Evidence Based Nursing Role

An Exploration of the Roles of Nurse Managers in Evidence-Based Practice Implementation 1

An Exploration of the Roles of Nurse Managers in Evidence-Based Practice Implementation
Kimrae McDonald
Grand Canyon University
October 29, 2014

An Exploration of the Roles of Nurse Managers in Evidence-Based Practice Implementation 2 Introduction Even with all the advancement the nursing profession has made, there is growing evidence from a number of studies from different countries that a significant gap remains between the rhetoric of evidenced based practice (EBP) and the reality
Five propositions about the role played by nurse managers emerged. It was discovered that the organizations that support evidenced based nursing that is championed by nurse managers and directors were the champions. Nurse managers have a significant influence in the implementation of evidenced based practice because they hold a middle management position which is crucial to success. Attitudes and behaviors with respect to evidenced based nursing practice has a great deal of influence on the evidenced based practice and culture of the organization. There is a potential for nurse managers to not have the knowledge and skill that gives them the insight to support evidenced based practice implementation. This is thought to be the result of nurse managers who may have entered the nursing profession when research and evidence based practice was not
Three sources of data were obtained in each case: documentary data, interview data, and observational data of organizational context in the form of field notes (Wilkinson et al., 2011). The data pulled for each case had were identical in that interviews were transcribed and recorded and semi structured around a topic. Documentary data, such as policy and reports provided context to the information. Field notes were comprised of notes from direct observations made while in each case study site. Findings include a great deal of communication failure. Charge nurses felt they were not empowered and responsible for all aspects of evidence based practice implementation. It was a common statement that charge nurses still felt like they needed to ask permission to make practice changes despite nurse managers stating that the evidenced based nursing practice implementation and autonomy had been delegated to them. Nurse managers felt that charge nurses did struggle with their role in evidence based nursing practice implementation but the nurse manager didn’t step in to help the situation (Wilkinson et al.,