Nursing Research and Sponsored Programs is pleased to highlight this month’s Featured Publication, authored by Dr. Élise Arsenault Knudsen, PhD, RN, ACNS-BC, co-authored by Dr. Linsey S. Steege, PhD!
Nurses are expected to use evidence-based practices [EBPs] to provide care; however, barriers exist that inhibit provision of this optimal care. Dr. Arsenault Knudsen and her team analyzed the communication networks of nurses in two intensive care units [ICUs]; these social networks are likely to influence the use of EBPs but have not been studied much in nursing. This publication reported on several key network variables, including the number of people in the communication network, the distance [number of steps] between them, those most central to the networks, and reciprocal relationships.
The two ICUs showed similar patterns of communication. For example, charge nurses and unit-leaders were central to communication networks and the new-to-practice nurses were on the periphery. Those central to the network are communicated with the most frequently and have the most connections, while those on the periphery are least connected. These and other patterns offered insight into communication networks about practice change and suggest that the nuances of individual units should be accounted for when communicating about practice change and promoting nurses’ adoption of EBPs.
Arsenault Knudsen, E. N.*, Mundt, M. P., & Steege, L. S.* [2024]. Describing nurses’ communication about evidence-based practice change: A social network analysis of hospital nurses Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 21, 128-136.
*UW-Madison School of Nursing
This post was authored by Emma Schaefer on 09/25/2024.