Evidence-based nursing management: Challenges and facilitators

Abstract

This review introduces a new approach for nursing management called Evidence Based Nursing Management (EBNMgt). EBNMgt is the integration of the best research evidence with nurse managers' expertise and nurses' preferences. Even though it is commonly acknowledged that health care should be evidence-based, evidence-based decision making in the field of nursing management has not been addressed adequately in terms of what actually determines the quality of nursing care and working conditions of nurses. This review discusses the significance of evidence-based nursing management from the perspective of both academics and managers, and elaborates on both the difficulties of implementing evidence-based nursing management and ways of facilitating implementation. Collaborative models between universities and hospitals could be used as a method to facilitate the implementation of evidence-based nursing management in order to improve nursing care and the working environment. Like evidence-based nursing, evidence-based nursing management should also be carefully studied for the professionalization of nursing and for better patient care.

Nursing Managers’ Perspectives on the Facilitators and Barriers to Implementation of Evidence‐Based Management

“…The idea for EBMgt is derived from evidence‐based medicine (EBMed) that argues for the use of scientifically proven findings to guide practices in medicine and now nursing. EBMgt is an approach that emphasizes finding and using the best current evidence to make healthcare decisions (Hussein & Hussein, ; Janati, Hasanpoor, Hajebrahimi, & Sadeghi‐Bazargani, ; Janati, Hasanpoor, Hajebrahimi, Sadeghi‐Bazargani, & Khezri, ; Olade, ; Yurumezoglu & Kocaman, ). EBMgt is about making decisions through the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of the best available evidence from multiple sources by six steps of decision‐making process that includes asking, acquiring, appraising, aggregating, applying, and assessing A decision requires some formulation of information, be it from managers expertise, local context, stakeholder preferences, or external evidence (Hasanpoor, Bahadori, Yaghoubi, Haghgoshayie, & Mahboub‐Ahari, ; Hasanpoor, Janati, Arab‐Zozani, & Haghgoshayie, ).…”

“…Understanding relevant barriers and facilitators to EBMgt might help its adaption and implementation and improve their skills in finding the best evidence and critically appraising that evidence to assess its validity. Researchers in the field of nursing management should not merely focus on understanding organizational life, but they should also conduct studies that elaborate on managerial practices with a view to explaining, as well as predicting, the implications of managerial actions (Dalheim, Harthug, Nilsen, & Nortvedt, ; Leasure, Stirlen, & Thompson, ; Yurumezoglu & Kocaman, ).…”

“…These barriers include decision‐maker characteristics, decision‐making environment, training and research system, organizational barriers, and team barriers (Ammouri et al., ; Barends et al., 2017; Chang, Russell, & Jones, ; Greaves, ; Hasson, Andersson, & Bejerholm, ; Majdzadeh, Yazdizadeh, Nedjat, Gholami, & Ahghari, ; Majid et al., ; Pagoto et al., ; Rapp et al., ; Wallis, ). Also, studies have been reported different facilitators such as organizational factors, manager characteristics and individual factors, factors related to research productions, external or environmental factors, and social or interpersonal factors (Chehrzad, Ghanbari, Rahmatpour, Salehzade, & Pasban, ; Jeffers, Robinson, Luxner, & Redding, ; Majdzadeh et al., ; Pagoto et al., ; Solomons & Spross, ; Yurumezoglu & Kocaman, ).…”