Implementation of Evidence-Based Practice in Long-Term Care: A Scoping Review

To systematically examine implementation strategies within long-term care (LTC) settings. The goal was to identify elements that contribute to adoption and sustainability of evidence-based practices by facilities and frontline health care staff.

Scoping review.

LTC settings, frontline health care staff and facility administration.

A scoping review of the literature across 3 databases was performed. Two researchers independently assessed literature for inclusion against criteria. The researchers independently extracted data for study characteristics following the Action, Actor, Context, Target, Time (AACTT) framework. The quality of included studies was assessed using the Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt Categorization.

Eleven studies examining implementation of a new evidence-based intervention into LTC settings met inclusion requirements. The types of new interventions shared a common classification within the Effective Practice and Organization of Care (EPOC) taxonomy, with all belonging to the Coordination of Care and Management of Care Processes category. All studies had frontline health care staff as the target of implementation strategies. Barriers to implementation included intervention timing in relation to workflow and workload, lack of interest in or skepticism regarding the new intervention, as well as perceptions that the intervention was not within scope or training. Face-to-face communication and asynchronous training were viewed positively, as was having a peer champion available for support.

The results from this review highlight the importance of including communication strategies that use face-to-face delivery and peer champion approaches for successful implementation of new evidence-based interventions. Key implementation strategies also included education tailored to an individual's training and experience level.