HCA 699 Topic 7 DQ 1: Disseminating EBP Projects
The prompt splits the audience deliberately. Staff nurses and advanced practice nurses differ in what they need to know, when they are reachable, and what would change their practice.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 16, 2026
Two audiences, and they are not the same audience
Answer for the two audiences separately, because they differ on every dimension that matters. Staff nurses are reachable in the flow of work rather than outside it, which rules out most of the channels people default to. What reaches them is a change to the thing they already use — a revised order set, a modified handover template, a shortened form — plus a brief at shift huddle from someone they work with, and a visible unit board with the unit's own numbers on it. What they need is what changed, what to do differently, and why it matters for their patients. What they generally do not need is the methodology, and a presentation that leads with the design loses the room. A poster in a corridor is the classic example of a channel that satisfies the presenter and reaches nobody. Say which channel your own organisation actually uses, and whether anyone reads it, since the honest answer usually reshapes the plan.
Advanced practice nurses are a different problem. They are more likely to want the evidence itself, to ask about the design and the confidence interval, and to be reachable through professional channels — a journal club, a specialty organisation meeting, a webinar, a manuscript. They are also the group most able to adopt a change across settings, so persuading them has leverage the staff-nurse channel does not. Then the third question, which asks how you will ensure all appropriate audiences receive the information, and it should be answered as a plan rather than an intention. List the audiences you have not yet mentioned — managers, physicians, pharmacy, patients, the quality committee — give each a channel and an owner, and set a timeline. Then add the measure, since dissemination is usually asserted rather than checked: attendance, opening rates, or better, whether the practice changed. If nothing changed, it was not disseminated.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Differentiate dissemination channels by audience.
- 02Match message content to what each audience needs.
- 03Build a coverage plan with owners and a timeline.
- 04Measure dissemination by practice change rather than by activity.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
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Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01A channel and rationale for staff nurses.
- 02A channel and rationale for advanced practice nurses.
- 03A statement of what each audience needs to know.
- 04A coverage plan naming further audiences, channels and owners.
- 05A measure of whether dissemination worked.
Each audience, its channel, then the coverage plan
Why the audiences differ
Establish reachability, need and leverage as the dimensions.
Reaching staff nurses
Choose in-workflow channels and the right message.
Reaching advanced practice nurses
Choose professional channels and an evidence-led message.
The wider coverage plan
Name remaining audiences with channels, owners and timing.
Knowing it worked
Define a measure of successful dissemination.
Dissemination and knowledge translation evidence
Recommended databases
- PubMed Central
- AHRQ
- CINAHL
- Your organisation's communication channels
Search sequence
- 1.Search knowledge translation and dissemination rather than presentation skills.
- 2.Find evidence on which channels change clinician behaviour.
- 3.Look at what your own organisation's staff actually read.
- 4.Check whether the studies you find measured behaviour or satisfaction.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
Nursing Professional Development Evidence-Based Practice
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2024
Dissemination as a stage of the evidence-based practice process.
- 02
Nursing managers' perspectives on facilitators of and barriers to evidence-based practice: A cross-sectional study
Nursing Open (Wiley), via PubMed Central · 2023
Managers' view of what enables and blocks uptake, which is the barrier a plan has to clear.
- 03
Effects of Work Engagement and Barriers on Evidence-Based Practice Implementation for Clinical Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study
Healthcare (MDPI), via PubMed Central · 2024
Barriers to implementation among clinical nurses, for the staff-nurse channel argument.
- 04
Explanation and elaboration of the SQUIRE (Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence) Guidelines, V.2.0: examples of SQUIRE elements
BMJ Quality & Safety · 2016
The SQUIRE guidelines with their own explanation — the reporting standard the project is being aligned to.
- 05
Continuous Quality Improvement
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
Continuous quality improvement as its own activity, distinct from research.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Giving one answer for both audiences.
- Choosing channels that suit the presenter rather than the audience.
- Leading with methodology for a bedside audience.
- Treating dissemination as complete when the presentation is delivered.
Submission checklist
- Do your two audiences get genuinely different answers?
- Is the message content differentiated as well as the channel?
- Does your coverage plan name owners?
- Is there a measure of whether the information landed?
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