Introduction
The study aim was to evaluate the perceptions, attitudes and the knowledge level of practicing nurses towards the use of evidence-based practice in primary health care. The study also goes further to assess the effect of nursing education on these parameters relating to evidence-based care.
The target population comprised of around 110 practice nurses who are involved in the area of general nursing in West Auckland. The study employed purposive sampling technique to obtain a sample of 55 nurses from West Auckland, who are in general nursing practice. To be included in the study, the nurses were provided with a questionnaire sent via post, and upon returning a completed questionnaire they were included in the study with the assumption that they had consented. The researchers sent out a total of 110 questionnaires and received back 55 completed questionnaires giving the study a 55% response rate. After the final screening procedures, the researchers dropped one questionnaire, leaving 54 questionnaires for analysis (Prior, Wilkinson & Neville, 2010).
The researchers used a self-administered questionnaire sent via email to collect the data. The initial package also included postage for the participants to use in sending back their completed questionnaires. The data obtained had 24 items that can be summed up into three groups. The first group contained information on how the nurses execute individual components of evidence-based practice. The nurses were also evaluated on their attitude towards evidence-based care such as perceived workload. The study also rated the nurses’ knowledge of evidence-based practice using parameters such as their ability to conduct research as well as years of practice. Data measures that were included in the study constituted the age of the nurses, gender, ethnicity and number of years since registration.
The participants of the study did not undergo any intervention as the research questions only focused on describing the phenomena under study.
According to the study, the practice of evidence-based care is profoundly influenced by the skills, educational preparation as well as the attitudes of the particular practitioners such as nurses. The study reveals that there exists a relationship between educational background and the practice of evidence-based care. Education is shown to have a positive effect on how nurses conduct research and assimilate evidence-based skills into their care.
The study shows that nurses’ attitude towards evidence-based care determines the implementation of the individual components of the evidence-based practice. There is a positive correlation between the attitude of nurses and the efficient utilization of evidence in nursing care. The level of preparation associated with the nurses’ registration has a correlation with the positivity of the nurses towards evidence-based care.
Credibility
Yes, the study is published in a peer-reviewed journal. The website of the journal indicates that it is peer reviewed.
Yes, the design of the study was appropriate for the research questions. The researchers were able to describe the issues revolving the adoption of evidence care among the nurses because of applying a descriptive quantitative design.
The data obtained as well as the analysis of the data were adequate for answering the research questions. The analysis was provided for scaling of the questionnaire responses resulting in increased credibility of the findings.
The inclusion criteria for the participants could have had an influence on the findings of the study. Given that the participants were chosen on the basis of having completed their posted questionnaire, it is highly likely that the responses were from nurses who have developed opinions about evidence-based care. As such the study results are skewed towards the views of such nurses rather than the real situation on the ground.
The only instrument applied in the study was the questionnaire that was sent out to the participants. From the description of what was covered in the questionnaire, it is clearly evident that it was reliable. The article outlines what was covered in the different section of the questions.
The Cronbach’s alpha score was used to perform controls in this study producing the required level of internal reliability for the different subscales of the data.
The fact that the questionnaires were sent to the different participants via email could have influenced the findings of the study. It is possible that once the participants received the questionnaires they could have sat together and discussed how to respond to the questions. As such the results do not guarantee that the information presented was from individual study participants.
Similar studies in the area of evidence-based care have yielded results that are consistent with this study. The study mentions different results that have been done either on evidence care entirely or on a different aspect of evidence care and yielded consistent results.
All the main findings of the study are credible and consistent with the research questions being addressed. The study supports the findings with the appropriate data and statistical evidence that indicates the confidence level. The main findings are within the confidence level that had been identified by the researcher.
Conclusion
I do agree with the discussion and implications presented in the study. However, I think that the results obtained in this study could be having other confounding factors that led to the outcome obtained. It is paramount to establish the relationship between the organizational culture and the ability of nurses to adopt evidence-based care.
An identical study carried out in the USA would have yielded similar results. The American system has multiple regulations that require research findings to undergo several checks before being adopted into clinical practice.
Reference
Prior, P., Wilkinson, J., & Neville, S. (2010). Practice nurse use of evidence in clinical practice: A descriptive surevey. Nursing Praxis in New Zealand, 26(2), 14-25.