Do bachelor assignments in Danish midwifery- and nursing educations reflect evidence-based practice? A document study

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore and compare if evidence-based practice is reflected in topics and methods in the bachelor assignment written by respectively nursing and midwifery students. MethodThe study is a document study; data is bachelor assignments (N = 274) from nursing (244) and midwifery (30) educations in Copenhagen in 2018. The abductive analysis examines the whole picture of used designs/methods, identify themes in the assignments and compare the assignments for similarities and differences. ResultsNursing students mainly chose interview as a method, with 56% choosing to interview nurses and 17% choosing to interview patients. 90% of midwifery students chose to do literature studies. Nursing students mainly focus either on nurses’ experience of clinical practise describing either personal or local nursing practice or on patient's experience (second person knowledge). Nursing students rarely employ evidence from research. Midwifery students employ knowledge from literature and mainly focus on professional action or discussion of the evidence in relation to professional practice. ConclusionMidwifery students’ bachelor assignments indicate an ability to understand and use evidence in planning for professional action, while the bachelor assignments of nursing students do not.