Collaborating to Build Curriculum for EBP Fellowships

Three university-based centers developed evidence implementation clinical fellowships with the goal of enhancing the skills of clinicians and enhancing patient outcomes. They use both classroom active and experiential learning strategies. During development, all three programs capitalized on their relationships with each other through the America’s region of the Joanna Briggs Collaboration and on their existing clinical partnerships. Their clinical advisory boards and networks shaped the goals and design of the fellowships to meet the unique needs of their partnering clinicians and contexts. All three programs focus on building fundamental evidence based practice skills but uniquely use mentorship and facilitation as key aspects of their programs. The Texas Christian University Center prepares frontline staff through a series of workshops based on the Iowa Model with mentors employed in the fellow’s facility supporting the fellows throughout implementation. The New Jersey Center focuses on developing expert facilitators based on the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Service. The Indiana Center blends aspects of both programs. Teams of frontline staff and clinical leaders, acting as facilitators, attend an intensive on-campus workshop; Center faculty members serve as team mentors throughout the implementation of projects. In all three programs, clinician fellows plan, execute and evaluate an evidence implementation project based on local clinical data, their agencies’ priorities and unique contexts.

In this session, presenters will discuss how the models shaped their curricula and clinical implementation of evidence; they will share sample learning activities and teaching strategies. They will discuss the costs of the fellowship to both the academic and clinical partners. Finally, they will describe the impact of the fellowships on their clinical partners, the nurse fellows and patient outcomes.