Measured and perceived impacts of evidence-based leadership in nursing: a mixed-methods systematic review protocol

• Published in: BMJ open Vol. 11; no. 10; p. e055356
• Main Authors: Välimäki, Maritta Anneli, Lantta, Tella, Hipp, Kirsi, Varpula, Jaakko, Liu, Gaoming, Tang, Yao, Chen, Wenjun, Hu, Shuang, Li, Xianhong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England British Medical Journal Publishing Group 22.10.2021; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Publishing Group
• Series: Protocol
• Subjects: Behavior; Clinical outcomes; Decision making; Delivery of Health Care; Evidence-Based Nursing; health services administration & management; Humans; Intervention; Knowledge management; Leadership; Literature reviews; Mixed methods research; Nurse Administrators; Nurses; Nursing; organisational development; protocols & guidelines; Qualitative research; quality in health care; Quality of Life; Research Design; Research methodology; Systematic review; Systematic Reviews as Topic; Workforce; protocols & guidelines; organisational development; quality in health care; health services administration & management
• ISSN: 2044-6055; 2044-6055
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-055356

IntroductionDespite the abundance of existing literature on evidence-based nursing practice, knowledge regarding evidence-based leadership, that is, leadership supported by an evidence-based approach, is lacking. Our aim is to conduct a mixed-methods systematic review with qualitative and quantitative studies to examine how evidence is used to solve leadership problems and to describe the measured and perceived effects of evidence-based leadership on nurses and nurse leaders and their performance as well as on organisational and clinical outcomes.Methods and analysisWe will search the following databases with no year limit or language restrictions: CINAHL (EBSCO), Cochrane Library, Embase (Elsevier), PsycINFO (EBSCO), PubMed (MEDLINE), Scopus (Elsevier) and Web of Science. In addition, the databases for prospectively registered trials and other systematic reviews will be screened. We will include articles using any type of research design as long as the study includes a component of an evidence-based leadership approach. Three reviewers will independently screen all titles, abstracts and full-text articles and two reviewers will extract the data according to the appropriate checklists. The quality of each study will be appraised using specific appraisal tool fitting in study design used in each study. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) grid, PRISMA Protocols, Synthesis Without Meta-analysis and ENTREQ will guide the study process and reporting. Outcomes related to individual or group performance of nurses or nurse managers regarding leadership skills (e.g., communication skills), organisational outcomes (e.g., work environment, costs) and clinical outcomes (e.g., patient quality of life, treatment satisfaction) will be extracted and synthesised.Ethics and disseminationThis systematic review will not include empirical data, and therefore, ethics approval will not be sought. The results of the review will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed scientific journal and in a conference presentation.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42021259624.