Implementation strategies for evidence-based nursing practice in hospital settings: A scoping review protocol

Introduction: Evidence-based practice integrates the best available evidence with clinical expertise and patient preferences, ensuring high-quality, safe, and cost-effective care. Hospital environments - characterized by high complexity and multidisciplinary integration - pose unique challenges for nursing staff in applying evidence-based practice consistently. This protocol outlines a scoping review to map implementation strategies, barriers, and facilitators of evidence based practice in hospital nursing. Objectives: To map the strategies, barriers, and facilitators for implementing evidence-based practice by nurses within hospital settings over the past ten years. Methodology: This protocol will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute framework and the PRISMAScR guidelines. Eligibility criteria will be defined by the PCC (Population: nurses; Concept: implementation of evidence-based practice; Context: hospital). A comprehensive search will be conducted in MEDLINE® (via PubMed®), CINAHL®, Scopus®, Web of Science®, and Cochrane Library®, with time limits from 2015 to 2025. Independent reviewers will screen titles, abstracts, and full texts, with exhaustive efforts to obtain full texts (e.g., contacting authors) before exclusion. Data extraction will be performed using a standardized tool; results will be presented descriptively. The protocol is registered in the Open Science Framework®. Results: This review is expected to identify the range of implementation strategies used by nurses in hospitals, along with key barriers and facilitators, to inform the development of a hospital-specific evidence-based practice implementation model. Conclusion: It is anticipated that this scoping review will provide an overview of current practices, highlight gaps in the literature, and offer guidance for designing interventions to promote evidence-based practice in hospital nursing.