Introduction
Adopting EBP as the cornerstone for patient care decisions can improve patient care. Nurses have the chance to serve as role models for EBP by creating policymaking, team-based committee work environments that integrate and sustain EBP (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2018). Nurses are capable of disseminating EBP knowledge to others in the workplace. Without effective dissemination and communication, evidence-based practice in a healthcare organization is unsustainable.
Strategies to Disseminate EBP
Mentorship and staff training are the two EBP dissemination tactics that I would likely implement in my organization. For nurses to acquire and achieve expertise in routinely executing the steps of the EBP process in practice and providing evidence-based interventions to patients, EBP requires significant training, time, and resources (Nilsen et al., 2017).
All aspects of training and performance involve a high level of focus and attention, strong leadership, good communication and collaboration, and also data-based procedures and root-cause analysis of failures (Melnyk, 2012).
Establishing a group of EBP mentors is critical to establishing an EBP attitude inside an organization and implementing evidence-based care. In a study conducted by Melnyk et al. (2012), mentors acquired information and skills necessary to successfully implement and assess EBP improvements within the hospital and were able to collaborate with their colleagues to foster an EBP culture conducive to providing high-quality evidence-based care (Melnyk et al., 2017).
Strategies Least Inclined to Use
Email and presenting at a staff meeting are the two least likely EBP dissemination tactics I would utilize. Because some nurses only work three days a week and do not check their emails every day, they may not be able to acquire the information in a timely manner. Considering staff meetings are held once a month and not everyone attends, presenting at a staff meeting may not be the best approach to disseminating EBP knowledge. Additionally, many nurses who work a 12-hour night shift may not be as engaged and recall essential information.
Barriers to Disseminated Strategies
Obstacles exist that impede EBP from becoming a universally accepted standard of care in a healthcare organization. Obstacles include practitioners’ lack of EBP expertise and understanding, the belief that EBP is time-consuming, the culture and politics of the organization, the lack of support from nursing executives and management, and insufficient resources and involvement in EBP (Melnyk et al., 2017).
To overcome these barriers, the workplace should financially compensate nurses for attending training seminars in order to develop knowledge and competence in EBP material. Furthermore, management should provide some form of incentive to employees who demonstrate expertise and successfully execute EBP content.
Conclusion
Healthcare organizations with high reliability are those that provide safe care and strive to reduce errors while also accomplishing excellent results in terms of quality and safety (Melnyk, 2012). To achieve high reliability, effective dissemination of EBP strategies must be implemented.
References:
Melnyk, B. M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2018). Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.
Melnyk, B. M. (2012). Achieving a High-Reliability Organization Through Implementation of the ARCC Model for Systemwide Sustainability of Evidence-Based Practice. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 36 (2), 127-135. doi: 10.1097/NAQ.0b013e318249fb6a.
Melnyk, B. M., Fineout-Overholt, E., Giggleman, M., & Choy, K. (2017). A Test of the ARCC© Model Improves Implementation of Evidence-Based Practice, Healthcare Culture, and Patient Outcomes. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 14(1), 5–9. https://doi.org/10.1111/wvn.12188
Nilsen, P., Neher, M., Ellström, P. E., & Gardner, B. (2017). Implementation of Evidence-Based Practice From a Learning Perspective. Worldviews on evidence-based nursing, 14(3), 192–199. https://doi.org/10.1111/wvn.12212
