Creating a Culture of Evidence-Based Practice

Creating a Culture of Evidence-Based Practice

An abundance of evidence can be found on almost any medical issue or health topic. Often, the availability of information is not the concern, but rather nurses struggle with how to convey the evidence to others and change practices to better reflect the evidence. Deep-rooted organizational cultures and policies can make some resistant to change, even to changes that can vastly improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of health care. However, there are many strategies that nurses can employ to bring about changes to practice.

In this Discussion, you focus on how to create an organizational culture that supports evidence-based practice.

To prepare:

• Review the information in this week’s Learning Resources. Examine the various suggestions for promoting an organizational culture that embraces the use of EBP.
• Reflect on your own organization’s (or one in which you have worked) support of evidence-based practice. Examine how culture and policies impact the adoption of changes to practice based on evidence. What barriers exist?
• Consider the models and suggestions for promoting evidence-based practice featured in this week’s Learning Resources. Identify models and suggestions that would work well in your organization.
• Reflect on the significance of evidence-based practice in health care. What responsibility do nurses have to promote EBP and change practices to better reflect evidence and research findings?
• Reflect on how nurses can disseminate findings from evidence-based practice research.

Post on or before Day 3 an evaluation of your organization’s use of EBP and how it is furthered or hindered by organizational culture and policies. Describe how you could disseminate the findings. Propose a strategy for strengthening the culture of EBP within the organization. Discuss a nurse’s responsibility to further the use of EBP, providing a rationale supported by specific information from the Learning Resources.