Hawaiʻi Pacific Health Library’s Nursing Resource Page (LibGuide) and Confidence in Evidence-Based Practice: An Action Research Study

While the policy and idea of evidence-based practice are highly touted, the practice is hindered by the ability of health professionals to retrieve evidence-based information. Retrieval is affected by the professionals’ knowledge of where and how to retrieve it, as well as whether the professional can distinguish quality information.

The purpose of this action research project is to develop and evaluate a resource page, also referred to as a LibGuide, to encourage evidence-based practice amongst Hawaiʻi Pacific Health (HPH) nurses. HPH is a nonprofit health organization that consists of four hospitals. The LibGuide is intended to guide nurses to evidence and resources that can inform their professional decision making. The study sought to learn whether access to a LibGuide tailored to nurses’ information needs will promote confidence amongst HPH nurses in retrieving and evaluating evidence to inform their professional decision making. Twelve HPH nurses responded to a questionnaire after having used the resource page to guide a research query relevant to their practice. After using the nursing LibGuide, results indicated that seven out of twelve (~58%) participants saw an increase in some kind of confidence, either in information retrieval or evaluation, after using the nursing LibGuide. A third of respondents already felt a high level of confidence in regards to retrieving and evaluating information. While the data did not demonstrate a drastic increase, the results tell us that just knowing where to find helpful resources will increase perceived confidence in some nurses’ ability to retrieve or evaluate information.