The effect of evidence-based nursing education on nurses' clinical decision making: A randomized controlled trial

Introduction Nurses are the largest group of health-care providers and their clinical decisions have an essential role in patients' clinical condition. Evidence-based nursing has been proposed as a health-care method based on the latest findings and evidence. Therefore, we aimed to determine the effect of evidence-based nursing education on dialysis nurses' clinical decision-making. Material and Methods This single-blind experimental study conducted in 2021 at dialysis wards of teaching hospitals affiliated to Urmia University of Medical Sciences. In this study, a total of 60 dialysis nurses were recruited using convenience sampling and allocated to two groups of intervention (n = 30) and control (n = 30). Data were collected at three time points of before, 1 week after, and 1 month after the intervention using a demographic questionnaire and the Lauri and Salantera Clinical Decision-Making Questionnaire (LSCD-MQ). Nurses in the intervention group received 12 sessions of evidence-based nursing education, while nurses in the control group received no intervention. Results The results showed the mean score of clinical decision-making had a significant decreasing trend over time (p < 0.001) so that it decreased significantly 1 week after the intervention (72.83 +/- 4.90) compared with before the intervention (69.5 +/- 67.34) in the intervention group. Moreover, participants' decision-making moved toward analytical decision-making. The results also indicated there was a significant difference between the baseline mean score of clinical decision-making and the postintervention mean scores obtained 1 week (p = 0.025) and 1 month (p = 0.001) after the intervention. However, this difference was not found to be significant in the control group (p = 1.000). Conclusions The study results indicate the positive effect of evidence-based education on nurses' clinical decision-making. Therefore, nurses are recommended to apply evidence-based education methods to improve their level of clinical decision-making. Health officials are also recommended to hold in-service evidence-based workshops to update nurses' knowledge.