University-Hospital Partnership Provides EBP Learning Opportunities

Rationale/Background:  The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice, Essential III mandates nursing students learn “Scholarship for Evidence-Based Practice.” Western Washington University’s RN-to-BSN program’s mission is “to advance system changes that promote healthy communities and safe, quality healthcare for all.”

Purpose: To provide rigorous and relevant evidence-based practice learning opportunities for RN-to-BSN students by providing opportunities for them to collaborate with hospital nurses to research current local health issues.

Description: The RN-to-BSN students learn evidence-based research principles, which they then use to research current health issues in collaboration with local hospital nurses.

 

Results: Student research projects included a variety of topics including catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), wound care, and improving patient sleep quality. Students disseminated their research results through research poster presentations to the hospital nurses they collaborated with and also at a national nursing research conference. Students’ quantitative evaluations rated the class as good to very good. One student described the research project as “a relevant synthesis of evidence and dissemination of evidence with our CAUTI work- that had practical application.”

Conclusions: Developing innovative university-hospital partnerships create opportunities for RN-to-BSN students to learn about evidence-based practice by actively collaborating with hospital nurses to research and disseminate information about relevant health issues.