Evidence-Based Practice for Nurses

effective professional organizations are in fostering nurses’ abilities to develop
and initiate interventions aimed at safe patient care. Funk, Tornquist, and
Champagne (1995) identified several organizational characteristics neces-
sary to create and sustain an evidence-based culture: (1) adequate resources
for research activities, (2) support and encouragement for inquiry, and
(3) an expectation for staff to engage in research activities. The Institute of
Medicine (2004) report called for organizational leaders to “incorporate
multiple academic and other research-based organizations to support HCOs
[healthcare organizations] in the identification and adoption of evidence-
based management systems” (p. 155). This is good news to nurses who have
often practiced in environments that seldom recognized the need for, nor
appreciated, the evidence needed for best practice.

Within the nursing profession there is evidence of changing expectations, as
noted by the development of Nursing Quality Indicators (Press Ganey National
Database of Nursing Quality Indicators® (NDNQI®), 2016). These indicators
show the outcomes of nursing care and are meant to address patient safety and
quality of care. Organizations committed to quality assurance collect data on
the following clinical indicators:

Staffing and workforce indicators

Pressure injury prevalence

Patient falls

Resistant prevalence

Catheter-associated urinary tract infection

Central line catheter-associated bloodstream infections

Pediatric peripheral intravenous infiltration rate

Pediatric pain assessment, intervention, reassessment cycle

Patient volume and flow

Nurse turnover

Ventilator-associated pneumonia

Ventilator-associated events

Psychiatric physical/sexual assault rate

RN education/specialty certification

Discharge care coordination

Hospital readmission rates

Care coordination

KEY TERM

Nursing Quality

Indicators:

Outcomes of

nursing care,

identified by the

American Nurses

Association, that

address patient

safety and quality

of care

Why do nurses seem reluctant to incorporate research findings into their practice? The next

time you are on a clinical unit, ask the staff how they apply research findings in their practice.

CRITICAL THINKING EXERCISE 16-1

16.1 Evidence-Based Practice Models to Overcome Barriers 433