Teaching evidence-based practice (EBP) in nursing curricula in six European countries-A descriptive study

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Evidence-Based Practice (EBP)
• Higher Education

Background:

• Teaching of evidence-based practice (EBP) in nursing education lacks standardization across European institutions.
• Limited nurses' knowledge and skills in EBP are identified barriers to its practical application.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the presence, characteristics, and content of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) courses within European nursing programs.
• The study focused on bachelor's, master's, and PhD levels across six European countries.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive study design was employed within the EBP e-Toolkit Project, a collaboration of six European higher education institutions.
• Data were collected from 162 nursing faculties across Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, Poland, Greece, and Slovenia using census sampling.
• Manual narrative template analysis with open descriptive coding was used to analyze the data collected from December 2018 to March 2019.

Main Results:

• Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) subjects were present in 29.2% of bachelor's, 28% of master's, and 40% of PhD nursing programs.
• Average teaching hours for EBP steps were 134 in bachelor's, 127 in master's, and 52 in PhD programs.
• Course content varied, covering EBP topics, research knowledge development, and the importance of evidence-based clinical work.

Conclusions:

• Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) is currently insufficiently integrated into European nursing curricula.
• Standardized guidelines for teaching approaches and content are necessary for effective EBP integration across all higher education levels.
• Further research is recommended to explore the implementation of EBP teaching in master's and PhD nursing programs.