Evidence based Practice in the nursing education process in Portugal

Evidence-based practice (EBP) prevents unsafety/inefficiency and improves healthcare quality. However, EBP implementation and sustainment are challenging for healthcare organizations and providers considering gaps between research and practice. An educational preparation of the future healthcare professionals can minimise these gaps. Thus, it is mandatory that undergraduate curricula in health sciences, namely in nursing, promote an EBP culture so that future health professionals use it into clinical practice.

Within the Portuguese context, there is no scientific literature about the current state of EBP integration in the undergraduate nursing curricula. Thereby, this project, being innovative in Portugal, aims to synthesize the current Portuguese reality of nursing education institutions about: readiness of EBP integration; nurse educators' EBP beliefs and the extent of their EBP implementation; undergraduate nursing students’ EBP beliefs and knowledge, and the extent of their EBP implementation; and evaluation of the efficacy of an educational EBP program in undergraduate nursing students’ EBP beliefs and knowledge, and the extent of their EBP implementation.  

Main objectives:

To synthesise the current Portuguese reality of nursing education institutions about: readiness of EBP integration; nurse educators' EBP beliefs and the extent of their EBP implementation; undergraduate nursing students’ EBP beliefs and knowledge, and the extent of their EBP implementation; and to promote EBP integration in the undergraduate nursing curricula.

Specific objectives:

- To synthesise the instruments used to assess undergraduate nursing students’ attitudes, knowledge and skills in EBP.

- To validate to the Portuguese population: the “EBP Beliefs Scale for Educators” (EBPB-E); the “EBP Implementation Scale for Educators” (EBPI-E); the “EBP Beliefs Scale” (EBPB); the “EBP Implementation Scale – Students” (EBPI-S); and the “Organizational Culture & Readiness for School-wide Integration of Evidence-based Practice Survey” (OCRSIEP-E) for students and educators.

- To adapt for undergraduate nursing students and validate to the Portuguese population the Fresno Test.

- To develop an educational EBP program.

- To explore the current Portuguese reality of nursing education institutions about: the readiness of EBP integration; the undergraduate nursing students’ EBP beliefs and the extent of their EBP implementation; and nurse educators' EBP beliefs and the extent of their EBP implementation.

- To explore the relationship between undergraduate nursing students’ EBP beliefs and the extent of their EBP implementation and nurse educators' EBP beliefs and the extent of their EBP implementation.

- To evaluate the effectiveness of an educational EBP program in undergraduate nursing students’ EBP beliefs and knowledge, and the extent of their EBP implementation.

Informação do projeto

  • Data de início

    01/01/2017

  • Data de conclusão

    01/01/2021

  • Linha Temática

    Education and development of the discipline

  • Target population
    • Undergraduate nursing students and nurse educators
  • Equipa
    • Daniela Filipa Batista Cardoso RI
    • João Luís Alves Apóstolo
    • Manuel Alves Rodrigues
    • Adriana Raquel Neves Coelho
    • Vitor Sérgio de Oliveira Parola
    • Cristina da Costa Louçano
    • Ana Filipa dos Reis Marques Cardoso
    • Filipa Daniela Costa Couto