Clinical Practice Guideline Project for NP Students

Evidence based practice (EBP) is the standard of care and thereby needs to be the cornerstone for NP education. Consequently, the challenge for faculty is to develop innovative strategies that ensure students acquire the knowledge and skills to effectively utilize best evidence in practice. This presentation will describe the integration of EBP throughout the NP curriculum that culminates in a Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) project in the final semester.

The CPG project provides students with opportunities to demonstrate several core NP competencies including scientific foundation competencies, leadership in working in groups, utilizing critical and reflective thinking, quality competencies, practice inquiry competencies and technology and information systems competency. As an example, students in the final clinical course work in groups to develop a CPG on a selected topic. The students search databases, review and grade the evidence and make recommendations. As a companion to the CPG project, a plan for measuring quality is required. Students develop a plan to collect patient outcome data based on implementing the guideline. They identify how data will be collected, what outcomes will be measured, and determine whether quality would be improved.

Students then develop a manuscript for publication based on the CPG project. They go through the writing process, select a potential journal, utilize the editorial criteria for publication and follow a timeline for submission prior to graduation. Throughout this process, students receive mentoring from their supervising NP faculty. Additional faculty from other nursing specialties and disciplines are recruited to assist the students as appropriate to the CPG topic. Nursing faculty acts as internal reviewers and other healthcare providers serve as outside reviewers.

An overview of the entire process will be discussed. Rubrics and timelines will be described and examples of student publications will be presented.