Evidence-Based Practice Fellowship Program

The fellowship program will assist participants in understanding how evidence-based practice can help to positively impact health system priorities, in addition to mastering graduate level EBP knowledge, skills, and abilities. The series of workshops and coaching sessions that comprise the fellowship program are intended to guide competitively selected clinicians to develop, implement, evaluate, and disseminate a formal practice change in their microsystem. The main goals of the fellowship program are to advance clinical practice and improve patient and family care that advance UCSF Health organizational priorities. The program objectives for the fellowship program include:

Compare and contrast research, evidence-based practice, and quality improvement.
Identify practice questions that are amendable to the process of evidence-based practice and aligned with UCSF Health’s True North Scorecard and Fellow’s division strategic plan.
Apply an evidence-based practice model through the development of a practice change.
Demonstrate skills needed to develop and implement an evidence-based practice change:

Develop a searchable, clinical question
Complete a comprehensive and systematic literature search
Critically appraisal and synthesize a body of evidence
Assimilate scientific and clinical knowledge to arrive at practice recommendations that are evidence-based.
Document the level of evidence for each practice recommendation.

Develop an implementation plan to effect change in practice.
Identify and use implementation science strategies for effecting behavior change among nurses and interprofessionals.
Evaluate outcomes from the change in practice.
Collect and analyze data through the use of descriptive and/or inferential statistics or qualitative means.
Formulate a formal sustainability plan for the practice change.
Disseminate the EBP initiative to internal department and/or hospital committees and councils.
Identify and execute an external dissemination plan to share the EBP initiative results at a professional conference or publication.

During the 9-month, 120-hour fellowship program, participants will utilize an EBP model to guide them through the 7 steps of the EBP process. To best support the fellows during the program, a primary EBP mentor will be assigned to work individually with each fellow, in addition to monthly team coaching sessions with a subject matter expert coach and operational sponsor. The monthly workshops will align with the implementation process timeline and feature didactic teachings, opportunities for application and experiential learning exercises. EBP Fellows will be expected to disseminate their work through both internal and external efforts.

During the application process, candidates are encouraged to select one of the health system priorities they are interested in pursuing for the implementation portion of the EBP Fellowship Program.

True North Pillars
Zero harm events (patient identification, communication handovers, injuries from falls, etc.)
Nurse sensitive indicators (e.g., CAUTI, CLABSI, HAPI, VAP, falls, etc.)
Pain management (e.g., decrease opiod use, PRN reassessment compliance)
Patient satisfaction scores within unit/division
Staff engagement
Throughput/Patient flow: improving discharge before noon, decreasing length of stay (e.g., ED to units, discharge milestones)
Behavioral management of patients & mental health emergencies
Suicide screening
Health equity/DEI/anti-racism

EBP Fellowship Program Eligibility Criteria

Minimum of 2 years of clinical experience
At least 1-year full-time employment at UCSF Health as a clinician
Currently employed in a full-time career position (≥ 70% or .7 FTE) as a clinician at UCSF Health. You must remain in this position/role for the duration of the fellowship program.
Proficient in Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint
Interest in an identified health system priority
Identified by the Supervisor/Unit Director as a team player with strong written and verbal communication, interpersonal skills, and an employee who meets or exceeds expectations on their performance evaluation

2024 Class Dates

Class 1:	March 13 from 8:30AM-4:30PM
Class 2:	April 2 from 8:30AM-4:30PM
Class 3:	May 1 from 8:30AM-4:30PM
Consulation Day:	May 29 & 30 (virtual)
Class 4:	June 5 from 8:30AM-4:30PM
Class 5:	July 3 from 8:30AM-4:30PM
Class 6:	August 7 (virtual: 8:30AM-12:30PM)
Class 7:	Sept. 10 (virtual 8:30AM-12:30PM)
Class 8:	October 2 from 8:30AM-4:30PM
Class 9	November 6 from 8:30AM-4:30PM

Program Funding Opportunities

For the fellowship program, funding is shared between the Center for Nursing Excellence & Innovation (CNEI), home unit/department, and participant (ed leave hours). There is no fee to participate in the fellowship program upon acceptance. As a fellow, you will be entitled to charge up to 120 hours to CNEI for the fellowship component. For each month from March to November, funding will be allocated in the following way:

7-hours of funding are allocated for monthly didactic classes/mentored practice time
1-hour of funding is allocated for monthly coaching sessions
8-hours of funding are allocated for assignments and/or implementation time each month

Therefore, fellows are allowed to charge CNEI up to 16 hours total each month between March through November. Note that 8 hours can only be used for each pay period.

The participant is responsible for using ed-leave or seeking unit sponsorship to attend any internal or external dissemination events, such as the annual Clinical Inquiry Conference in March (6-hours) and Nursing Grand Rounds in February (4-hours).

Actual schedules must be negotiated and agreed upon between the fellow and fellow’s supervisor on a month-to-month basis based on the scope of work that needs to be accomplished. EBP Class and implementation time is considered time in lieu of—not in addition to—patient care. Staff will be paid straight time only; overtime is not approved for EBP training experiences or implementation work. All time floated to CNEI should be coded in HBS as “normal hours worked” and “straight time only”. The Enterprise Code “EBP Fellows” should be used on HBS Timesheets.

Fellowship Application Timeline & Process

Application Opens in August

Application Closes on October 15, 2023 @ midnight

All applicants will be notified by the end of February regarding the status of their application so they can plan accordingly. Applicants should request off for program dates before applying to ensure they are available, should they be accepted.

Should you have any questions about the training experiences, fellowship program, application or selection process, please contact [email protected].