Teaching evidence-based practice to undergraduate healthcare students Educators' knowledge, skills, attitudes, current practice, perceived barriers, and facilitators: A Danish cross-sectional study

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Abstract

Background: Evidence-Based Practice is recognized as a standard practice and a core competence for clinical
healthcare professionals and therefore educators’ competences in teaching Evidence-Based Practice are essential.
Yet only little is known about the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and teaching practices around Evidence-Based
Practice among educators of Danish undergraduate healthcare students.
Objectives: The objectives of this study were to describe: 1) the Evidence-Based Practice profiles regarding attitudes, knowledge, skills, and teaching practices among educators who teach in undergraduate healthcare educations; 2) the current state of teaching Evidence-Based Practice in undergraduate program curricula; 3) the
perceived barriers and facilitators to teach Evidence-Based Practice; and 4) the educators` needs regarding
teaching Evidence-Based Practice.
Design, setting and participants: A cross-sectional survey using a self-administrated online questionnaire among 81
educators at University College South Denmark.
Methods: The survey covered 1) Demographic questions, 2) Educators Evidence-Based Practice profiles measured
by the Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire for teachers, 3) perceived state of Evidence-Based Practice
teaching 4) perceived barriers and facilitators and 5) educators´needs for competence development regarding
teaching Evidence-Based Practice.
Results: The translated version of the Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire showed that respondents had a
mean of 3,6 regarding practicing Evidence-Based Practice when asked to rank on a scale of 1–7 (higher score
indicating higher degree). The respondents showed positive attitudes towards Evidence-Based Practice and had a
high self-perception of their Evidence-Based Practice skills and knowledge, scoring an overall average value of 5
on these items. In open ended questions educators gave a variety of examples of their Evidence-Based Practice
teaching in terms of content, teaching methods and cooperation with clinical practice.
Conclusions: Educators report limitations to teaching Evidence-Based Practice; however, attitudes, knowledge
and skills were perceived generally high. Main facilitator was partnership with clinical practice and main barrier
was time lack.
Original languageEnglish
JournalNurse Education Today
Volume133
Issue numberFebruary
Number of pages8
ISSN0260-6917
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

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