Resumen de Improving Evidence-Based Practice education in healthcare courses: A Participatory Action Research multiple-case study
Rodney Pope, Michael Curtin, Kylie Murphy, Tracey Parnell, Clarissa Hughes, Jessica Biles, Marguerite Bramble, Simone OConnor, Lisa Speedie, Evan Plowman
This paper synthesises the results of three participatory action research (PAR) studies undertaken to improve the integration of evidence-based practice (EBP) education in three undergraduate health courses at one Australian university: Bachelor of Nursing, Bachelor of Occupational Therapy, and Bachelor of Physiotherapy. The PAR process with interested academics uncovered a range of EBP education strengths and weaknesses in the three courses. Common themes were evident, which are likely to be applicable in other similar courses. Identified weaknesses included a lack of explicit teaching about the meaning, principles, steps, and importance of EBP, partly stemming from a lack of shared understanding. A relative lack of emphasis on certain EBP steps was also noted, particularly the first step of ‘asking’ questions. A lack of communication with workplace learning (WPL) supervisors about how to facilitate EBP was also noted, raising concerns about variable EBP-education quality across WPL settings. Opportunities for improvement were identified by academics in each course, across multiple subjects and year levels. In our experience, PAR has been a highly constructive approach to EBP curriculum improvement. We encourage consideration of a PAR approach for addressing similarly complex curriculum challenges.
