Barriers to implementing evidence-based practice in a private intensive care unit in the Eastern Cape

Background. Evidence-based practices (EBPs) have been promoted to enhance the delivery of patient care, reduce cost, increase patient and family satisfaction and contribute to professional development. Individual and organisational barriers can hamper the implementation of EBP, which can be detrimental to healthcare delivery. Objective. To determine the individual and organisational implementation barriers of EBP among nurses in a private intensive care unit (ICU). Methods. A quantitative research design was used to collect data from nurses in a private ICU in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The structured questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.72) was administered to 70 respondents, with a response rate of 93%. Results. Barriers at individual level were identified, and include lack of familiarity with EBP, individual perceptions that underpin clinical decision-making, lack of access to information required for EBP, inadequate sources to access evidence, inability to synthesise the literature available, and resistance to change. Barriers related to organisational support, change and operations were identified. Conclusion. Although the findings were similar to other studies, this study showed that nurses younger than 40 years of age were more familiar with the concepts of EBP. Physicians were perceived as not being very supportive of EBP implementation. In order to enhance healthcare delivery in the ICUs, nurse managers need to take cognisance of the individual and organisational barriers that might hamper the implementation of EBP.