Teaching Strategies to Support Evidence-Based Practice

Winters, Charlene A. PhD, ACNS-BC
Echeverri, Rebecca MN, ACNS-BC

Charlene A. Winters is an associate professor at the College of Nursing, Montana State University, Missoula, Montana.
Rebecca Echeverri is an assistant clinical professor at the College of Nursing, Montana State University, Billings, Montana.

Corresponding author: Charlene A. Winters, PhD, ACNS-BC, Montana State University, College of Nursing, Missoula Campus, 32 Campus Dr, #7416, Missoula, MT 59812–7416 (e-mail:[email protected]).

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Critical Care Nurse 32(3):p 49-54, June 2012. | DOI: 10.4037/ccn2012159

Evidence-based practice is an expected core competency of all health care clinicians regardless of discipline. Use of evidence-based practice means integrating the best research with clinical expertise and patient values to achieve optimal health outcomes. Evidence-based practice requires nurses to access and appraise evidence rapidly before integrating it into clinical practice. Role modeling and integrating the skills necessary to develop evidence-based practice into clinical and nonclinical courses is an important part in developing positive attitudes toward evidence-based practice, an essential first step to using evidence to guide practice decisions. The stepby-step approach to evidence-based practice proposed by Melnyk and colleagues provides an excellent organizing framework for teaching strategies specifically designed to facilitate nurses’ knowledge and skill development in evidence-based practice. (Critical Care Nurse. 2012;32[3]:49–54)