The Use of Evidence-Based Management in Nursing Management

Abstract

Evidence-based management (EBM) has been developed as a management framework for improving the quality of decisions. To use that, we need to identify the sources of evidence and to assess the utilisation of evidence in EBM. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the utilisation of evidences and to identify predominantly used sources in EBM among nursing managers in Tabriz, north-west Iran. A facility-based descriptive cross-sectional study design was used in Tabriz hospitals. Out of 276 nursing managers eligible for the study from the Tabriz hospitals (n = 20), 205 nursing managers completed and returned the self-administered questionnaire, which indicated a response rate of 74.27 per cent. The questionnaire components included scientific and research evidence (four sources), facts and information from the hospitals (four sources), political-social development plans (three sources), the managers’ professional expertise (three sources), ethical-moral evidence (three sources), and values and expectations of all stakeholders (three sources). The results showed that the average use of scientific and research evidence (58.41 ± 13.23) was less than other sources of evidence. The average use of values and expectations of all stakeholders’ political-social development plans was (67.15 ± 14.78), managers’ professional expertise (70.47 ± 12.49), and ethical-moral evidence (68.91 ± 11.62). In addition, hospital ownership and the participants’ gender influence the use of facts and information of hospital and managers’ professional expertise. The findings showed that nursing managers were more customer- and expertise-oriented in the decision-making process. From the study findings we recommend utilisation of all the sources of evidence for decision-making in a full evidence-based nursing management process.