Evidence-based practice (EBP) programs for nurses are a strategy to influence the culture of an organization to value and use EBP. It is critical to demonstrate their impact during this time of uncertainty and economic unrest.
This project describes and evaluates a Practicing Nurse EBP Fellowship Program for Registered Nurses (RNs) and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNS) on (1) cost, (2) participants' retention, dissemination of work, and application for an advanced degree; (3) impacts using the Institution of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Quintuple Aim framework, and (4) EBP culture.
Direct costs were described using actual costs incurred, and salary estimates were pulled from the literature for indirect costs. Secondary data analyses were used to examine retention of the Fellows and the EBP culture. A survey was used to measure participants' self-reports of the dissemination of projects and applications for an advanced degree. The Program Director associated IHI Quintuple aims to each project. Descriptive statistics were utilized to analyze the data.
Forty-seven nurses (RNs and APRNs) participated in the EBP Fellowship Program over 8 years. Annual costs for the program were $106,294.00. All five of the IHI's Quintuple Aim were addressed across the 47 EBP projects. The retention rate was 76.6% for these Fellows who averaged 5 years since completing the program. Twenty-nine percent of respondents had presented their work externally, and 21% had enrolled in or completed a doctoral program (DNP or PhD). There was a decrease observed in the employee engagement question measuring EBP culture.
EBP Fellowship Programs are a cost-effective strategy to invest in clinicians and improve patient and clinician outcomes. Continued support from Chief Nurse Executives for such programs is still needed.