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Administration and Management Perceptions Regarding Evidence-based Practice

Tuesday, 14 July 2009

Kelly Jo Cone, RN, MS, PhD, CNE
Saint Francis College of Nursing, Peoria, IL

Learning Objective 1: Identify administration and managements’ perceptions regarding use of EBP by staff nurses within their healthcare institution.

Learning Objective 2: Determine the readiness of administration and management to endorse, incorporate, promote, and use EBP within their institution.

Introduction: Evidence-based practice (EBP) has become widely accepted by healthcare institutions and providers as the model to guide the structure, process, and outcome of patient care (Gerrish & Clayton, 2004). However, despite a growing support for the EBP movement, only a small percentage of healthcare providers actually implement interventions that are evidence-based (Jolley, 2002). Understanding factors that contribute to this lack of implementation by nurses can be the key to designing strategies for use by nurses at the bedside. Many nurses cite a variety of barriers to completing EBP or incorporating it into their daily practice (Pravikoff, Tanner, & Pierce, 2005). One such barrier is the lack of support from administration and management teams.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the readiness of administration, management, and clinical educators to endorse, incorporate, promote, and use EBP within their institution. The research question is: What is the perception of administration and management in the utilization of EBP within their institution?

Methods: This descriptive, exploratory survey included an author-altered 86-item questionnaire, “Information Literacy for Evidence Based Nursing Practice” developed by Pravikoff, Tanner, & Pierce (2005). Descriptive and nonparametric statistics were used to analyze data. Seventy-seven surveys were sent to hospital directors, managers, assistant managers and clinical educators with a 55% return rate.

Results: The perceived personal barriers to use of EBP was lack of understanding about electronic databases (n=10, 24%), lack of search skills (n=10, 24%), difficulty understanding research articles (n=7, 17%), lack of skills to critique and synthesize existing literature (n=7, 17%), and lack of search skills (n=7, 17%).

Conclusion: As a Magnet facility, use of EBP depends highly on the positive attitude of nursing administration, managers and educators (Nursing Executive Center, 2005). The ultimate goal of EBP is to improve patient care, satisfaction, and healthcare outcomes.

See more of: Accepted EBP Posters
See more of: Evidence-Based Practice Sessions – Oral Paper & Posters