Creating infrastructure supportive of evidence-based nursing practice: Leadership strategies

Background: Nursing leadership is the cornerstone of successful evidence-based practice (EBP) programs within health care organizations. The key to success is a strategic approach to building an EBP infrastructure, with allocation of appropriate human and material resources. Purpose: This article indicates the organizational infrastructure that enables evidence-based nursing practice and strategies for leaders to enhance evidence-based practice using "the conceptual model for considering the determinants of diffusion, dissemination, and implementation of innovations in health service delivery and organization." Discussion: Enabling EBP within organizations is important for promoting positive outcomes for nurses and patients. Fostering EBP is not a static or immediate outcome, but a long-term developmental process within organizations. Implementation requires multiple strategies to cultivate a culture of inquiry where nurses generate and answer important questions to guide practice. Implications: Organizations that can enable the culture and build infrastructure to help nurses develop EBP competencies will produce a professional environment that will result in both personal growth for their staff and improvements in quality that would not otherwise be possible.