for education, research, and practice based on the study findings.