Fostering evidence-based practice to improve nurse and cost outcomes in a community health setting: a pilot test of the advancing research and clinical practice through close collaboration model.

Although evidence-based practice (EBP) improves health care quality, decreases costs, and empowers nurses, there is a paucity of intervention studies designed to test models of how to enhance nurses' use of EBP. Therefore, the specific aim of this study was to determine the preliminary effects of implementing the Advancing Research and Clinical practice through close Collaboration (ARCC) model on nurses' EBP beliefs, EBP implementation behaviors, group cohesion, productivity, job satisfaction, and attrition/turnover rates. A 2-group randomized controlled pilot trial was used with 46 nurses from the Visiting Nurse Service of New York. The ARCC group versus an attention control group had stronger EBP beliefs, higher EBP implementation behaviors, more group cohesion, and less attrition/turnover. Implementation of the ARCC model in health care systems may be a promising strategy for enhancing EBP and improving nurse and cost outcomes.