EXPLORING THE PERCEPTIONS OF REGISTERED NURSES TOWARDS EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE IN A SELECTED GENERAL HOSPITAL IN NIGERIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/2520-5293/115Abstract
The changing context of many disease profiles within the African continent is necessitating a re-engineered way of nursing. Nurses are required to possess increased knowledge, clinical competency and a greater autonomy in their clinical judgment. Moreover, modern technologies and society’s increasing health awareness are intensifying the need for nurses to provide nursing care based on evidence. Within the context of Nigeria, it is documented that Evidence Based Practice (EBP) is not widely embraced. Therefore, this study aimed to explore and describe the perception of registered nurses in a selected regional hospital in Nigeria towards EBP. Underpinned by a quantitative descriptive design, a five-point Likert scale was used for data collection. The sample was made up of 133 registered nurses from a cross section of 24 units from the selected hospital. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were used to summarise and describe the characteristics of the respondents and establish the relationships of the study variables and the respondents’ demographic characteristics. While the respondents perceived themselves as being knowledgeable regarding the usefulness of evidence to inform clinical decisions (91.7%, n=122), there was poor correlation between their knowledge and practice of EBN to inform their nursing care (r = 0.063). Furthermore, inability to understand statistical terms used in research articles was rated as the highest perceived barrier (61.7%, n = 82) regarding evidence-based nursing practice. Further research is needed on a larger sample at regional and community health care settings to assess the practice of EBN. The data collection tool focused on the perceived knowledge, attitudes and practices of nurses regarding EBN. Further research is needed to assess the actual practices of nurses about EBN.
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References
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Accepted 2015-04-23
Published 2015-07-27
