Knowledge,attitude and practice of nurses towards evidence-based practice at Al-Medina,KSA

Background: evidence-based practice (ebp) becomes an important concept that is used by researchers,quality members,policy makers,and healthcare team including nursing staff. when ebp is implemented in clinical setting,it will result in maintaining quality of care,efficient use of resources,improvement of patient care,reduction of costs and length of hospital stay,and improvement of patient satisfaction. evidence-based practice is a new term to be used in saudi arabia. purpose: the aim of this study was to describe nurses' knowledge,attitudes,and practice about ebp in saudi arabia. methods: a cross-sectional correlational descriptive design was used. the study was conducted in al-madinah al-munawarah city,saudi arabia. three hundred and three nurses answered a 24-item likert scale questionnaire about the study variables. data were analyzed by descriptive statistics,a serial of bivariate correlations and multiple regressions. results: knowledge toward ebp had the highest mean (4.66 ± 1.16),followed by use of ebp (4.09 ± 1.31),and then attitudes toward ebp (3.81 ± 1.13). younger nurses tend to use ebp more than older nurses (r = -0.18,p <0.001),females have more positive attitude toward ebp than males (r = -0.16,p <0.001) and nurses with bsc degree have more positive attitude,knowledge,and use of ebp than diploma nurses. nurses with longer years of experience use ebp less than novice nurses (r = -0.12,p <0.05) conclusion: although,nurses had a moderate knowledge about ebp,however,their attitude toward ebp is lacking. it is,therefore,desirable that hospital management in saudi arabia need to develop a comprehensive strategy for promoting health awareness on this practice and build ebp competencies through proper training. moreover,hospital libraries should also play an active role in developing databases to provide an opportunity for nurses to communicate with the most powerful and the latest research findings and apply it during clinical practice. © 2017 dar publishers/the university of jordan. all rights reserved.