Applying and Sharing Evidence

This week’s article by Lunden et al. (2021) explains and describes nurses’ views about
their own preparedness for evidence-based practice (EBP) and knowledge management (KM)
and their perceptions of their organizational and managerial support for improving EBP and
competency within their workplaces. Less than 50% of the 125 nurses surveyed reported often
using EBP to make decisions, while a third searched for evidence. Also, the nurses indicated a
lack of managerial and organizational support in EBP and KM use as the greatest undoing in
their effort to use EBP in practice. One of the many things I found interesting in the article’s
conclusion was the role of leadership and management in fostering EBP use in clinical settings.
The researchers recommend current managers and leaders take a more visible and proactive role
in identifying the developmental requirements of nurses’ skills/competencies and mentoring
nurses for evidence-based practice.
As a BSN graduate, I will use the five critical steps of the EBP process to apply the
evidence from the article to bolster nursing practice, including (1) asking a question about what
practice gap needs to be filled or addressed, (2) finding relevance and up-to-date evidence from
research to answer the question, (3) critically appraising the evidence collected for applicability,
impact or size of the effect, and validity, (4) integrating the clinically appraised evidence into
practice with clinical expertise/experience, and (5) assessing or evaluating the efficiency and
effectiveness of the integrated evidence. The rationale for using the EBP process is that it ensures
practice gaps are addressed, and the most valid evidence is integrated into practice and later
evaluated for effectiveness (Majid et al., 2011).
Finally, I would disseminate research-based EBP findings through multiple channels,
including publishing the findings in a journal, social media networks, blogs, or writing a letter to

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a newspaper editor. For my peers, I would email them the results or hand them a hard copy or a
software copy stored on a flash disk or CD-ROM. Communicating and sharing research evidence
is important because it increases the knowledge pool necessary to improve specific nursing
practices. Effective communication and dissemination ensure that the research has an economic,
political, social, and clinical impact. This can draw the attention of stakeholders and
governments to research conclusions and results, improving their comprehension, visibility, and
implementation.

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References

Lunden, A., et al. (2021). Readiness and leadership in evidence-based practice and knowledge
management: A cross-sectional survey of nurse’s perceptions. Nordic Journal of Nursing
Research, 4(4), 187-196.
Majid, S., et al. (2011). Adopting evidence-based practice in clinical decision-making: Nurses’
perceptions, knowledge, and barriers. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 99(3),
229-236. doi: 10.3163/1536-5050.99.3.010