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Alison M. Nichols, OTR, OTD

Abstract

Background: It is critical that fieldwork educators demonstrate effective use of evidence for clinical decision making so that occupational therapy (OT) students learn to apply concepts from the classroom to everyday practice.

Method: OT fieldwork educators completed a 3-hour short course designed to provide instruction on the first three steps of the evidence-based practice (EBP) process: developing a clinical question, searching the literature, and assessing the evidence. The participants completed a pretest on site and posttest 3 weeks after the course to assess their knowledge, skills, and confidence when using EBP. The Adapted Fresno Test was used to measure knowledge and skills, and the Evidence-Based Practice Confidence Scale measured confidence.

Results: Fourteen OT practitioners completed the short course and pretest; nine returned the posttest, and six answered all of the questions. These six participants improved their knowledge and skills (3.75%) and their confidence (17.99%) from pretest to posttest.

Conclusion: Fieldwork educators showed improvements in their knowledge, skills, and confidence when using EBP after a 3-hour introductory course. This could lead to improved modeling of appropriate EBP behaviors for OT students, promoting the translation of knowledge from classroom to clinic.

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