Facilitating evidence-based practice integration into teaching and learning: A strategy for nurse educators

Background: Evidence-based practice (EBP) is highly recommended for health care professionals to apply in their practice. Provision of healthcare should be current and scientifically proven, hence the necessity for nursing education institutions to pursue nurse training programmes incorporating teaching of EBP skills. The purpose was to explore and describe the experiences of nurse educators with the integration of EBP into teaching and learning at a nursing college to develop a strategy to support nurse educators and to recommend the inclusion of EBP skills in the nurse training curriculum. Methodology: A qualitative, descriptive phenomenological research design was employed, utilizing non-probability purposive and snowball sampling techniques to select nurse educators as participants. Data were collected through unstructured in-depth interviews using a grand tour question, a digital recording device, and field notes to record all interviews. Colaizzi’s phenomenological data analysis method guided data analysis using Atlas.ti 24 software for coding. Results: Four themes emerged: nurse educators’ experiences with integration and understanding of the EBP concept, facilitating EBP integration, significance of integrating EBP in teaching and learning, and suggested strategies to enhance EBP integration. Based on these findings, a strategy was developed with seven action statements to support nurse educators. Furthermore, recommendations to the college and future research were suggested for the successful integration of EBP. Conclusions: The suggested strategy and recommendations made, would facilitate and create a culture of EBP within the nursing profession and education.