Evidence-based Practice Course Research Articles

Using Journal Clubs to Promote Skills for Evidence-Based Practice

Occupational therapy students in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, participated in a 9-week journal club experience within an evidence-based practice course. Working in groups of seven, students were provided with an overall framework to develop and conduct weekly journal club sessions. They determined the focus and direction for their journal club section, decided on the number, type, and focus of research articles that were discussed each week, created methods for evaluating individual and group performance, and determined the effect of the journal club experience on their knowledge and professional behavior. Students completed a weekly reflective journal and at the conclusion of the course, results were uniformly positive. Review of the reflexive journals indicated substantive changes in the students' professional development, commitment to evidence-based practice, and perceived responsibility to demonstrate leadership in this area.

The evidence‐based practice ideologies

This paper puts forward the argument that there are various, competing, and antithetical evidence-based practice (EBP) definitions and acknowledges that the different EBP definitions are based on different epistemological perspectives. However, this is not enough to understand the way in which nurse professionals choose between the various EBP formations and consequently facilitate them in choosing the most appropriate for their needs. Therefore, the current article goes beyond and behind the various EBP epistemologies to identify how individuals choose an epistemology, which consequently will assist our understanding as to how an individual chooses a specific EBP formation. Individuals choose an epistemology on the mere belief that the specific epistemology offers the ideals or ideas of best explaining or interpreting daily reality. These ideals or ideas are termed by science, history, and politics as ideology. Similarly, individual practitioners choose or should choose between the different EBP formations based on their own personal ideology. Consequently, this article proceeds to analyse the various ideologies behind different EBP definitions as to conclude that there are two broad ideologies that inform the various EBP formations, namely the ideology of truth and the ideology of individual emancipation. These two ideologies are analysed and their connections to the various EBP formations are depicted. Eventually, the article concludes that the in-depth, critical, and intentional analysis by individual nurses of their own ideology will allow them to choose the EBP formation that is most appropriate and fitting for them, and their specific situation. Hence, the conscious analysis of individual ideology becomes the criterion for choosing between competing EBP formations and allows for best evidence to be implemented in practice. Therefore, the best way to teach EBP courses is by facilitating students to analyse their own ideology.

Teaching evidence‐based practice: the teachers consider the content

To identify the views of evidence-based practice (EBP) experts about information that should be included in EBP courses. A two-round Delphi process. The panel of experts in teaching EBP residing in developed and developing countries identified through purposive and snowball sampling. We developed a list of 49 topics representing key educational topics. The panel scored the importance of topics for inclusion in introductory and advanced courses. In the second round, we sent a summary of results to the panel and asked them to re-score in light of the group's responses. We used email to invite 105 EBP teachers to participate in the study. Fifty-one people from 15 countries agreed to participate, and 40 completed the second round. We achieved consensus that formulating clinical questions, searching pre-appraised resources, introduction to systematic reviews and critical appraisal of studies about therapy should be covered earlier in EBP courses while other critical appraisal topics and quantitative decision-making techniques should be left to more advanced levels. Experts concur that introductory EBP courses should be simple and certain topics should be avoided. Specifically, critical appraisal and statistical methods should be left to advanced courses.

Getting to Grips with Evidence-Based Practice: The Ten Commandments

There is an expectation that all occupational therapists will be evidence-based practitioners. This paper reports on an education intervention that has helped therapists working in clinical practice to respond to the challenges posed by evidence-based practice. The intervention was developed for a group of clinicians who had already undertaken an evidence-based practice course. The aim was to enable them to apply evidence-based practice skills to their practice settings. The intervention, which used the problem of evidence-tinged practice as a focus, is described and the ten commandments generated by the clinicians involved are presented for others as a potentially useful tool.

Applying Research to Making Life-Affecting Judgments and Decisions

This keynote address argues that in order for baccalaureate and masters degree students to apply research to make better judgments and decisions in their life-affecting practice and in response to the information revolution, the helping professions need to redesign (from the bottom up) not overhaul (make a few changes in) the way research methods classes are taught. An alternative would perhaps be to integrate an entirely new evidence-based practice course into their curricula. Factors include the following: increasing Internet speed and access by practitioners, increasing access to bibliographic databases and full-text documents, organizations that synthesize evidence for practitioners, and new knowledge and skills for accessing and evaluating evidence specific to well-built practice questions.

A systematic review of qualitative literature on educational interventions for evidence‐based practice

AbstractThis review considers individual experience of educational interventions for evidence‐based practice (EBP) and presents a two‐stage approach for synthesizing quantitative and qualitative research. To find relevant reports, a search was performed in 8 biomedical databases and 3 health education journals. In addition, relevant experts and E‐mail: discussion lists were contacted, and reference lists of reports were checked. Two reviewers quality appraised all reports according to predefined checklists. In total, seven reports (6 studies) were included. Two main frameworks were then used to synthesize the data from the included studies based on (a) predetermined research questions and (b) educational theory. The results were then compared with existing research (systematic reviews). The included studies were limited in number and gave limited insight. Nonetheless, some clear issues emerged. Many participants emphasized that course aims, objectives and, where relevant, precourse tasks, should be more clearly communicated, especially when courses were innovative, complex or presented in a new setting. Experiences suggested that educational uptake and the implementation of skills in practice were directly linked to the participants’ perceptions of the relevance of courses to their professional roles. A range of educational models are used to teach EBP, but no studies were found that directly compared the experiences of participants at different types of EBP courses, or described their potential strengths or weaknesses. Future studies should document educational process, outcomes and the experiences of providers and participants, and explicitly use educational theory to plan, implement and evaluate educational interventions.

Teaching Evidence-Based Practice: Overcoming Barriers

Based on their experience with implementing a course in evidence-based practice for a psychiatry residency program, the authors identify barriers that must be overcome in teaching this approach to practice. Barriers to evidence-based teaching include students’ concern that an emphasis on research evidence may ignore the human context of mental health problems, students’ perception of inconsistency between messages delivered by an evidence-based program and by clinical supervisors, and students’ sense of intimidation by the breadth of material associated with research appraisal. Recommended responses involve an emphasis upon the balance between research knowledge and clinical intuition, explicit discussion of how to manage discrepant approaches to practice in academic and clinical settings, and careful delineation of realistic learning goals with regard to research design and statistical methodology. [Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention 4:271–275 (2004)]

Developing the skills to implement evidence based practice – a joint initiative between education and clinical practice

The current political climate stresses the need for health care to be seen to be effective. A joint initiative between a college of nursing and an acute hospital Trust was formed to develop an Evidence Based Practice course. The course aimed to achieve a clear and identifiable outcome that could be used to enhance patient care. Before starting the course the students identified a clinically related question to explore. The course itself introduced the concept of evidence based practice, emphasising the practical skills of information searching and retrieval and of dissemination techniques. The course culminated in a formal presentation, attended by clinical and education staff, and management, including non-executive directors. Discussion followed each presentation to debate how the changes suggested could be implemented, including what resources might be needed. This paper will discuss the development of the course, its content and the benefits for the students, the sponsoring Trust and for patient care. Examples will be given to illustrate the success of the initiative and discussion will take place around the importance of the close partnership that has to be forged between the Trust and college.