Problem: The appropriate utilization of the evidence-based practice (EBP) process by nurses is vital to providing cost effective, safe, and up-to-date patient care. However, the literature reveals several barriers to nurses’ utilization of EBP, contributing to a perceptible disparity between current research and bedside care. The barriers identified in the literature included select nurse attitudes and lack of knowledge and skills related to research appraisal and the EBP process. Purpose and Scope: The aim of this capstone project was to determine select nurse attitudes, knowledge, and utilization of EBP before and after participation in a professional journal club, in the St. Alexius Emergency and Trauma Center (ETC). The rationale for this project included promotion of the EBP process among beside nurses to facilitate cost effective, safe, and up-to-date patient care. Goal: The goal of this EBP project was to successfully implement a professional journal club for nurses in the ETC, fostering practice inquiry, retrieval and appraisal of the evidence, and dissemination of findings among peers. Objectives: First : To establish the relevant aggregate demographic characteristics of the convenience sample of nurses participating in the project. Second: To measure participants’ pre-invention attitudes, knowledge, and utilization of EBP. Third: To measure participants’ post-intervention attitudes, knowledge, and utilization of EBP. Fourth: To describe changes in participants’ attitudes, knowledge, and utilization of EBP before and after the journal club initiative. Plan: Phase One: Established need through review of literature and completion of a published evidence-based critique template. Phase Two: Designed a journal club to include an orientation and two club sessions. Phase Three: Implemented and managed a professional journal for St. Alexius ETC nurses over a nine-week period of time. Phase Four: Evaluated selected nurse attitudes, knowledge, and utilization of EBP through anonymous, voluntary completion of the Clinical Effectiveness and Evidence-Based Practice Questionnairs (EBPQ) before and after the journal club initiative. Outcomes and Results: This triangulated interventional-descriptive study evaluated the pre-intervention and post-intervention measures, which revealed significant mean score increases and strong correlations in participant’s knowledge and utilization of EBP. Cronbach’s alpha measures for the pre-EBPQ and post-EBPQ achieved significant internal consistency and reliability for this sample.
