A QUANTITATIVE STUDY:THE RELATIONSHIP

BETWEEN THE UTILISATION OF EVIDENCED-BASED

PRACTICE (EBP) TOWARDS PATIENT CARE

OUTCOMES AMONG STUDENT NURSES

Jermain Smith

Kellion Stewart

Sherene Simpson
 RESEARCH BROAD PROBLEM

Student’s perceptions of the usefulness of EBP in providing guidance

in clinical practice. Is EBP being utilised in the clinical area?

 PURPOSE STATEMENT

To investigate the relationship between the utilisation of evidence-based practice

towards patient care outcomes among student nurses.
 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

1)To determine the prevalence of EBP in the clinical area within the

undergraduate nursing programme.

2) To evaluate the challenges undergraduate nursing students experience in

using EBP in the clinical setting.

3) To investigate the relationship between students ages 18-46 and their

perception of EBP.
 RESEARCH QUESTIONs
1) What is the relationship between EBP utilisation in clinical settings and the

curriculum of undergraduate nursing programme?

2) What are the challenges nursing undergraduate students experience in using EBP

in the clinical setting?

3) What is the prevalence between nursing undergraduate students ages 18-46 and

their perception of EBP?

 LITERATURE REVIEW: EBP IN THE
UNDERGRADUATE NURSING PROGRAMME

According to Song et al. (2021) Song et al., (2021) and Labrague

earlier studies of EBP indicated
that Evidence Based Practice
(EBP) is integrated into the
curriculum of nursing students.
(2020) found that students were
being taught research in
university and had barriers that
could potentially have a negative
influence on their behaviour
towards the use of the skill.
 LITERATURE REVIEW: BARRIERS TO THE USE OF EBP
IN CLINICAL PRACTICE
Wong & Kowitlawakul (2020);
Malik et al. (2017) found that
students' face several barriers when
using EBP skills such as the clinical
setting not being conducive for
learning, teaching methods and
student-to-tutor ratios not being
efficient.
Abu-Baker et al. (2021) emphasised that
undergraduate students valued EBP and
its relevance in delivering optimum
patient care but evidence showed that it
was still inconsistent because some
people were still deficient in utilising the
skill of EBP because of barriers presented
LITERATURE REVIEW: LINK TO THE PERCEPTION OF
USAGE AND AGE EBP

Iradukunda (2020);Morrison-Beedy Iradukunda and Mayers (2020)

(2018) and Mitchell (2013) found that
contemporary professionals were
easier to train than veteran
professionals in using EBP.
found that students' general
experiences and who were older
in age had an influence on their
willingness to use EBP to achieve
better patient outcomes.
 HYPOTHESIS
➢ H0 There will be no relationship between nursing students utilisation of

EBP in the clinical setting and curriculum within the undergraduate

nursing program.

➢ H1 There is a relationship between nursing students utilisation of EBP in

the clinical setting and curriculum within the undergraduate nursing

program.
 METHODOLOGY

● Research Design Population and setting

● Sample size Sample and Recruitment

● Data Collection Instrument Reliability and validity

● Data Collection Procedure

● Data Analysis

● Ethical considerations
RESEARCH DESIGN
 Population and Sample

Population: 4 franchises (TLIs) of a significant

university in urban Kingston, Jamaica. 121 students

Sample: minimum sample

size of 93 individuals

Margin of error
5%
Confidence level
95%
Online Questionnaire: The tool consisted of 84 item questions and had a
combination of parts
i) section of Research Competencies scale,
ii) Evidence-Based Practice Competencies scale,
iii) Sociodemographic scale and iv) Usefulness of Research and
Evidence-Based scale.
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Data Analysis and Presentation

The project Statistical Pearson Chi-square Figures and Tables

Package Program goodness of fit test

(PSPP)
 RESULTS

● The response rate was 49.4%.

● The mean age of the participants was
26.28 years (SD= 5.56).
● Majority of the respondents were females
(96.0%).
● 52.2% of the participants said they got a
large extent of EBP training in their
school curriculum.
 RESULTS Contd

The Asymptotic sig. is .11 (<.05), therefore we

accept the alternate hypothesis concluding that
There is a relationship between nursing
students utilisation of EBP in the clinical
setting and curriculum within the
undergraduate nursing program. high
association was found among the significant
variables.
FIGURES AND TABLES
EBP in undergraduate nursing programme.

Table 1: Extent of EBP in nursing school curriculum and use in clinical rotation.

EBP to some extent and sometimes is 59%. This is statistically significant p=0.011
Table 2: Nursing students that use critical appraising skills with EBP in the clinical area analysed with
their GPA score.

73% were competent, all students had a GPA of 3.60-4.20. 85%, not competent,had a GPA of
3.00-3.59. This difference was significant. p=0.003
 DISCUSSION
Consistent with the previous studies done by Song
We did not identify those mediums,
et al. (2021), earlier studies of EBP indicated that
instead, we found a significant
EBP is integrated into the course of study of nursing
relationship between EBP evaluations;
students at universities.
synthesis of EBP in the clinical setting,
In contrast, Song et al. (2021) found the medium
and GPA that was not identified in the
that was used to deliver EBP curriculum activities
literature.
in the universities such as lectures, group reports,

and discussions
 DISCUSSION contd
results suggest that a student's age does not

Wong & Kowitlawakul (2020) and determine whether a student will use EBP despite

Malik et al. (2017, found the existence of its benefits, those in their twenties are more

barriers in the clinical setting and that competent to use EBP than those in their thirties.

some students were still not competent to In contrast, previous researchers found that older

use the skill which was similar result student nurses are more likely to be competent

found by us. (Iradukunda & Mayers, 2020

 Conclusion
In conclusion :
● Universities are utilising EBP in their nursing curricula that is being taught to
nursing students.

● Further findings identified a significant result between EBP appraisal skills and
Grade point average (GPA). Of the 73% who were competent in using EBP
appraisal skills, all students had a GPA of 3.60-4.20, and this difference was
statistically significant.

● Despite the barriers faced by nursing students in the clinical setting they are still
engaged in the use of EBP. The four (4) participants who found the experience
not challenging was 57.1% competent to use EBP to improve patient outcomes
in clinical practice.
 Conclusion
There are no evidence that was found by us to support a relationship between
age and EBP in the clinical settings.

We found age groups 25-29 had the highest perceptions of competence in

evaluating outcomes of EBP for various groups than all other selections, with a
recording of 70% that accounted for seven persons, this was statistically
insignificant.
 RECOMMENDATIONS
● A qualitative research design is recommended to explore and analyse students’

perceptions in detail.

● Replicating the study within other nursing schools outside the TLI stream and ensuring

a balance between the genders is attained.

● Future research can be done to determine the exact barriers student nurses are facing

in the clinical area.

● To further evaluate the relationship between student nurses; the use of other EBP

competencies, patient outcome, and GPA.

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Ms Maxine Findlay my research preceptor, for
providing guidance and support throughout this research project.

She generously shared her knowledge and expertise. Her constructive feedback and suggestions
were invaluable in shaping the direction of this study.

I am also grateful to Mrs Everette Samuels Bailey who provided assistance with data collection
and analysis.

Lastly, I would like to thank our heavenly father, family and friends for their unwavering
encouragement and support throughout this research.
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