The Establishment of Evidence‐Based Practice Competencies for Practicing Registered Nurses and Advanced Practice Nurses in Real‐World Clinical Settings: Proficiencies to Improve Healthcare Quality, Reliability, Patient Outcomes, and Costs

Abstract

Background: Although it is widely known that evidence-based practice (EBP) improves healthcare quality, reliability, and patient outcomes as well as reduces variations in care and costs, it is still not the standard of care delivered by practicing clinicians across the globe. Adoption of specific EBP competencies for nurses and advanced practice nurses (APNs) who practice in real-world healthcare settings can assist institutions in achieving high-value, low-cost evidence-based health care.

Avaliação de intervenção para difusão da enfermagem baseada em evidências em hospital de ensino

“…In general, contemporary scientific productions indicate that the engagement of leader nurses is critical to transform the hospital context and make it more favourable to EBN (1,5) . In the organisational environment, nursing leadership, namely nurses occupying managerial posts, are essential to enable conditions in the work routine that generate changes in technical care procedures or conduct.…”

“…This action can also benefit the nurses working at teaching hospitals since the best scientific evidence could help them create and choose products, processes and interventions. Consequently, hospitals would optimise costs and obtain more effective results for the health of the population (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6) . It should be noted that a characteristic of nursing is contact with the human condition, which includes culture, subjectivities, communication, and other human healthcare needs.…”

“…The integration of quality scientific evidence with healthcare practice, and associating evidence with professional expertise and the preferences of users, their families, and communities, is a complex issue for Contemporary Nursing, and represents a cornerstone for the practice of Evidence-Based Nursing (EBN) (1)(2)(3) . EBN presents itself as an opportunity to enhance the scientific production of nursing and legitimise the profession.…”

“…Considering that nursing research has its own theories -which are broad -interdisciplinary methods, and designs that are not merely experimental, such as qualitative research or a social approach in health, the translation of research findings into practice becomes a complex challenge (2) . Several international models have been delineated to support the implementation of scientific evidence in the context of the nursing practice and individual change in healthcare teams and organisations (1)(2)(3) . A review of literature on international models usually undertaken in hospitals for the achievement of EBN among nurses concluded that although these models support organisational change and individual skills, research is still needed to assess the results and the sustainability of their application in the care scenarios (3) .…”

“…However, this framework should be expanded by means of scientific research using methods that provide insight into how technological advances and sociocultural networks affect care and respond to the everyday demands of care (2)(3)(4) . At the same time, nursing research potentially strengthens the ethical commitment and humanistic work of this profession, and its results may support the range of collaborative relationships between members of the nursing staff and favour the establishment of a supportive organizational environment (1)(2)(3)(4) . However, this expansion will have little impact if the knowledge is restricted to researchers.…”