Building an evidence-based practice culture: incorporating evidence-based nursing in the clinical ladder system

Evidence-based practice has become a dominant trend in the healthcare with the objective of providing efficient, high quality health care, and policy making. Traditional problem-solving methods may not adequately address consumer needs in the rapidly changing modern healthcare system. In order to make correct decisions, a systematic and scientific approach to the collection, assessment, and interpretation of clinical information is essential for the health care provider. Creating an evidence-based practice nursing culture is the most fundamental way for nurses to recognize the importance of evidence-based nursing and, subsequently, adapt to solving clinical problems. This paper elaborates the strategy for incorporating evidence-based nursing into the clinical ladder system used at the authors' affiliated medical center. Three strategies are introduced. These are: (1) including the EBN concept in newcomer in-service training; (2) adopting evidence-based nursing practice competence as a criterion in the clinical ladder system, with various evidence-based, ladder-related reports required for promotion; and (3) providing support to nurses through centralized and decentralized education as well as individual consultation. The proposed strategy is provided as a practical reference for educators and policy makers working to foster evidence-based practice nursing cultures.