Evidence-based nursing education for undergraduate students: A preliminary experimental study

With increasing needs for evidence-based practice, the well-designed EBP education is necessary to enhance the critical thinking and decision-making skills of nursing undergraduates. This study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an evidence-based practice education program with blended learning on undergraduate nursing students. In this preliminary experimental study, 45 senior nursing undergraduates were recruited from a university in Seoul, Korea. Self-selection was used to create two groups: an intervention group and a control group consisting of 21 and 24 students, respectively. The intensive 30-hours evidence-based practice education program was provided to the intervention group. Evidence-based practice knowledge, self-efficacy, and evidence utilization were evaluated as outcome variables at baseline and two months after the intervention. There were no significant differences between the intervention and control groups on the background characteristics and outcome variables (p > .05). There were significant increases in evidence-based practice knowledge (Z = - 5.28), self-efficacy (t = - 6.42), resource utilization (Z = - 2.60), and databases utilization (t = - 2.98) in the intervention group, when compared with the control group (p < .01). Further studies are recommended to develop the evidence-based practice train-the-trainer program for nursing educators and to maximize the effectiveness of utilizing blended learning in evidence-based practice education.