Abstract:

Introduction:
Available data clearly identify implementation of evidence based clinical practice (including evidence based nursing, or EBN) as a factor contributing to the improvement of efficiency and safety of patient care. Therefore, EBN currently serves as the basis of advanced nursing care. There are also barriers hampering the implementation of EBN. One of them is the resistance of part of the nursing community, who, in the process of clinical decisions ranks experience and intuition higher than knowledge gained from reliable research studies.

Aim:
Conceptualization of a theoretical model of implementation of EBN in postgraduate nursing education programme. In this model, the role of authentic leadership and self-reflection will be underlined.

Methods:
A hypo-deductive process of theory-building was used. We used a repository of literature to identify the connection between authentic leadership skills and self-reflection associated with the implementation of EBN in postgraduate nursing education programme. We are building a model structure that provides teachers with support for nurses in acquiring EBN skills and applying them in clinical practice.

Results:
It has been noted that authentic leadership may directly impact a positive change of the nurses’ behaviour in their daily clinical practice. Development and boosting authentic leadership in nursing are particularly important in places where significant changes of the nurses’ working conditions take place as well as their scope of professional competences changes. Self-reflection may play a key role in this context, as according to the researchers, it not only helps the nurses understand their own emotions and doubts, as well as identify and solve clinical problems, but it also allows for a better understanding of the need of one’s own personal and professional development. Owing to self-reflection, human being is able to identify and understand their strong and weak points. This is particularly valid in the context of nursing, as the discussed skill allows for improving one’s own soft skills (e.g. communicative skills, emphatic attitude) indispensable in clinical practice (e.g. in the relation patient-nurse), as well as enables building authentic relations in a team and increases the quality of patient care. Although the role of this personality disposition in the educational process is well grounded, the topic of the role of self-reflection in shaping nursing competences is a relatively new issue.

Conclusions:
Research studies to date indicated an inadequate level of background for the implementation of EBN for practice, as a large proportion of nurses also in the management sector lacks formal preparation in terms of EBN skills, and have underdeveloped leadership skills, as well as no tendency to self-reflect. The planned implementation of changes into postgraduate education of nurses should therefore, next to hard professional competences, cover also soft skills in their curricula.

Financing source:
The study was conducted with the financial support of a research grant from the Medical University of Warsaw (PW/Z/10/5//20(1)).

Keywords:

Self-reflection, authentic leadership, evidence-based nursing practice, postgraduate education.