Leadership facilitation strategies to establish evidence-based practice in an acute care hospital.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the impact of leadership facilitation strategies on nurses' beliefs of the importance and frequency of using evidence in daily nursing practice and the perception of organizational readiness in an acute care hospital.


BACKGROUND
Integrating evidence in practice is a prominent issue for hospital nursing as knowledge and skills, beliefs, organizational infrastructure and nursing leadership must all be addressed.


METHODS
Prospective, descriptive comparative.


METHODS
Three surveys were used in this prospective descriptive comparative study. Evidence-Based Practice Beliefs Scale, the Implementation Scale and Organizational Culture & Readiness for System-Wide Integration Survey measured change before and after facilitating strategies for evidence-based practice enculturation. Data were collected in December 2008 (N = 427) and in December 2010 (N = 469).


RESULTS
Leadership facilitated infrastructure development in three major areas: incorporating evidence-based practice outcomes in the strategic plan; supporting mentors; and advocating for resources for education and outcome dissemination. With the interventions in place, the total group scores for beliefs and organizational readiness improved significantly. Analyses by job role showed that direct care nurses scores improved more than other role types. No differences were found in the implementation scores.


CONCLUSIONS
Successful key strategies were evidence-based practice education and establishing internal opportunities to disseminate findings. Transformational nursing leadership drives organizational change and provides vision, human and financial resources and time that empowers nurses to include evidence in practice.
Professional Practice, St. Mary's Medical Center, Evansville, Indiana, USA. shauck@stmarys.org
Sheila
S
Hauck
Rebecca P
RP
Winsett
Judy
J
Kuric
D000208:Acute Disease / Q000451:nursing*; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D055318:Evidence-Based Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D008611:Mentors / Q000523:psychology; D015146:Midwestern United States; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000523:psychology; D015279:Organizational Culture; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires