Embracing evidence-based nursing and informational literacy through an innovative undergraduate collaborative project.

Abstract

Background Nurse educators are challenged to design courses that maintain rigor, promote student learning, maximize resource utilization, and ultimately prepare graduates for clinical practice. Purpose An innovative teaching strategy was used to educate BSN level students in nursing inquiry with a collaborative project. Methods Course faculty incorporated information literacy (IL) and evidence-based practice (EBP) competencies into an undergraduate research course by taking the traditional practicum research project and redesigning it as a longitudinal scoping review (ScR) collaborative project. Results At course conclusion, students verbalized having a deeper appreciation for nursing research, confidence in performing a literature search, and conducting a research critique. Conclusions The students' contributions towards the ScR through their collaborative project work fostered personal growth in IL and EBP competencies through a meaningful project that can extend beyond the classroom to possibly influence patient care.