Management Involvement--A Decisive Condition When Implementing Evidence-Based Practice

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Implementation Science
• Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Integration
• Health Professional Education

Background:

• Health professionals express positive attitudes towards evidence-based practice (EBP) but face challenges in its implementation.
• Limited knowledge exists on how graduates of postgraduate EBP programs apply these principles in diverse healthcare settings.
• A postprofessional EBP program has been available at Bergen University College since 2004.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore facilitators and strategies for successful EBP implementation.
• To understand the experiences of health professionals who completed a postgraduate EBP program.
• To identify how EBP steps are implemented in clinical practice.

Main Methods:

• Grounded theory methodology employed for data collection and analysis.
• Data gathered through single and focus group interviews.
• Involved 20 health professionals currently in clinical practice who had completed a postgraduate EBP program.

Main Results:

• Identified specific activities used by health professionals for EBP implementation.
• "Tailoring principles" emerged as a strategy to address challenges in colleague engagement and understanding of EBP.
• Management involvement was identified as a dominant condition for the success of "tailoring principles".

Conclusions:

• Middle managers play a crucial coordinating and supporting role in implementing EBP in Norwegian clinical settings.
• "Tailoring principles" is a dynamic process where clinical protocols serve as both outcomes and inputs for further interventions.
• Adapting EBP principles to the specific organizational and cultural context significantly facilitates implementation.