Indian nurses’ views on a collaborative model of best practices: Evidence-based practice, job satisfaction, learning environment, and nursing quality

Abstract

Introduction: This study is a part of a project aimed at implementing and evaluating the Collaborative Model of Best Practice, (CMBP) to promoting evidence-based practice (EBP) in health care contexts. The aim of the study was to assess nurses’ interest, attitudes, utilisation, and views on promotors of and resources related to EBP before and after taking part in the CMBP project, and to investigate their views on the CMBP in relation to collaboration between the academy and clinical practice, the earning environment, job satisfaction, and nursing quality.

Methods: A descriptive, comparative design was used with pre- and post-test measurements. The Research Utilization Questionnaire (RUQ) and study-specific questions were distributed to ward nurses (n = 67) in a rural Indian hospital.

Results: Most of the nurses thought that the CMBP had a positive impact on quality of care, on their attitudes to, interest in, and knowledge EBP, and on their job satisfaction. They also considered that the collaboration between the nursing college and clinical practice had a positive impact on the learning environment and that more resources were available at the end of the project.

Conclusions: The CMBP project was an attempt to improve the quality of care for patients and the learning environment for nursing students and nurses on the project wards. The results indicated fulfilment of these goals, which strengthens the usability of the model. Implementation of EBP is challenging and requires long-lasting activities and comprehensive support from leaders and facilitators. More studies are needed in which EBP is systematically implemented, accomplished, evaluated, and reported.