Nurses’ Views on the Use of Evidence-based Practice in the Clinic: A Qualitative Study

INTRODUCTION: This study was conducted to determine what nurses think about the use of evidence-based practice in their clinical work.
METHODS: The study was carried out as qualitative research in March 2019 with nurses working in the clinical departments of a state university hospital in Istanbul. Thirteen nurses met for discussions in two focus groups and provided the data in a semi-structured questionnaire. Content analysis was used in the data analysis. The results of the study revealed four main themes and fourteen subthemes. The main themes could be identified as the meaning of evidence, the benefit of evidence-based practice, barriers standing in the way of adopting evidence-based practice, and beliefs and expectations about evidence-based practice.
RESULTS: Nurses believe that evidence-based practice can not only empower them in their professional development in the processes of problem-solving and decision-making but can also contribute to achieving professionalism in their vocation. However, nurses state that they are confronted by major barriers that stand in their way on a personal and organizational level and also in terms of available training opportunities.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Nurses say that evidence-based practice, which is not widely used in the clinical setting in Turkey, is important in order to raise the quality of patient care and to enable the strengthening of the profession itself. They point out however that there are various individual, institutional and educational barriers that are obstacles to using scientific evidence in their practice. It is in this context that our recommendation is that nursing undergraduate and graduate curriculums should be adapted to clinical practice and strategies should be created to increase cooperative efforts.