South Western Sydney Centre for Applied Nursing Research

Locked Bag 7103

Liverpool BC

New South Wales, 1871

Australia

Phone: +61 2 9828-6587

Fax: +61 2 9612 0676

About the Centre

The New South Wales Centre for Evidence Based Health Care (NSWCEBHC) was established in 2001. The NSW Centre is based at the South Western Sydney Centre for Applied Nursing Research (CANR), which is a collaborative research centre of the University of Western Sydney and the South Western Sydney Area Health Service, located at Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, Australia.

The NSWCEBHC has a strong research program, including conducting systematic reviews (SR) and implementing research evidence. Each research project includes clinicians as members of the team, and a feature of the Centre is the secondment of clinicians to work with the core team to complete research.

The NSWCEBHC conducts workshops and seminars on topics relevant to evidence based practice for health professionals. For further information see below.

Systematic Reviews

Fernandez R, Griffiths R,  (2008). Water for wound cleansing. Update  The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews Issue 1. (this systematic review is the first Australian review to be disseminated via pod cast at www.cochrane.org)

Fernandez R, Salamonson Y, Juergens C, Griffiths R, Davidson P. Development and preliminary testing of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Enrolment Obstacles (CREO) scale: Implications for service development. Eur J Cardiovasc Nurs. 2007; October 17.

Fernandez R., Davidson P. et al. (2007). Perception of Coronary Risk Factors in Patients Following Percutaneous Coronary Intervention. Heart Lung and Circulation 16 (Supplement 2): S4.

Fernandez R, Davidson P, Griffiths R, Juergens C, Salamonson Y. (2007) What do we know about the long term medication adherence in patients following percutaneous coronary intervention? Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing 25:2. pp53-61.

Griffiths R, Walker C. (2007) Perspectives on quality in nursing. In Chang E, Daly J (eds) Transitions in Nursing 2nd ed. Elsevier Australia. Sydney pp194-212.

Fernandez R, Griffiths R. (2007) Portable MP3 players: innovative devices for recording qualitative interviews. Nurse Researcher 15:1pp8-15

Halcomb E, Davidson P, Yallop J, Griffiths R, Daly J. (2007) Strategic directions for developing the Australian general practice nurse role in cardiovascular disease management. Contemporary Nurse. 26:1. pp125-135

Zwar N, Dennis S, Griffiths R, Perkins D, May J, Hasan I, Caplan G, Harris M. (2007) Optimising skill-mix in the primary health care workforce for the care of older Australians: A Systematic Review. Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute (APHCRI).

Fernandez RS, Griffiths R, Ussia C. (2007) Water for wound cleansing.  International Journal of Evidence Based Health Care. 5:3 pp305-323.

Fernandez R, Davidson P, Salamonson Y, Griffiths, Juergens C. (2007) The Health-Related Quality of Life Trajectory in Patients After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention, Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention. 27- pp 223-226

Griffiths R, Horsfall J, Moore M, Lane D, Kroon V, Landgon R, (2007) Assessment of health, well-being and social connections: A survey of women living in Western Sydney.  International Journal of Nursing Practice. 13:  pp3-13

Parsons M, Bidwell J, Griffiths R. (2007) A comparative study of the effect of food consumption on labour and birth outcomes in Australia.  Midwifery. 32:2 pp 131-138. DOI 10.1016/j.midw.2006.03.007

Griffiths R. (2007) Clinical Chairs in Nursing. Leading Opinion.  Collegian, 14:2 pp3-4 

Griffiths R, Stone A, Tran D, Fernandez R, Ford K (2007) Drink a little; take a few drugs; Do nurses have knowledge to identify and manage inpatients at risk of drugs and alcohol? Drug and Alcohol Review. 26: pp545-552

Middleton S, Allnutt J, Griffiths R, McMaster R, O’Connell J, Hillege S. (2007) Identifying measures for evaluating new models of nursing care: a survey of NSW Nurse Practitioners. International Journal of Nursing Practice 13. pp331-340

Middleton S, Chapman B, Griffiths R, Chester R. (2007) Reviewing recommendations of root cause analyses. Australian Health Review. 31:2 pp288-295

Parsons M, Griffiths R. (2007) The Effect of Professional Socialisation on Midwives’ Practice. Women & Birth. 21:1 pp 31-34

Middleton S, Levi C, D’Este C, Dale S, Griffiths R, Grimshaw J, Ward J, Evans M, Quinn C, Cadilhas D, (2007). Death, Dependency and Health Status 90 Days Foillowing Stroke in NSW: Interim Results From The Quality In Acute Stroke Care (QASC) Project. Internal Medicine Journal. 37: (suppl. 4), A107.
Fernandez  R, Salamonson Y, Juergens C, Griffiths R, Davidson P. Validation of the revised cardiac rehabilitation preference form in patients with post–percutaneous coronary intervention. Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention. 2007; 27:390-394.:

Fernandez R, Griffiths R, Everett B, et al. Effectiveness of brief structured interventions on risk factor modification for patients with coronary heart disease: A systematic review. International Journal of Evidence-Based Health Care 2007: 5:370-405.

Fernandez R, Salamonson Y, Griffiths R, et al. Sociodemographic predictors and reasons for participation in an outpatient cardiac rehabilitation program following percutaneous coronary intervention. International Journal of Evidence Based Practice 2007: in press.

The New South Wales Centre for Evidence Based Health Care (NSWCEBHC) conducts various training programs to assist clinicians to develop their skills in evidence based practice. The training programs range from brief (half day, one or two days) workshops to comprehensive (five day) workshops. The aim of the workshops is to equip clinicians with the knowledge and skills to identify, appraise and utilise evidence based research as the basis for clinical practice. All workshops involve practical exercises and include facilitators’ notes for future reference.

The workshop is aimed at clinicians interested in gaining skills in order to generate and integrate evidence in clinical practice and includes the following;

• What is Evidence Based Practice?
  Introduces participants to the principals of Evidence Based Practice. The origin and context of EBP is explored and sources of evidence explored.  There is also an introduction to the Joanna Briggs Institute and the Cochrane Collaboration.


• Introduction to Systematic Reviews
  Provides a brief introduction to systematic reviews (SR) and the process of undertaking this form of research.


• Structuring Clinical Problems
  Assists participants to develop a structured research question and to seek evidence for a particular clinical problem. The session also includes a practical exercise on formulating a research question based on the model presented.


• What is Evidence?
  Introduces participants to a variety of tools that have been developed to assist clinicians and researchers to rank research reports according to accepted levels of evidence. This session also includes a practical exercise on identifying levels of evidence for research reports.


• Critical Appraisal
  Introduces participants to a variety of tools that have been developed to assist clinicians and researchers to critically appraise research reports using objective criteria. This session includes a practical exercise using the critical appraisal tools.


• Interpretation of Results
  Provides an explanation of the common terms (eg. P value, t-test) often used in the results section of reports. Participants are asked to complete a worksheet and discuss implications of the results in clinical practice


• Development of Summary Tables
  Focuses on techniques to summarise information from research reports into a table that can be easily read and understood as well as available for future reference. A practical exercise on developing a summary table using two journal articles is included.

Evidence Based Guidelines

Development of Guidelines
Includes types of guidelines and the process for the development of guidelines

• Critical Appraisal of Guidelines
  How to critically appraise guidelines and assess application to practice (A practical exercise on critiquing is included).


• Implementation of Evidence Based Guidelines
  Strategies for implementation of guidelines into practice (Practical exercise included).

Introduces participants to the range of available resources for evidence, to develop skills in searching techniques and raising awareness of the problems associated with searching.

• Navigating the Joanna Briggs Database
  Provides practical exercise on the Clinical Information Service database and resources for building evidence base manuals.


• Searching the Cochrane Library
  Includes a 3 hour practical exercise on how to search the Cochrane Library
.

• RAPid (Rapid Assessment Protocol internet database)
  Introduces participants to RAPid which is a tool designed to assist clinicians in conducting critical appraisal of systematic reviews and individual research studies.

This program, consisting of five modules, is designed to prepare clinicians to conduct comprehensive systematic reviews of evidence using the Joanna Briggs Institute SUMARI software.

Professor Rhonda Griffiths
Director, NSWCEBHC
Phone: +61 2 9612-0671

Joanna Briggs Institute, Royal Adelaide Hospital, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia
p: +61 8 8303 4880 f: +61 8 8303 4881 e: click to email