The development of an evidence-based practice educational intervention and its effectiveness on emergency nurses’ attitudes, knowledge, skills, self-efficacy and behavior

Thesis event information

Date and time of the thesis defence

Place of the thesis defence

https://vimeo.com/event/261455

Topic of the dissertation

The development of an evidence-based practice educational intervention and its effectiveness on emergency nurses’ attitudes, knowledge, skills, self-efficacy and behavior

Doctoral candidate

Master in Nursing Science Elina Koota

Faculty and unit

University of Oulu Graduate School, Faculty of Medicine, Medical Research Center of Oulu

Subject of study

Nursing Science

Opponent

Professor Arja Häggman-Laitila, University of Eastern Finland

Custos

Docent Hanna-Leena Melender, University of Oulu

Add event to calendar

An education will improve evidence-based practice at the emergency department

The education improved evidence-based practice competence among emergency nurses for the benefit of the patient, but regular in-service training and development of structures are needed.

Emergency departments (ED) are often busy and unpredictable environments that play a vital role in providing access to the health care system. Evidence-based practice refers to the use of the best available up-to-date information in the care of the patient and in the consideration of his or her loved ones. The patients entering ED expect that the care they receive is the highest quality, based on the latest evidence. The purpose of evidence-based practice is to guarantee the best possible care for every person, regardless of the care provider.

In her dissertation, Elina Koota, Master in nursing Sciences, examined educational interventions that promote evidence-based practice among emergency nurses and their effectiveness in previous research literature. Next, Koota developed an evidence-based practice education for emergency nurses which was implemented as the multifaceted education. The education was designed to be practical and its main goal was to acquire the basic skills of evidence-based practice among the nurses working in emergency department. The experimental group of the study received the education in the form of multifaceted teaching, and the control group completed the education completely self-directed. The study was carried out among the emergency nurses at HUS Helsinki University Hospital and Oulu University Hospital.

The effectiveness of an educational intervention on emergency nurses’ evidence-based practice attitudes, knowledge, skills, self-efficacy and behavior, and their satisfaction with education was evaluated before and after training. The evaluations were done before the education, immediately after it, and 6 and 12 months after the education. In addition, the satisfaction of emergency nurses with the education they completed was assessed.

The multifaceted evidence-based practice education proved to be a better way than the self-directed education. After six months, the benefits of the education were clearly visible, but after 12 months, the skills had dropped to the same level as before the education. The study confirmed the view that education alone is not enough to guarantee the implementation of evidence-based practice, but that there is also a need to develop structures for evidence-based practices in the units.
Last updated: 1.3.2023