Evaluation of an Interdisciplinary Academic Evidence-Based Practice Workshop With Faculty Certification

Abstract

Background:

Faculty and interdisciplinary partners who support student projects need a clear understanding of research, evidence-based practice (EBP), and quality improvement (QI).

Problem:

Nursing students across programs are not consistently taught EBP and QI principles.

Approach:

One multicampus College of Nursing invested in a 3-day intensive workshop for the primary purposes of (1) teaching faculty, course, and program leaders and interdisciplinary partners EBP and QI competencies, and (2) earning EBP certification.

Outcomes:

A workshop evaluation was conducted, and EBP certification rates were obtained for faculty teaching in undergraduate and graduate programs. A total of 31 faculty and interdisciplinary partners earned EBP certification. All participants agreed on the need for a future certification that integrates both EBP and QI.

Conclusions:

This program is transferable as a model for how faculty can demonstrate competence in EBP and also serve as an exemplar for increasing other types of certifications among nurse educators.

Nursing is a practice profession, and the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) was created with the intention of being a robust companion degree to the PhD.^1,2 However, students are not consistently demonstrating the use of evidence-based practice (EBP) and quality improvement (QI) instead of research.^3–5 Nursing faculty across all levels are responsible for teaching EBP competencies to future nurses, some of whom will become nurse scientists who conduct research (PhD) and leaders who translate research into practice (DNP). Interdisciplinary partners, including statisticians and librarians who support student projects with evidence searching and data analysis, also need a clear understanding of the difference between EBP, QI, and research.^6–9

At a multicampus College of Nursing (CON) located in the Southwestern United States, the Director of the DNP program had completed a fellowship in EBP and obtained EBP certification (EBP-C). Faculty teaching in the DNP program expressed interest in learning more about teaching EBP and obtaining certification. Faculty across other undergraduate and graduate programs, including several research-focused PhD-prepared faculty, also vocalized a commitment to learning EBP skillsets. While PhD-prepared faculty have training in conducting and critiquing research, many lack training in EBP, including critical appraisal (not critique) and synthesis of a body of evidence to inform practice change. The opportunity for PhD-prepared faculty to participate alongside DNP and MSN-prepared faculty united to learn this new paradigm was powerful.

EBP is a core competency, highlighted in the quality and safety domain of the Essentials: Competencies for Professional Nursing Education for entry-level (level I) and advanced-level (level II) nursing students.¹⁰ EBP has been associated with improved outcomes and cost reduction,¹¹ and QI ensures sustained improvements with iterative tests of change over time.¹² Evidence-Based Practice Quality Improvement (EBPQI) is a combined approach to EBP and QI proposed in the Mountain Model,^13,14 which has been validated (Dunlap, JJ, unpublished data, 2025) and associated with positive initial outcomes.^15–17

Opportunities for nursing faculty to demonstrate competency in EBP are limited. Obtaining EBP-C provides an opportunity for faculty to lead by example in demonstrating expertise that can be shared with the next generation of nursing scholars. Nurse faculty certification is valuable,¹⁸ yet certifications of various types require resources, including time and cost. While faculty may aspire to become certified, due to current institutional budgetary constraints, faculty may be challenged to harness support for their pursuits of certifications.

This article describes the successful efforts of one multicampus CON that invested in an internally funded, 3-day immersive, interdisciplinary faculty workshop-style retreat. The purposes of the workshop were to (1) strengthen faculty and interdisciplinary partners’ knowledge and competency in EBP to teach EBP to DNP, master’s, and prelicensure students, and (2) support increasing faculty practice scholarship so they are better positioned to teach EBP and QI concepts and methodology.

Approach

After the success of the CON’s first 2-day DNP interdisciplinary faculty retreat, where the reader can find sample templates for budget and itinerary in supplemental digital content,¹⁹ the DNP Director requested funding for faculty development in teaching EBP and the opportunity to then become certified in EBP (EBP-C, Helene Fuld Health Trust National Institute for Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing and Health Care). The interim Dean honored this requested investment, extending additional support through offering to fund an in-person 3-day workshop focused on teaching EBP. Notably, the Dean broadened this opportunity to include leaders across all CON programs with the inclusion of interdisciplinary partners who support a variety of student and faculty-led scholarly projects.

Workshop

Participants

Invited participants included faculty leaders across all college-wide programs with course, track, and/or programmatic oversight. Faculty participants held a variety of advanced/terminal degrees (eg, MSN, DNP, EdD, and PhD). Additionally, interdisciplinary partners such as librarians and statisticians who were unaffiliated with the CON but provided statistical consultation for DNP projects or assistance with evidence searches participated in all portions of the workshop. The workshop was facilitated by 2 external EBP experts with experience hosting academic on-site EBP immersions worldwide.

Focus

The workshop aimed to enhance nursing faculty members’ and interdisciplinary partners’ understanding of the concepts, constructs, skills, and tools to engage in, advise, and teach EBP and EBPQI, with the ultimate goal of positioning themselves and their students to achieve certification in EBP. Participants were provided supplemental print and digital materials to support their learning and to use when teaching, advising, and mentoring students in and outside of the classroom. Content was delivered through presentations, discussions, and facilitated group work.

The workshop was guided by the Advancing Research and Clinical Practice through Close Collaboration (EBP organizational change model), the Seven Steps of EBP (EBP project process model),²⁰ and the Mountain Model for EBPQI.¹⁴ Each day focused on introducing the concepts, constructs, skills, and tools of EBP and EBPQI to increase participants’ knowledge and skills, since the evolution of EBP and the introduction of EBPQI (The Table provides the workshop content outline).

Table.

Workshop Content Outline by Day

Day	Topics
Day 1	Introduction to EBP and EBPQI Organizational assessment Writing well-constructed evidence searching questions in PICO(T) or PPCO format Review of research methodologies
Day 2	Searching for evidence in electronic databases and platforms Critical appraisal Evaluation and synthesis
Day 3	Integrating best evidence, clinician expertise, and end-user preferences and values into decision making Teaching EBP EBP certification Putting it all together and creating a vision

PICO(T), Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, and Time; PPCO, Problem, Population, Change, Outcomes.

The workshop allowed time for participants to work collaboratively to formulate groups and brainstorm the start of the team project portfolio that was to be submitted as part of the certification process. The participants were challenged to collaborate with others whom they would not generally partner with and who were in different disciplines.

Evaluation

The workshop was evaluated by the participants after completion via an online survey. The survey included 16 questions using a Likert scale (1 low to 4 high) that captured participants’ self-assessed improvements in knowledge, confidence levels to teach EBP, confidence in their ability to pass the EBP-C exam, and readiness to apply what they learned to lead an EBP initiative (Supplemental Digital Content, Table 1, https://links.lww.com/NE/C277). The survey was developed by the authors to be inclusive of the expanded EBPQI aspects of the training, the literature, and previous workshop evaluations. Content validity was established by expert review. Results were evaluated descriptively as counts and percentages. The number and percentage of participants completing the EBP-C were also determined.

Results

Workshop

All of the participants (n = 31) agreed or strongly agreed that their understanding of EBP had significantly improved because of the workshop. All respondents reported an increase in confidence regarding their ability to teach EBP. All except 1 participant expressed confidence in their ability to pass the EBP-C exam. All participants felt prepared to lead a team in implementing an EBP initiative.

The Mountain Model was also well-received, with all participants agreeing that it effectively integrates EBP and QI into a unified framework. All participants agreed that they felt confident in designing sustainable EBP changes. A strong consensus emerged with all participants agreeing that EBPQI work is valuable and worthy of critical appraisal.

The plan-do-study-act method was the preferred QI approach for implementing EBP outcomes, with 71% (n = 22) favoring it, while 23% (n = 7) preferred a pre-post comparison, and 6% (n = 2) chose a comparison between a control group and an intervention group. The majority of participants (81%, n = 25) identified trends in data towards the aim as the key indicator of successful EBP projects, while 6% (n = 2) focused on statistically significant differences between groups, and 13% (n = 4) on achieving a moderate effect size. Similarly, most respondents (70%, n = 21) prioritized determining measurable aims as the first step in implementing and evaluating EBP outcomes, followed by 26% (n = 8) who emphasized determining what data to collect, and 3% (n = 1) who focused on data analysis. All participants agreed that they would recommend the workshop content and activities to their peers at other institutions (Supplemental Digital Content, Table 1, https://links.lww.com/NE/C277).

Certification

EBP-C required satisfactory completion of 3 components: (1) participation in the workshop, (2) passing an online certification exam, and (3) submission of an EBP proposal that was evaluated using a rubric through a double-blind peer review process. All participants who attended the workshop and completed their evaluations received continuing education through a designated continuing education credit provider. Subsequently, 31 participants received EBP-C, including 3 Master’s in Nursing Science, 2 Master’s in Library Science, 1 EdD, 11 DNP, and 14 PhD-prepared faculty members (inclusive of a statistician). All participants completed individual or group EBP project proposals that are currently in process. One PhD-led project was selected as a national exemplar by the FULD Institute.

Discussion

The survey results support a unanimous positive shift in EBP knowledge, with no respondents reporting disagreement or neutrality, suggesting the workshop effectively met its educational goals. The lack of negative responses indicates that the workshop successfully equipped participants with necessary EBP leadership skills, although some may require further development.

The Mountain Model as a blended EBPQI approach was also well received, with all participants agreeing that it effectively integrates EBP and QI into a unified framework. No participants disagreed, supporting the model as a valuable tool for EBPQI initiatives. A strong consensus emerged with all participants agreeing that a merged EBPQI approach is valuable and worthy of critical appraisal. This unanimity underscores the importance participants place on EBPQI in driving meaningful changes in practice.

Overall, the unanimous positive response indicates that the workshop effectively built participants’ EBP/QI knowledge (evidenced by passing the certification exam) and implementation skills (evidenced by developing an EBP/QI proposal), all critical for becoming certified and increasing their ability to teach, advise, and support students in EBP and QI initiatives. Workshop feedback suggested that while participants generally felt prepared, there were opportunities to further support faculty development, especially in leadership and sustainability aspects of EBP initiatives. Participants unanimously endorsed a future certification that merges EBP with QI (EBPQI) guided by the Mountain Model. This unanimous participant recommendation was reinforced in a recent Delphi study in which all EBP and QI experts comprised from a panel of 8 patient-facing disciplines, inclusive of nurses, reached agreement that a future EBPQI certification for health care professionals framed by the Mountain Model for EBPQI would be valuable to decreasing research to practice translation time in health care (Dunlap, JJ, “unpublished data,” 2025).

The mixed group composition allowed perspectives from the different disciplines and programs as the group worked through the process of using the recently acquired knowledge of EBP and QI in the application of the development of their EBP proposals as a group effort. The different disciplines within the groups contributed from their own level of expertise regarding research evidence, evidence searching, and practice change implementation, evaluation, and sustainability. The Mountain Model for EBPQI provided a unified framework for participants to mesh what was previously known and understood with what they were learning to translate EBPQI more effectively. As part of the certification process, the group project proposals were submitted to the Ohio State Fuld National Institute for EBP for a final peer review. One of the group projects completed as a result of this EBP workshop was selected as a national exemplar.

The Mountain Model for EBPQI is a beneficial umbrella framework that can be used in conjunction with other EBP/QI models or frameworks as a driving force for advancing evidence-based changes in practice as faculty implement the EBP initiatives across nursing programs. Faculty and students have a spirit of inquiry, and the Mountain Model for EBPQI provides a functional guide to propel them in the direction of change with incorporation of the QI elements for sustainability missing in current EBP models. New resources framed by the Mountain Model are available open access to guide readers in critical appraisal and dissemination of robust EPBQI initiatives.^21,22

Conclusions

The workshop was highly effective in enhancing participants’ understanding and confidence in EBP, particularly in teaching and applying EBP principles, resulting in successful EBP-C for 31 faculty. This model for successfully achieving faculty member and interdisciplinary partner certification across programs can be transferred to other institutions to support site-specific faculty development goals. Depending on the resources available, this type of faculty development workshop can be conducted virtually, and the timeline adapted to the local context.

The ability to demonstrate expertise via certification is an incentive for faculty to participate and provides credibility to students and peers alike. As nursing programs continue to move towards competency-based education, faculty competency in EBP and QI is a necessity. It is the foundation of graduating nurses at all levels who are ready to engage in efforts that make a difference in practice for the health of patients and the effectiveness of the health care system.