Introduction
Evidence-based practice in nursing is a prominent area of interest for researchers; thus, there exists a large body of information concerning the phenomenon. The interest reflects the critical role that evidence-based practice plays in the profession, especially in the face of a growing need to provide quality care and improve patients’ outcomes. One such study, the experience of implementing evidence-based practice change: A qualitative analysis, was conducted by Irwin, Bergman and Richards (2013). Conducted over a period of 12 months, the researchers concluded that nurses often ignore the implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) as a result of constant challenges. In as much as the challenges may not be minimized, implementing evidence-based practice can be rewarding for nurses, especially those who prioritize collaboration. The following discussion will analyze the study, provide a critique of the findings, and illuminate the topic further.
Critique
Irwin, Bergman and Richards (2013) report that there is a notable gap or even delay in the translation of evidence into clinical practices. The experiences of all the 19 Institute for Evidence-Based Practice Change (IEBPC) teams yielded several themes passed for factors influencing the implementation of evidence-based practice. The major themes included educational activities, recognition and incentives, development of implementation tools, and obtaining Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, among other numerous variables. Despite the small sample, the research yielded a wide range of themes or factors, which effectively cover the study topic. The fact that these themes are taken from the respondents verbatim increases the reliability and validity of the research. In addition to these themes, the research also noted a variety of potential critical success factors such as time and presence of support. Lack of these factors is considered a significant barrier for evidence-based practice implementation (Williams, Perillo & Brown, 2015). The challenges to the implementation of evidence-based practice were identified in the form of difficulties and frustrations that the respondent teams faced in the course of the research. All these aspects show that the researchers were thorough in their analysis of the verbatim and observation as they have extensively covered the topic despite any limitations in their qualitative research methodology.
However, the study misses critical aspects of research and ignores some pertinent sections. For instance, the literature review and theoretical underpinnings were not presented. A literature review often plays a significant role in shaping an ongoing study because the findings could be compared with those of the current one. Theoretical underpinnings ground the results and conclusions; thus, lack of it in this research makes it look less conceptual and unable to inform or contribute to nursing theory. While using nursing teams and professional unit leaders positively influences evidence-based practice implementation, their use in this study narrowed the sample (each sample leaned towards similar themes) (Fleiszer, Semenic, Ritchie, Richer & Denis, 2015). The result is that other themes that may have been identified were not because of the small sample that was selectively recruited. Perhaps the major problem with this research is the conclusion, which explicitly contradicts its findings. Irwin, Bergman and Richards (2013) state that challenges to implementation of evidence-based practice cannot be minimized. The statement is misleading when they have a section dealing with success factors. They even advice nurses device ways to deal with common time constraints barricading their ability to implement EBP (p.59). If it is possible to develop these solutions, then the challenges can be minimized through systematic implementation (Friesen-Storms, Moser, van der Loo, Beurskens & Bours, 2014). The results section even identified aspects like planning as a means of minimizing the challenges.
Conclusion
The research has thoroughly explored the topic in line with the research problem. Qualitative analysis of the verbatim and observations grounded the research effectively. However, it ignores critical research sections and aspects and finally makes an erratic conclusion despite the clear and concise findings, probably as a result of lacking a conceptual underpinning.