Description/Overview: Integrative reviews are recognized as a cornerstone of evidence-based (EB) nursing practice. These reviews provide the foundation for EB nursing interventions and clinical practice guidelines. By combining diverse methodologies and varied perspectives, a well-rounded review of the evidence can be presented without an over-emphasis on empirically-based research hierarchies. Integrative reviews not only answer critical questions surrounding current nursing and patient care, but also assist in the translation of high quality evidence into a nurse’s daily clinical practice. However, the ability to conduct an integrative review is not usually part of the average nurse’s skill set. Nurses often have many questions concerning how best to gather, appraise, and synthesize the necessary evidence. This three part symposium will present the skills, tools, and answers needed by nurses to negotiate the integrative review process. The pitfalls common to integrative reviews will be addressed throughout the symposium. The first presentation will answer the most frequently asked questions nurses have about the integrative review, with several exemplars illustrating various steps of the process. The tools needed for gathering the evidence, as well as the appraisal and grading of the found evidence, will be shown and discussed in detail in the second presentation. The final presentation will concentrate on synthesizing the appraised evidence, which is considered the most important activity of the review process. The symposium will conclude with a discussion featuring several completed integrative reviews as a final demonstration of how to translate evidence into everyday nursing practice.

Learner Objective #1: Discuss three strategies to find and gather relevant evidence for an integrative review.

Learner Objective #2: Identify two components used to determine the quality of the evidence for an integrative review.