Evidence-based practice educational program: a Portuguese experience with undergraduate nursing students

Background: Several studies pointed out that evidence-based practice (EBP) promotes healthcare quality, reduces healthcare costs and improves the patients' experience. However, the EBP implementation and sustainment in clinical practice remain a challenge mainly due to several gaps between research and practice. Some authors and organizations have highlighted the important role that education could have to reduce those gaps. Therefore, it is mandatory to include EBP content in undergraduate nursing curricula to promote an EBP culture among future nurses. Aims: To develop an EBP educational intervention designed for undergraduate nursing students. To explore the opinion of students who received the intervention. Methods: An EBP educational intervention was developed for undergraduate nursing students according to the guideline for reporting EBP educational interventions and teaching checklist by two researchers with experience in science synthesis. The draft of the intervention was sent to experts for an opinion. Their opinions were analyzed and the suggestions were incorporated. Then, the intervention was applied to fourth-year nursing undergraduate students and, afterwards, the feedback of participants was requested through an online questionnaire. Results/Discussion: The program was designed for 17 weeks with a total of 18 h (12 h of classroom lessons and 6 h of mentorship). Eight experts analyzed the draft and provided their opinion. Overall, the experts considered that the program was well designed, but recommended some adjustments regarding the objectives and the target population. After the intervention implementation, 16 participants provided feedback on the program. Their feedback was positive, with an exception made for the duration of the program. Conclusion: According to the experts' opinion and students' feedback, the EBP educational program seems to be an appropriate educational program to embed EBP in the undergraduate nursing curricula.