The analysis of two of the seven survey questions shows statistically significant differences in perception between leaders and nurse professionals. Based on these findings, the Nursing Research and Evidence-based Practice Council Analysis can take a number of actions to continue to refine their understanding of the barriers and facilitators to EBP. This can be done by continuing to analyze the survey results and further investigating the ways in which EBP has been implemented at the hospital. For example, have leaders received more training in EBP or do their work responsibilities allow them more time to engage in nursing research?

Our analysis showed a significant difference in how the different organization levels perceive EBP in the context of the practice setting, so a next logical step would be to examine the responses by the variable “Acute inpatient care unit” which identifies the care setting (e.g., intensive care, labor and delivery, and psychiatry) in which the nurse works. Also, the five remaining survey questions should be analyzed.

The influence of the other demographic variables should also be investigated. This may reveal the presence of lurking or confounding variables. A lurking variable is one that was not collected by the survey but has an influence on the relationship between EBP perception and organizational level. A potential lurking variable might be whether a nurse has previously worked at a magnet hospital. A confounding variable is one that is collected in the survey and has an influence on the relationship between EBP perception and organizational level. For example, all (or many) of the leaders may be older while many of the nurse professionals may be younger. In this situation organizational level is confounded with age. More advanced multivariate methods such as factor analysis may yield additional insight into the perception of EBP in the nursing workforce.

When interpreting the results you should be mindful of the limitations in the survey. The responses represent a non-random sample and the overall response rate was only 30%. Since this was a voluntary survey, self-selection bias may be present. It is possible that the nurses who chose to respond may be more engaged in EBP or hold stronger opinions about its implementation at the hospital. It is interesting to note that 18% of the nurses did not respond to these two survey questions. This suggests these nurses may be concerned about how the survey data will be used or that their responses can be personally identified from the demographic information. Despite these concerns, the survey and this analysis provide valuable information that could be used to advance the hospital’s goal of achieving magnet designation.