Paper
Saturday, 22 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Supporting Evidence-Based Nursing: Educational Initiatives
Integrating Best Practice Guidelines into Nursing Curriculum
Catherine E. (Betty) Cragg, RN, MEd, EdD, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada, Stephanie Lappan-Gracon, RN, MN, Registered Nursing Association of Ontario, Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, Toronto, ON, Canada, and Tazim Virani, MScN, Health, Policy, Management, Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Learning Objective #1: Identify approaches to incorporate evidence based practice into teaching strategies across nursing curriculum.
Learning Objective #2: Identify strategies to address the clinical theory gap in implementing evidence based practices in the curriculum.
The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario has been leading an innovative program of nursing best practice guidelines since 1999.  A unique feature of the guidelines is the inclusion of recommendations for practice, organizational/policy and education.  Clinical practice guidelines are evidence based tools developed through rigorous methodology.

Successful uptake of guidelines requires a concerted effort of four groups:  nurses themselves, healthcare colleagues, employers and nurse educators in both academic and practice settings.  Thus, integration of best practice guidelines within undergraduate nursing curricula is of paramoun importance.

In a quest to promote the uptake and integration of nursing best practice guidelines into the curriculum, the RNAO led demonstration projects with schools of nursing across the province of Ontario.  These pilot projects resulted in eleven creative approaches to promote curriculum uptake.  One such project focused on the support of nursing faculty and the integration of guidelines into both clinical and theory based courses at the University of Ottawa.  Results of the project along with highlights of the University of Ottawa School of Nursing experience will be discussed.

See more of Supporting Evidence-Based Nursing: Educational Initiatives
See more of The 17th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice (19-22 July 2006)