General Practice Nurse EBP Group

The Impact Accelerator Unit supports the faculty's two currently active Evidence into Practice groups for Allied Health Professionals and Primary Care Nursing, along with satellite groups in Cheshire, Wolverhampton, South Staffordshire and Shropshire. These groups aim to look at the best evidence to answer clinical questions that arise from daily practice and from our patients.

We use the Critically Appraised Topic (CAT) approach to generate answers that form a summary of the evidence for clinicians and patients. This is known as a 'Clinical Bottom Line'.

CAT group for primary care nursing

The aims of this group are to use critically appraised topics (CATs) as a way of minimising unwarranted clinical variation, and updating guidance to ensure that current practice is based on the most up-to-date evidence. The outcome is that evidence-based research translates into evidence-based practice (EBP). This is achieved through a partnership with primary care clinical academics at Keele University and primary care nurses. Combining the clinical expertise of Primary Care Nurses with clinical academics provides a cross-fertilisation of skills and knowledge. The nurses are supported to improve their literature searching, evidence interpretation, appraisal skills and the translation of evidence into clinical practice which aligned to the Five Year Ambitions on Quality as set out in the Five Year Forward View (2014) and further aligns to the Chief Nursing Officers Research Strategy (2021) in engaging nurses with research.

Our aims

1. To develop and maintain a GPN EBP group utilising CATs to address clinical uncertainty in primary care general practice nursing.
2. To develop and maintain a community of practice for GPNs. Bringing together and empowering a highly skilled yet undervalued and isolated body of nurses to take the best available evidence into practice.
3. To identify variation and uncertainty in clinical practice and areas of care and treatment that might be considered sub-optimal.
4. To improve understanding of EBP. Developing the knowledge base of the GPNs (searching for evidence, critical appraisal, implementation of best practice)
5. To develop group aims that are strongly endorsed by the NMC Code (2015) and its aim for nurses to 'Practice effectively’ as well as closing the care and quality gap highlighted in NHS England’s Leading Change and Adding Value (2016) by 'Practising in ways which provide safe evidence-based care which maximises choice for patients'.

References

• NHS England. Five Year Forward View (2014)
• Making research matter: Chief Nursing Officer for England’s strategic plan for research (2021)