Judy Hightower, MS, M, Ed and Kim Vana, MS. College of Nursing, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
Introduction: Nurse Educators have historically relied on the theories, knowledge and educational strategies of other disciplines such as psychology, sociology, physiology and medicine to advance nursing knowledge. These borrowed theories, models and educational strategies have been beneficial, but in order to continue the evolution of nursing, we must be more productive in the creation of research methodologies. Specifically nursing needs to validate the effectiveness of evidence based practice (EBP), nursing theories, and educational strategies for the development of expert nursing clinicians and educators. Purpose and Aim: The purpose of this paper is to summarize current knowledge of educational strategies utilized for teaching evidence based practice skills and for eliminating the barriers to using EBP in practice. Project Description: A recent study has shown that registered nurses in the U S are not ready for EBP because of the lack of understanding and the negative attitude towards research. This attitude is being attributed to the lack of education or training in information retrieval and the devaluation of research. There are two challenges in teaching EBP. First, nursing needs to scientifically validate pedagogic methods of developing expert teachers who effectively role model the process of discovery through researchable, answerable questions and critically appraise the results of all available evidence. In addition to using traditional scientific research, nurse educators must exemplify the utilization of non-research evidence such as expert opinions, patient preferences and clinical experience. Secondly, educators need to instill an enthusiasm for critical inquiry and the value of research in practice. Current educational strategies and future directions in teaching evidence based practice in nursing will be discussed. Conclusion: The state of the science on teaching evidence based practice in nursing is in its infancy and more research is necessary to build the knowledge needed to design EBP for nursing education.