Teaching evidence-based practice skills in a hospital

Nurses and allied health professionals have the unique opportunity to become empowered through evidence-based practice (EBP) to make significant differences in the lives of patients and their families. Best practices in patient care occur only when staff continually ask questions about treatments and care, search for and evaluate the evidence to support or refute traditional practices, implement best evidence, and evaluate the effectiveness of the evidence as it applies to nursing care. This article presents the establishment of a formal program to teach EBP skills to pediatric nurses and other health care providers at a major children's hospital.