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VA-NNPN Conference - A Success Story
Summary of VA-NNPN Conference
Institute for the Advancement of Evidence-Based Practice
September 28-30, 2009
The inaugural Institute for the Advancement of Evidence-Based Practice was held in September 2009 in Bloomington, Minnesota. The Institute was designed to assist staff nurses in member National Nursing Practice Network (NNPN) organizations in developing, implementing, and evaluating a clinically relevant evidence-based practice project through facilitation and collaboration with NNPN staff and colleagues. Funding was provided by the Veterans Health Administration Office of Nursing Services and Health Services Research and Development Service of the Office of Research and Development. There were 41 nurses working in 15 different VA hospital systems that participated in this inaugural Institute.
The Institute focused on providing participants information regarding the various aspects of the evidence-based practice process from project initiation to dissemination of project findings through 2½ days of extensive training. Participants were also provided with the tools to facilitate and augment implementation of unit-based evidence-based practice projects at their facilities. During the 2½ days, participants heard a number of didactic presentations regarding evidence-based practice and how it applies to nurses working in the VA system. However, there was also time specifically scheduled for facilitiated discussion and project work time.
Prior to arriving at the Institute, participating member sites were allowed to choose one of four priority topics identified from VA Nurse Executives and the VA ONS to focus on during the Institute. These topics included: falls, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, shift-to-shift handoff among nurses, and nurse/physician communication. In the end, 10 participants worked on developing a project related to falls; 5 participants worked on developing a project related to catheter-associated urinary tract infections; 11 participants worked on developing a project related to shift-to-shift handoff among nurses; and 15 participants worked on developing a project related to nurse/physician communication.
NNPN staff located relevant evidence related to each of these topics that was sent to the applicable participants before the conference. Background reading regarding each topic as well as a research article(s) and/or guideline(s) were sent along with a quantitative research article critique form as well as a guideline critique form. Participants were asked to read the material before the conference and to complete the critique forms to the best of their ability with time built into the Institute schedule for facilitated discussion on each of these items. Participants also received the "Toolkit for Promoting Evidence-Based Practice" (Titler, 2002) after arriving on site in addition to the Institute binder that included handouts for each of the didactic presentations as well as some additional reference materials on some of the topics.
Upon arrival at the Institute, participants were allowed to sit anywhere in the conference room; however, midway through Day 1, participants were asked to change their seating arrangements to include member sites working on the same topic being at the same table or tables near each other. This seating arrangement helped participants more easily share ideas about their topic and how to work through each point of the evidence-based practice process.
Initial responses from attendees were quite positive with regards to the Institute and program planning; however, there was an overwhelming request to stretch future Institutes into 3 full days or 3½ days. Increasing the length of the Institute would also provide more facilitated time for discussion as well as project work time to help participants have a more solid idea of next steps upon returning to their respective institutions. There were also a large number of requests for participants to be able to arrive the day before the Institute begins as many were up quite early to travel to the Minneapolis area and rushed to get checked into the hotel as well as obtain lunch. Arriving the day before the Institute begins may also facilitiate easier review of the "pre-conference" readings and readiness to begin working on their projects right away.
Click HERE for pictures from the workshop.