Nurses are pivotal in EBHC implementation; however, its adoption remains limited, highlighting the need to investigate nurses' experiences and perceptions of their EBHC competence.
To critically appraise and synthesise qualitative evidence of nurses' experiences and perceptions of EBHC competence.
A qualitative systematic review.
The review followed the JBI methodology for qualitative systematic reviews. Inclusion criteria were qualitative studies published in Finnish, Swedish or English that explored nurses' experiences and perceptions of EBHC competence. Data were synthesised using JBI's meta-aggregation method and the findings were graded with the ConQual approach.
CINAHL, Medic, PubMed, Scopus and grey literature from EBSCO Open Dissertations and MedNar, searched in December 2023.
Seventeen qualitative studies were included. The study findings were generated from four synthesised findings with low confidence scores. The synthesised findings were: (1) Nurses' competence in Global Health, (2) Nurses' competence in enhancing Evidence generation, (3) Nurses' competence in optimising Evidence Transfer and (4) Nurses' competence in effective implementation of evidence. A new finding of this systematic review was that nurses did not express their experiences or perceptions on evidence synthesis.
Nurses' experiences of EBHC competence focus mainly on evidence implementation and global health. The lack of findings to evidence synthesis suggests that core principles of the EBHC model are not yet fully embedded in nursing practice. Nurses emphasised the need for greater support for developing EBHC competence.
Integration of EBHC into education, mentoring and adequate resources enhances nurses' competence, motivation and commitment to EBHC sub-dimensions, while also strengthening their professional confidence and development.
Strengthening nurses' EBHC competencies contributes to supporting the delivery of high-quality, effective and sustainable healthcare services.
PRISMA guidelines followed.
None.
PROSPERO-registered: CRD42021285179
To investigate the perceptions of family members (FMs) of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and nurses on empowering support and its implementation during the acute phase within Finnish neurosurgical and neurological care in hospital settings, focusing on identifying similarities and differences in their viewpoints.
Participatory qualitative descriptive study.
Data were collected from seven FMs and 11 nurses using the World Café method in November 2019. An abductive approach was employed for data analysis, combining deductive interpretation within the conceptual framework of empowering support and inductive content analysis.
Four main themes were identified: (1) FMs' diverse information and guidance needs of TBI, treatment and its impact on family life, (2) support based on empowering FMs in participation, competence and decision-making, (3) empowering FMs through collaborative nursing practices and interprofessional support, and (4) internal and external hospital support enhancing and promoting the empowerment of FMs.
The perceptions of FMs and nurses regarding empowering support were largely consistent, yet diverged in its implementation in nursing practice. Nurses play a crucial role in fostering the empowerment of FMs; however, further research is needed to explore the impact of organisational and community factors on the implementation of empowering support.
Our study contributes to advancing nursing practices by underscoring the necessity for a paradigm shift towards a family-centred approach. Furthermore, it emphasises the urgency for standardising nursing practices to ensure equitable access to empowering support for FMs, applicable across various care settings for patients with TBI.
This review is part of a larger research project in which FMs of patients with TBI and nurses were involved in designing the project.
This study was reported using the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Checklist for qualitative studies.