Nurses' Knowledge, Attitude, and Implement Confidence Regarding Evidence-Based Nursing in Taiwan

Purpose: The objectives of this study were to describe nurses’ knowledge, attitude, and implement confidence regarding evidence-based nursing (EBP) and major barriers to EBP.

Methods: The study was approved by the appropriate ethics committees. A descriptive survey was conducted with a random sample of 300 nurses from a regional teaching hospital in Southern Taiwan.

Results: The results showed that nursing staffs had insufficient knowledge about EBP and they moderately believed that research evidence has been used to guide nursing practice and to improve patient outcome. Only 13% indicated their confidence to implement EBP. Significant relationships were found between EBP knowledge, attitude and implement confidence. The identified barriers included: lack of time, lack of financial support, lack of knowledge, and lack of support.

Conclusions: Since this study was conducted with a sample of nurses from a regional teaching hospital, it will be important to gather this type of data of nurses who are active in other hospitals, so that findings can be generalized to the greater population of nurses in practice. Nurses in clinical settings need to be able to use research findings and incorporate EBP into their clinical practice to enhance patient outcomes. Nurses must be provided with information that strengthens their attitudes about EBP improving care and patient outcome to accelerate evidence-based nursing practice. Therefore, intervention studies that determine what specifically is accountable for a change to EBP in nurses are urgently needed.