Nurses' Experiences and Perceptions of Evidence-Based Healthcare Competence: A Qualitative Systematic Review.

Area of Science:

• Nursing Research
• Evidence-Based Healthcare (EBHC)

Background:

• Nurses play a crucial role in implementing Evidence-Based Healthcare (EBHC).
• Limited adoption of EBHC highlights a need to understand nurses' perspectives on their EBHC competence.
• This review addresses the gap by synthesizing qualitative evidence on nurses' experiences and perceptions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically appraise and synthesize qualitative evidence regarding nurses' experiences and perceptions of EBHC competence.
• To identify factors influencing the adoption and implementation of EBHC in nursing practice.

Main Methods:

• A qualitative systematic review was conducted following JBI methodology.
• Searched CINAHL, Medic, PubMed, Scopus, and grey literature (December 2023).
• Data were synthesized using JBI's meta-aggregation method, with findings graded using the ConQual approach.

Main Results:

• Seventeen qualitative studies were included, yielding four synthesized findings with low confidence scores.
• Key findings include nurses' competence in Global Health, Evidence Generation, Evidence Transfer, and Evidence Implementation.
• Notably, nurses did not report experiences or perceptions related to evidence synthesis.

Conclusions:

• Nurses' EBHC competence primarily focuses on evidence implementation and global health, with limited engagement in evidence synthesis.
• This suggests core EBHC principles are not fully integrated into nursing practice.
• Nurses require enhanced support, education, and resources to strengthen their EBHC competence and confidence.