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Background: Implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) is a major initiative within health care settings to ensure clinical and policy decisions incorporate best available evidence. Aims: This paper reports findings from a descriptive study exploring nurse educators', clinical coaches' and nurse specialists' perceptions of factors associated with using EBP. Methods: Data was collected from a senior group of nurses working in a tertiary health care network in Victoria, Australia by employing a questionnaire that was distributed to a total of 435 people, of whom 135 responded. Data Analysis:Descriptive statistics for each questionnaire item were determined using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 17). Thematic analysis was performed for the qualitative part of the questionnaire. Results Findings revealed that organisational support, sufficient resources, and access to continuing education were perceived as factors promoting acceptance of EBP. Barriers to such acceptance in health care settings were identified as lack of knowledge and skills, poor time allowance, limited support, and insufficient resources. Conclusion: The reported findings create evidence-based information for organisational strategic planning. Organisations need to develop educational programs to promote EBP and employ strategies to overcome barriers to implementation.
Keywords: evidence-based practice; evidence-based Nursing; nurse educators; clinical nurse specialists
Introduction
Healthcare organisations are under pressure to translate evidence into practice in clinical decisions and policy. In the current healthcare environment, health professionals are required to constantly question their practices and seek evidence for best practice (Koehn & Lehman, 2008). Evidence-based practice (EBP) is more likely to occur in settings where new scientific knowledge is valued and resources to transfer knowledge into practice are provided (Melnyk, 2007).
EBP involves nursing care becoming more individualised, effective, streamlined and contributing to maximum benefit in clinical decision-making (Smith & Trudi, 2004). Therefore, it is expected that nurses possess competencies necessary to access, retrieve and analyse evidence for their practice throughout their careers. Unfortunately, barriers present in clinical settings make EBP difficult to fully incorporate into practice. These barriers include individual nurse characteristics, organisational structure, the nature of research information and the healthcare environment (Adib-Hajbaghery, 2007; Barako, Chege, Wakasiaka, & Omondi, 2012; Eizenberg, 2010; Koehn & Lehman, 2008; Majid et al., 2011). Hutchinson and Johnston (2006) reviewed 30 studies between 1991 and 2005 using the BARRIERS scale to measure nurses' perceptions...