Evidence-Based Practice Curriculum for Residency Programs

Staff nurses work on the front lines of healthcare and help to determine whether evidence based practice will improve patient and staff outcomes. Nurse leaders must provide the time and resources necessary to ensure that bedside nurses have the opportunity to research and implement this type of practice. The RN residency program empowers the novice nurse with the tools required to promote success and provides confirmation of the need for a change in culture. The RN residency program empowers the novice nurse the tools required to promote leadership at the beside and inspire the nursing team to seek anwers to questions.

As a critical element of the 12 month Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, accredited program,  Evidence Based Practice has been threaded throughout the NERVANA VA Boston Healthcare System program..  A full day has been scheduled monthly across the 12 month program to introduce the newly licensed nurse to the resources available, the breakdown of logical steps to inquiry, the development of a question and the means provided to implement discovery.  This program provides involvement of PhD prepared nurse scientists to mentor, librarian resources to navigate and investigate, interprofessional colleagues to verify and nursing leadership .to support with time and mentoring. The RN residency program’s intent is to inspire the new nurse with a problem solving approach to the delivery of health care that integrates the best evidence from studies and patient care data with clinical expertise, incorporating patient preferences and values. The new nurses in turn, have inspired a caring and supportive organizational culture to question what has always been done in practice to one in which it is okay to question  to enhance the provision of the highest quality of care and achieve the best patient outcomes. The nurse managers, and the staff nurses are critical to the success of the RN Residents exploration and investigation of evidence based practice. The culmination of the program is the Annual Nursing Evidence Based Practice Symposium, where the about to graduate RN residents are expected to present both a poster and podium presentation to the community at large, both practice and academia on the work of inquiry and implications are discussed.  The torch is than passed to the next cohort.