Evidence-based practice in Master education.

Project summary

Educating change agents. A qualitative descriptive study of graduates of a Master's program in evidence-based practice

Health care professionals are expected to work evidence-based; but it is not a united understanding of how to do this within Norwegian health care. Høgskolen I Bergen ha since 2008 educated Master-students in EBP. The MA-program builds upon the model of EBP, and so have 30 health care professionals if different kinds graduated.

 The aims of this study were to explore how students in this program viewed their ability to apply evidence-based practice and their perceptions of what constitute necessary conditions to implement evidence-based practice in health care organizations, one year after graduation.

A qualitative descriptive design was chosen to examine the graduates’ experiences. All students in the first two cohorts of the program were invited to participate. Six focus-group interviews, with a total of 21 participants, and a telephone interview of one participant were conducted. The data was analyzed thematically, using the themes from the interview guide as the starting point.

The graduates reported that an overall necessary condition for evidence-based practice to occur is the existence of a “readiness for change” both at an individual level and at the organizational level. They described that they gained personal knowledge and skills to be “change-agents” with “self-efficacy, “analytic competence” and “tools” to implement evidence based practice in clinical care. An organizational culture of a “learning organization” was also required, where leaders makes this possible. ”.

One year after graduation the participants saw themselves as “change agents” prepared to improve clinical care within a learning organization. This study exposes valuable knowledge necessary for facilitating the implementation of EBP both from educational and health care organizational perspectives.