An Analysis of Participant Responses

Advancing evidence-based practice in hospitals can be a challenge. To address this issue, a virtual journal club (VJC) was developed using available intranet technology. Research manuscripts are posted along with professional critiques and discussion questions. Comments from nurse VJC participants are reviewed by the hospital’s nursing research council and analyzed for practice implications. Recommendations for practice change derived from the analysis are forwarded to the appropriate decision-making body for consideration. This process closes the loop ensuring that the VJC not only exposes the nursing staff to scientific evidence to support changing their practice but also may lead to institutional policy changes that are based on best practice evidence in the literature. The authors discuss the VJC and the outcomes of an evaluation project.