Paper
Friday, July 13, 2007
This presentation is part of : Education Initiatives for EBN
Nurse Practitioner Educators' Knowledge, Beliefs and Practices about Evidence-Based Practice
Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, PhD, RN, CPNP/NPP, FAAN, Arizona State University College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation, Arizona State University College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation, Phoenix, AZ, USA and Ellen Fineout-Overholt, PhD, RN, College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
Learning Objective #1: Describe the findings of an evidence-based practice survey conducted with nurse practitioner educators.
Learning Objective #2: Discuss clinical implications of an evidence-based practice survey conducted with nurse practitioner educators.

Background: Studies have supported that one barrier to accelerating the evidence-based practice (EBP) paradigm shift is that many nurses have negative attitudes toward research, in large part due to the manner in which they were taught research in their educational programs.

Aim: The primary aims of this study were to: (1) describe nurse educators' knowledge, beliefs, and teaching practices regarding EBP; (2) determine whether relationships exist among these variables; and (3) describe major barriers and facilitators to the teaching of EBP in nurse practitioner curriculums.

Methods: A descriptive survey was conducted with a sample of 79 nurse practitioner educators who are members of the Association of Faculties of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (AFPNP) and the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) in the United States.

Results: Participants’ self-reported knowledge and beliefs about the benefits of EBP and the need to integrate it into academic curricula were strong, although their responses indicated a knowledge gap in EBP teaching strategies. Few academic programs offered a foundational course in EBP. Significant relationships were found among educators’ knowledge of EBP and (a) their beliefs that EBP improves clinical care, (b) beliefs that teaching EBP will advance the profession, (c) how comfortable they feel in teaching EBP, and (d) whether EBP clinical competencies are incorporated into clinical specialty courses.

Conclusion and Implications: Graduate programs need to offer a foundational course in EBP and integrate EBP throughout clinical specialty courses in order for advanced practice nurses to implement this type of care upon entry into practice. There is a need to educate faculty to become proficient in EBP as knowledge of EBP is highly related to its teaching and incorporation into graduate education. Further research is needed to describe the knowledge and state of teaching EBP in graduate faculty who are not active in clinical practice.