The Implementation of Evidence-Informed Family Nursing Practices: A Scoping Review of Strategies, Contextual Determinants, and Outcomes.
Eva Thürlimann, Lotte Verweij, Rahel Naef
PMID 35707895WHAT IT FOUND
Education plus local mentors or champions was the common implementation approach, but family nursing practices were often only partly adopted.
Nurse skills sometimes improved, attitudes often did not, and family outcomes were mixed.
Key findings
01Education plus local mentors, champions, or teams was the common implementation approach, but family nursing practices were often only partly adopted after active work stopped.
02Organizational factors such as workload, staffing, culture, and policy were common barriers, while most implementation strategies targeted nurses or teams rather than the organization.
03Family outcomes were mixed: one adult ICU study reported improved family satisfaction, but overall family outcome findings were modest and hard to interpret.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The review did not assess study quality or risk of bias, so it maps what has been studied rather than judging how reliable each study is. The 24 included publications used very different designs, settings, populations, family nursing practices, and outcome measures. Many studies were small, single-site, and uncontrolled before-and-after studies, so they cannot show that an implementation strategy caused the outcomes. Most barriers were organizational, but few implementation strategies targeted organizational factors such as workload, staffing, culture, and policy. The search was limited to English or German publications from 2010 onward, and some eligible studies may have been missed.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that training nurses in family-centered care improves patient or family outcomes. It is a scoping review, not a trial. The review found partial uptake and mixed family outcomes, and it did not assess study quality.