Providing direct care nurses research and evidence-based practice information: an essential component of nursing leadership.

AIMS

This commentary describes the reasons, strategies and benefits of providing direct care nurses with research and evidence-based practice (EBP) education.

BACKGROUND

A component of nursing leadership is to provide nurses opportunities for professional growth and development, yet this can be challenging during a time when resources are constrained and need to be used wisely.

EVALUATION

Our research and EBP education programmes have been evaluated qualitatively, as well as by the number of research/EBP projects implemented.

KEY ISSUES

Providing direct care nurses with support and additional education empowers them to seek, critically appraise and integrate research findings into their daily patient care.

CONCLUSIONS

Direct care nurses, who participated in our programme, demonstrated a strong desire to learn about research and EBP so they could practice using evidence-based care with confidence, thus transitioning from a 'tradition-based' care approach to an evidence-based way of providing care as the standard for nursing practice.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Providing a dedicated time for additional education sends a clear message that research and EBP are important elements embedded in patient care. The organisation, then, is seen as an environment that emphasizes the value of research and EBP at the unit and organisational level.