Background: Master nursing students are strategically positioned to influence adoption of
evidence based practice within the nursing profession. Educating master nursing students with
core knowledge and skills for evidence based practice may be an effective strategy to increase
their future use of evidence in their nursing practice to deliver high quality care and improve
patient health status in a cost effective approach. Aim: Examine the effect of a training
program on evidence-based practice profiles and skills among students enrolled in the Master
of Science in nursing program. Design: A quasi-experimental design. Setting: The study was
conducted at the Faculty of Nursing, Zagazig University. Tools of data collection: Two tools
were used in this study the Evidence-Based Practice Profile Questionnaire (EBP2) and the
Fresno Test of Evidence-Based Medicine. Results: A total of 45 master nursing students
participated in the program and data collection. Less than10% of participants had previous
training about evidence based practice. Overall, scores were significantly increased.
However, a sub score related to appraising evidence did not change and had a mean of 0 at
both time points. Our 15-hour program with six hours of lecture and nine hours of small
group exercises was effective at increasing knowledge of terminology, identifying clinical
questions, searching for evidence, identifying the design and relevance of studies, and
improving attitudes and confidence related to evidence based practice. Building skills for
appraising evidence may need additional time or a different format for this group of
participants. Conclusion: The training program was an effective strategy in making
significant improvements in all domains of evidence based practice profiles and most skills
related to evidence based practice inquiry among master nursing students.
Recommendations: Further evaluation is needed to determine retention of the skill set and
association of evidence based practice knowledge and skills on patient outcomes.