Abstract:

Introduction:
Nursing practice based on a modern nursing model obliges nurses to participate in continuing education and develop their professional skills, which is also required by the Nurses and Midwives Act of July 15, 2011. The use of the most recent scientific literature that is the source of reliable information about nursing contributes significantly to improve knowledge of nurses, inspires the research career development and participation in continuing education.

Aim:
The aim of the study was to analyse attitudes of nurses towards using scientific literature in everyday clinical practice based on evidence (Evidence-based Nursing Practice).

Materials and Methods:
1027 nurses (33 men, 3.2% of the total), mean age was 42.60 years (min. 21, max. 69, SD=8.16), mean length of service of 20.86 years (min. 0, max. 40, SD=9.32). As many as 32.23% of the study participants had secondary medical education (n=331), almost half of the total (44.79%, n=460) worked full-time in a town hospital, 31.84% of all (n=327) worked as a senior nurse; most study participants (61.73%, n=634) completed a postgraduate training. An anonymous standardised questionnaire called "Evidence-Based Practice Profile Questionnaire” from the University in Southern Australia. Four domains of the questionnaire (two of them were based on the Likert scale, the remaining two were based on a nominal scale) were used in the present analysis, 37 questions out of 74 were close-ended questions. Statistical analysis: Cronbach's α coefficient, STATISTICA 12.

Results:
Cronbach's α coefficient used for the analysis of reliability of the entire questionnaire amounted to α=0.867 and in selected domains, based on the Likert scale, it was also high (α=0.922, α=0.825, α=0.941). As little as 13.53% of the nurses (n=139) tried to gain new knowledge of Evidence-based Practice and develop their skills related to the access to and assessment of scientific evidence relevant to professional practice (17.13%, n=176). Only 3.31% of the study participants (n=34) admitted that they saw no purpose in reading scientific literature to update their knowledge and improve their professional practice (2.33%, n=24). 16.94% of the study group (n=174) strongly agreed with the statement: "Scientific reports are useful in my day-to-day professional practice" and 35.05% of all valued clinical experience more than study results in decision-making process in their professional practice. 18.11% of the total said that searching for relevant scientific evidence did not apply to professional practice of nurses. Moreover, as many as 17.91% of the total (n=184) have never read any of the published studies. 56.07% of all (n=603) expressed their willingness and need to increase the use of scientific literature in their everyday practice.

Conclusions:
1. In order to ensure nursing care of the highest standards in terms of the quality of services, the use of scientific literature in professional practice of nurses should become its integral part.
2. The level of knowledge of nurses about the role and importance of specialist scientific literature as an essential tool in modern clinical practice was clearly insufficient among the study group.
3. In order to improve the knowledge of nurses about the importance and benefits of using the most recent study results in clinical practice, the introduction of retraining courses in this respect needs to be considered.

Keywords:

Scientific literature, nurses, attitudes, knowledge, evidence-based practice.