New eLearning Course Teaches Nurses, Students the Ins and Outs of Evidence-Based Practice

Cleveland Clinic’s Office of Nursing Research and Innovation has launched a new Evidence-Based Practice eLearning Course – which is now available for experienced and novice nurses and students.

Providing detailed guidance to learners, the five-hour online course follows the evidence-based practice process from beginning to end. Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:

• Differentiate between levels of strength of research and non-research evidence and the quality of evidence
• Conduct a review of literature for a specific evidence-based practice question
• Determine the strengths and weaknesses or biases of “research” and “non-research” articles
• Discuss synthesis of evidence on a practice/topic/question and next steps in translating evidence into practice

Featured within Cleveland Clinic’s new Virtual Learning Environment, the course is designed in an easy-to-view, easy-to-understand platform for individual nurses or for broad use by healthcare organizations and schools of nursing.

It contains four modules that allow for flexible, self-directed training at a pace appropriate to the participant’s own style of learning. Additionally, practitioners and students can access tutorial modules and participate in a virtual forum.

Module completion leads to enhanced nursing practice

Experts within Cleveland Clinic’s Office of Nursing Research and Innovation highly recommend completion of all four modules of the new course for any nurse interested in learning and applying the evidence-based practice process.

A research project, titled: Value of, Attitudes Toward, and Implementation of, Evidence-Based Practices Based on Use of Self-Study Learning Modules, was conducted by the members of the Nursing Institute Research Council of Cleveland Clinic’s Zielony Institute. Researchers found that Cleveland Clinic nurses who completed all four modules of the eLearning evidence-based practice course were more likely to implement evidence-based practices clinically, even after controlling for other nurse factors associated with completing the modules. And educational modules viewed were positively associated with higher beliefs about the value of evidence-based practice and higher attitudes toward evidence-based practice.

“The results of our study provide new knowledge that nurse clinicians do not always understand the nuances of reviewing literature for strength and quality of evidence. But, once they learn how to complete a critical review of research and non-research papers, they are more likely to use findings in clinical settings by implementing high-quality evidence,” says Nancy M. Albert, PhD, CCNS, CCFN, CCRN, NE-BC, Associate Chief Nursing Officer of Nursing Research and Innovation, Cleveland Clinic health system. “The self-study module concept allows nurses and students to garner knowledge at their own pace and at a time when learning can be optimized.”

Register today

Participants can register and access the Evidence-Based Practice eLearning Course through Cleveland Clinic’s Virtual Learning Environment. Participants will earn 5.0 American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) contact hours upon completion. The course is always available, 24/7.