Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. EVIDENCE-BASED TEACHING IN NURSING – Chapter 15 –

Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Evidence-Based Teaching: Defined  Evidence-based teaching is – Use of research findings and other knowledge to guide educational practices in nursing – Integration of the best research evidence with theories and concepts about learning, teaching, assessment, and other areas related to nursing education; the teacher's expertise; and the learner's preferences and goals – Use knowledge to guide educational practices 2

Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Nursing Education Research  Need for rigorous research in nursing education to generate evidence that can be used to guide teaching  Many nursing education studies are conducted with small samples of students in one setting only – With investigator-developed tools that are not validated  Pilot studies need to be replicated  Need research to document effectiveness and outcomes of new teaching approaches 3

Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Levin’s Model of Educational Research  Stage 1: preliminary ideas, hypotheses, observations, and pilot studies  Stage 2: controlled laboratory experiments and interventions tested in the classroom, as well as observational studies of master teachers  Stage 3: randomized control trials of educational interventions comparing a new approach to the standard one – Interventions assigned randomly to different groups of learners and educational situations  Stage 4: effective interventions tested across settings  Most nursing education studies are at Stages 1 and 2 4

Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Phases of Evidence-Based Teaching  Question educational practices and identify need for evidence to guide teaching  Search for research studies and other evidence on educational practices  Evaluate the quality of the evidence  Decide if the findings are applicable to own program, courses, students, and context in which teaching occurs 5

Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Question Educational Practices  It is the nurse educator’s responsibility to reflect on educational practices and question if there is a better way of teaching students  Types of questions – Descriptive: general questions about an educational practice or intervention being considered Guide a literature search for information but not necessarily if method is superior to another – Best practice: questions lead to search for evidence to support educational practice or intervention Search for studies on outcomes of various practices to make a decision 6

Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Search for Evidence  Search literature for studies on topic and other articles and resources to answer questions  Requires knowledge of bibliographic databases – MEDLINE – CINAHL – ERIC 7

Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Search for Evidence (cont)  Requires skill in searching the literature – Know the databases, literature in them, and how they are organized – Gain skills in selecting keywords for a search  Be aware of other resources such as websites that report evidence on educational practices, e.g., Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) 8

Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Search for Evidence (cont)  Systematic reviews – Begin by searching for systematic review – Experts critically appraise and synthesize the findings of multiple studies on a particular educational topic to identify best practices  Literature reviews – Examination of literature from author's perspective  Individual studies – When systematic and literature reviews are not available, review individual studies and critique their quality 9

Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Evaluate Quality of Evidence  Many systems for rating the quality of the evidence that can be applied to nursing education  Highest level: evidence from systematic reviews and meta-analyses, then – Randomized controlled trials – Cohort studies – Case control and descriptive studies – Expert opinion  The stronger the evidence, the more likely it is valid and relevant for a particular educational situation 10

Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Evaluate Quality of Evidence (cont)  Models for evaluating evidence from educational studies – Levin's model of educational research – Kirkpatrick's Four-Level Evaluation Model – BEME scale 1 = No clear conclusions can be drawn; not significant 2 = Results ambiguous, but there appears to be a trend 3 = Conclusions can probably be based on the results 4 = Results are clear and very likely to be true 5 = Results are unequivocal 11

Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Decide if Evidence Is Relevant to own Teaching  Are findings ready for implementation based on the evidence?  Are findings applicable to own teaching situation?  Decide if the findings are relevant to own students, program, courses, and context 12