Sök artiklar i SveMed+

Tidskrift

Sammanfattning

Background: Advancements in medical equipment and treatment are continually being made. This results in more and better treatment services and methods, which in turn creates a special obligation on the part of healthcare professionals whose practice is evidence based to update their professional knowledge and heighten their awareness. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to gain insight into surgical nurses’ understanding of the concept of ‘evidence-based practice’ (EBP), as well as their experiences with evidence-based practice. By including various hospitals, we sought to investigate a variety of practices or systemic differences, such as attitudes and time allocated to evidence-based practice. Method: We assembled four focus groups in three different parts of Norway. The focus group interviews were conducted between October and November 2012 and consisted of four to six surgical nurses. Results: The nurses emphasised that an increasing demand for production and efficiency impeded their ability to work in an evidence-based manner. They said that a lack of knowledge could create uncertainty in the performance of their duties. However, the findings show that they did not always take advantage of the opportunities or take the time to work with EBP in the way it was intended, and they made little use of available rooms and PCs in the surgical departments to search for, read and assess professional and research articles. Conclusion: This study reveals a lack of competence among the surgical nurses and an organisational structure and culture that fail to underpin and support EBP, both in the surgical departments and in the educational institutions. The findings suggest that this may be viewed in connection with a lack of facilitation, as well as insufficient commitment at both an individual and an organisational level.

MeSH