It begins with measuring what is (outcomes measured in real practice) against a standard or benchmark, assessing outcomes, applying supporting evidence, and establishing a process for achieving the desired benchmarks. Instilling a mindset of continuous improvement honed through reflective practice skills helps nurses refocus on the difference nursing as a discipline makes in society and the world. Reflective practice helps nurses make sense of practice through the nurse’s ability to access, critically analyze and learn from an experience to achieve a more desirable, effective, and satisfying practice . Knowledge workers develop the artistry of nursing by accessing and integrating knowledge and information to improve practice outcomes. Reflective practices review and contrast ideas and construct systematic approaches to human inquiry.
We would have conducted separate analyses for primary outcomes (i.e., knowledge, attitudes, behavior, and understanding) and secondary outcomes (i.e., patient outcome). We planned to contact the first author of studies with incomplete reports on data or to request relevant information that is missing from the report. In this systematic review, it was anticipated that included studies may have either involved individual participants or clusters (groups) of participants as units of analysis. We also planned that if an included study contained an irrelevant and relevant intervention group, we would have included only data from the relevant intervention group for analysis.
2. Overall completeness and applicability of evidence
The double helix of research and learning for practice is visible in the questions that arise in practice and return as evidence informed practice guiding what nurses do. Every nurse has a responsibility to develop knowledge, translate evidence into practice, evaluate outcomes, and implement best practices across standards and professional practice models. Reflective practice can have a role in knowledge development by cultivating a spirit of inquiry that asks clarifying questions about practice. Inquiry, reflecting on asking critical questions, is the first step in knowledge development, whether through research or quality improvement processes that identify gaps in knowledge and care outcomes. The knowledge base required to guide a practice-based discipline comes from multiple ways of knowing first described by Carper , further explicated by Johns , restated in 2012 in Sherwood & Horton Deutsch and reconsidered by Thorne .
3. How the intervention might work
A total of 14,411 citations were identified through a database search (completed on 17 June 2019). Terms and keywords specific to the Participant (P), Intervention (I), Comparative intervention (C), and the Outcome (O) were used to generate relevant articles. Database searches were conducted by a librarian (JH) and another review author (EK). We intended to achieve integration by translating findings from the quantitative review into qualitative results using Bayesian conversion to generate synthesized results. Finally, we planned to integrate results from both the quantitative review and the qualitative review using the JBI Mixed Methods Aggregation Instrument (MMARI). Findings would have been assembled based on their quality, and, by grouping findings with similar meanings together.
Addressing the Research-Practice Gap in Education
Knowledge referred to learners’ retention of facts and concepts about evidence‐informed practice and evidence‐based practice. Summary of the differences and similarities between evidence‐informed practice and evidence‐based practice Table 1 presents a National Academies report on mental health summary of the differences and similarities between evidence‐informed practice and evidence‐based practice. Similarly, Epstein (2009) described evidence‐informed practice as an integrative model that “accepts the positive contributions of evidence‐based practice, research‐based practice, practice‐based research, and reflective practice” (p. 223). Hence, researchers, including Nevo & Slonim‐Nevo, 2011 and McSherry, 2007, have advocated for a creative and flexible model of applying evidence into practice, where healthcare practitioners are not limited to following a series of steps (as advocated in evidence‐based practice) to apply evidence into practice. According to Tilson et al. (2011), frameworks used in assessing the effectiveness of evidence‐based practice interventions need to reflect the aims of the research module, and the aims must also correspond to the needs and characteristics of learners.
- We would have extracted information relating to study design, interventions, population, outcomes that are of significance to the review questions, and specific objectives, and methods used to assess the impact of evidence‐informed practice/evidence‐based practice educational interventions on patient outcomes.
- In addition, there is no previous systematic review that has compared the effectiveness of these two concepts.
- If the research programme tests out new ways of building practitioner insights and knowledge into the research process, then the fact that the projects are taking place in different education policy contexts provides an opportunity to rethink how the relationships between research, policy and practice are currently framed and how else they might work together.
- Practitioners reported that they rely primarily on clinical experiences to inform treatment decisions, although they often consult EST literature.
