Paper
Friday, 21 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Management Strategies to Create an Evidence-Based Nursing Environment
Are Healthcare Organizations Effectively Developing and Disseminating Research-Based Policies and Procedures?
Janet E. Squires, BN, RN, Donna Moralejo, PhD, MSC(A), RN, and Sandra M. LeFort, PhD, MN, RN. School of Nursing, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NF, Canada
Learning Objective #1: The learner will be able to identify reasons why existing policies and procedures may not be evidence-based.
Learning Objective #2: The learner will be able to identify strategies to increase dissemination of policies and procedures to staff nurses.
Background: Policies and procedures (P&Ps) are one possible strategy for moving research evidence into practice. However, research is lacking about whether the processes used by healthcare organizations are effective in developing research-based P&Ps.

Objective: As part of a larger study on evidence-based practice (EBP), this study examined the existence of P&Ps related to eight specific research-based practices (RBPs), as well as the processes used to develop P&Ps.

Methods: 248 staff nurses from eight regions across the province of Newfoundland and Labrador completed an anonymous self-administered questionnaire regarding eight RBPs. Authorities from six of these regions provided examples of P&Ps related to the eight RBPs and information about their process for developing P&Ps.

Results: Four regions reported P&Ps on 4 of the 8 RBPs while the remaining two regions had fewer P&Ps. Fourteen of the nineteen P&Ps received were research-based. All regions reported a similar process for developing P&Ps, which included using committees. Even though all regions reported using journals, evidence-based reviews and clinical practice guidelines to develop P&Ps, only one of the policies returned referenced a research journal. The majority referenced texts while six had no references. The primary modes for disseminating P&Ps to staff nurses were passive, in the form of email or posted memos. However, these modes of dissemination have not been successful; over a quarter of the nurses were incorrect in their knowledge of policy existence with respect to 6 of the 8 RBPs. Furthermore, depending on the practice, 16.8%- 97.5% of nurses were not aware of P&Ps when they existed and 5.0%-63.6% perceived P&Ps to exist when they didn’t.

Conclusions: If P&Ps are to be used to promote EBP, we will need to increase the research base of current and future P&Ps and use more active modes to disseminate them to staff nurses.  

See more of Management Strategies to Create an Evidence-Based Nursing Environment
See more of The 17th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice (19-22 July 2006)