The Association Between Information Literacy and Evidence-Based Practice in Nurses of the Critical Care Units of Public Hospitals, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background: Considering the importance of information literacy in achieving well-documented and reliable information, it is evident that nurses must achieve a high level of information literacy through evidence-based performance. With regards to this, the present study was conducted to determine the association between information literacy and evidence-based practice. Methods: The present research was a descriptive-correlation study. The subjects of the study were 244 nurses working at critical care units of Tehran University of Medical Sciences hospitals. The tool used comprised of three parts: demographic information, information literacy, and evidence-based practice. The questionnaires were completed through the self-report method, and the data obtained were analyzed using the SPSS software 16. Results: The results of the study indicated that scores of information literacy and evidence-based practice were 78.72 ± 16.64 (of 170) and 102.17 ± 20.40 (of 130), respectively. Also, a significant and direct correlation was observed between the researched subjects’ information literacy and evidence-based practice (r = 0.596, P < 0.001). Regression analysis showed that information literacy is a predictor for evidence-based practice in nurses (R2 = 0.4, P < 0.001). Conclusion: The findings showed that the subjects’ level of information literacy and evidence-based practice is not desirable and can only be considered average. Thus, it can be concluded that through improvement of nurses’ information literacy, who are working at hospitals’ critical care units, one can improve the attitude towards and acceptance of evidence-based practice. This will improve nurses’ clinical practice and will eventually lead to an improvement in community health.