Effect of Evidence-Based Nursing Care Guidelines on the Quality of Care of Patients in Neurosurgical Intensive Care Units

Introduction: Evidence-based nursing care guidelines are important tools for increasing the quality of nurses' clinical work. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of implementing evidence-based nursing care guidelines on the quality of care of patients admitted to the Neurosurgical Intensive Care Units (NICUs). Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study on 54 nurses in NICUs of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences selected using a convenience sampling technique and divided into two groups of intervention and control. The intervention included the teaching of evidence-based nursing guidelines and their implementation by the nurses. Before and two months after the intervention, the demographic characteristics and the quality of nurses' patient care in both groups was evaluated by using a demographic form and a standard checklist with 37 items designed based on the standards of practice for All Registered Nurses (ANA). Data were analyzed in SPSS software using descriptive statistics (mean standard deviation), and paired t-test, independent t-test and chi-square test. Results: The mean score of nursing care quality in the two groups was not significantly different before intervention (P>0.05). After intervention, the mean score was 25.11±6.2 in the intervention group and 20.29±5.3 in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Implementation of evidence-based nursing care guidelines can improve the quality of nursing care. Therefore, it is recommended that the teaching of evidence-based nursing care guidelines should be on the agenda of the hospitals’ education unit and related departments.