Abstract
BACKGROUND: Evidence-based practise is a method by which healthcare professionals integrate the best available evidence, individual expertise and patient preferences to improve patient safety and utilise quality healthcare. No study was conducted in Ethiopia to assess the nurses' perception of the hospitals' culture and readiness for evidence-based practice integration into the hospital's system. Hence, this study aimed to assess the perception of nurses on the hospitals' culture and readiness of evidence-based practise integration in hospitals' systems in Western Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study involving 412 nurses in six hospitals in western Ethiopia was conducted between December 2022 and February 2023. A 25-item Organisational Culture and Readiness of System-Wide Integration of EBP scale was used, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.94. While 25 is the minimum score, 125 is the maximum; higher scores indicate better hospital culture and readiness for system-wide integration of evidence-based practice. A self-administered data collection technique was used. Descriptive statistics were computed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 25 software. RESULTS: Four hundred and twelve nurses participated in the study. The majority (85.9%) were bachelor's degree holders and over a third (34.7%) worked in primary hospitals. Only a quarter (26.5%) had ever received mentorship from their leader on implementing evidence-based practice. The overall hospital culture and readiness score for system-wide integration of evidence-based practice among nurses in six hospitals was 70.3 ± 17.3. CONCLUSION: The nurses' perception of the hospitals' culture and readiness score for system-wide integration of evidence-based practice in six hospitals in Western Ethiopia was equivocal. There is a need to engage all resources and increase leadership commitment to make evidence-based practice a hospital culture. Further research is warranted to understand the national hospitals' status in establishing and sustaining evidence-based practise culture.