How Teaching and Internship Influence the Evidence-Based Practice Approach of Nursing Students: A Longitudinal Study

AIM: The study aimed to analyze students’ approach to evidence-based practice and evaluate the effect of teaching (based on lessons in statistics, epidemiology, evidence-based nursing, bioengineering, English language) and internship experiences on the attitude of nursing students to evidence-based practice. METHOD: In 2019,one hundred nineteen second-year nursing students from an Italian university were involved in a pre–post longitudinal study. The Italian version of the Student-Evidence Based Practice Questionnaire was administered to nursing student in four moments of one academic year. RESULTS: The Student-Evidence Based Practice Questionnaire showed different mean scores based on the four moments of the survey with a significant increase after the experience of planning clinical cases with an online simulation system. In particular, the aptitude subscale does not have significant improvements in the various phases of the study. Conversely, the support of the clinical tutor affects student performance. The didactic module on evidence-based nursing develops the ability to assess the quality of the information found and its sharing. Basic English proficiency is not significantly correlated. CONCLUSION: To develop evidence-based practice knowledge, aptitude, and skills in nursing students, it is necessary to strengthen the learning opportunities both in classroom lessons and in simulation and internship experiences.