A Collaborative Effort to Build an Evidence-Based Practice Project Repository

Background: The librarians and nurse scientists had discussed the need for a searchable database of EBP projects for many years as the number of EBP initiatives had increased exponentially. Once two hospitals achieved Magnet status and were looking toward Magnet reaccreditation, it became increasingly evident that a project database was not just a wish but was a necessity moving into the future. The project describes an effort to build upon partnerships with nurses by establishing an Evidence-based Practice (EBP) project repository for clinical nurses to access via a hospital intranet.

Description: Excel documents were created to reflect the various areas of practice in the hospital and projects related to those areas were organized accordingly. Keywords were added to make searching easier. These documents were then saved and uploaded to the intranet page for nurses to view. If they want detailed information on a project, there is a request form they can complete and be connected with a nurse scientist to answer additional questions.

Conclusion: This project resulted in not only a repository but also led to the involvement of librarians earlier in the research process and led to more options to track how the completed projects were utilized by clinicians. These two outcomes in particular allowed for further involvement of librarians in the Magnet reaccreditation process. Additionally, the contributions of the librarians raised awareness of the roles they can take in EBP and Magnet efforts.