Use of Toolkits to Facilitate Evidence-Based Practice Implementation

The integration of evidence-based decision-making (EBDM) in health care is known to enhance healthcare quality and safety, improve patient outcomes, and decrease healthcare costs. Yet, fully actualized evidence-based cultures in which evidence-based practice (EBP) is consistently implemented are rare. EBDM is defined as a problem-solving approach to the delivery of health care that integrates the best evidence from research with clinician expertise and a patient's preferences and values (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2019). Although the literature has identified key components that facilitate EBP, such as clinicians' beliefs about the value of EBP, leader/manager support, an EBP culture, and a critical mass of EBP mentors (Gallagher-Ford & Connor, 2020), EBP is still not the consistent norm in healthcare systems across the United States.