Learning Objective #1: assimilate components of an evidenced based teaching strategy.

Learning Objective #2: integrate a creative teaching activity to implement evidenced based practice into fundamental nursing courses.

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Future nurses need to be educated to be responsive to the rapidly changing and fast pace of the clinical environment if they are to affect positive patient outcomes. Reliance on scientific rationales from textbooks and expert faculty knowledge is no longer sufficient given the wealth of information available in the literature. Educators are challenged to develop students who use and appreciate evidenced based methods as the foundation to substantiate clinical decisions. The skill set to integrate evidenced based methods into practice decisions requires the student to identify patient problems, access and search databases for relevant research, critically appraise the literature, and determine the applicability of the findings to a clinical situation. If students are to become proficient in the application of evidenced based interventions to affect positive patient outcomes, learning the skills must start early enough to be imbedded in thought processes and practice patterns. To introduce students to evidenced based thinking and patient care interventions, an activity that focuses on developing an evidenced based plan of care was implemented in two foundation nursing courses. In this activity, students working in groups of 3 or 4 with a dedicated teacher were provided with a patient care vignette that was programmed on a high fidelity manikin to allow student interaction with the ‘patient'. Over a period of time, students worked through the steps of implementing evidenced based practice interventions that ultimately culminated in a group presentation before the class. This poster presentation will detail the learning activity, the premise for its structure and implementation methods, and effective teaching strategies. How the activity was modified to suit specific foundation nursing course will be shared as will a progression of student work from both courses.