The Experience of Implementing Evidence-Based Practice Change: A Qualitative Analysis

The Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) and ONS Foundation worked together to develop the Institute for Evidence-Based Practice Change (IEBPC) program to facilitate the implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) change in nursing. This analysis describes the experience of 19 teams of nurses from various healthcare settings who participated in the IEBPC program. Qualitative analysis of verbatim narratives of activities and observations during the process of implementing an EBP project was used to identify key themes in the experience. EBP implementation enabled participants to learn about their own practice and to experience empowerment through the evidence, and it ignited the spirit of inquiry, team work, and multidisciplinary collaboration. Experiences and lessons learned from nurses implementing EBP can be useful to others in planning EBP implementation.