EBP Fellowship Program

Nurses and interprofessionals from a variety of patient care areas across UCSF Health are invited to participate in the EBP Fellowship Program offered by the UCSF Leadership Institute within the Center for Nursing Excellence and Innovation. The 6-month accelerated program will assist participants in understanding how evidence-based practice can help to positively impact health system priorities.

The series of workshops and coaching sessions that comprise the program is intended to guide competitively selected clinicians in developing, implementing, evaluating, and disseminating a formal practice change in their microsystem.  The main goals of the program are to advance clinical practice and improve patient and family care, thereby advancing UCSF Health's organizational priorities.

The overall purpose of the EBP Implementation Fellowship Program is to 1) stimulate innovative thinking regarding practices that are efficient and effective in advancing practice and improving clinical outcomes, 2) facilitate growth by providing nurses and interprofessionals with leadership opportunities in implementing a formal practice change on their unit through the evidence-based practice process, and 3) foster professional growth and development and lifelong learning among nurses and interprofessionals at UCSF Health. 

Upon completion of the EBP Implementation Fellowship Program, the EBP Fellow will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate skills needed to develop and implement an evidence-based practice change: 

    • Complete a literature search. 

    • Appraise and synthesize a body of evidence using artificial intelligence. 

    • Assimilate scientific and clinical knowledge to arrive at practice recommendations that are evidence-based. 

  2. Develop an implementation plan to effect change in behavior and practice through the application of implementation science strategies. 

  3. Collect and analyze data using descriptive statistics or qualitative means. 

  4. Formulate a formal sustainability plan for the practice change. 

  5. Disseminate the completed project to internal departments and/or hospital committees and councils. 

Optional: Identify and execute an external dissemination plan to share the EBP initiative results at a professional conference or publication. 

During the 6-month fellowship program, participants will utilize an EBP model to guide them through the 6 stages 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 (SME) coach and an operational sponsor. The workshops will align with the search and appraisal process and the implementation timeline and will feature didactic instruction, opportunities for application, and experiential learning exercises.  EBP Fellows will be expected to disseminate their work through internal opportunities. During the application process, candidates must select one of the health system priorities they are interested in pursuing for the implementation portion of the EBP Fellowship Program. 

These priority clinical topics have been predetermined for NURSING from the following options:
  • Quality & Safety
    • Inpatient: CLABSI, CAUTI, C. diff, SSI, HAPI, falls with injury, med errors, unplanned extubation, antibiotic stewardship
    • Ambulatory: falls, immunizations, HTN disparity, compliance with treatment plan
  • Strategic Growth
    • Inpatient: LOS, D/C before noon, downgrades 
    • Ambulatory: # of visits, # of referrals, missed F/U visits 
  • Patient Experience
    • Inpatient: everyone worked together, likelihood to recommend
    • Ambulatory: likelihood to recommend, interpreter consults 
  • Financial Strength
    • Cost reduction
    • Cost generation
  • Our People
    • Gallup – grand mean engagement score, belonging index
    • RN satisfaction
  • Case Management 
    • Optimizing Patient Throughput and Early-Week Discharges
    • Improving Identification and Documentation of Avoidable Days 
    • Proactive Discharge Planning and Barrier Escalation 
  • Nutrition Services 
    • Effective Weight Management Counseling 
    • Addressing Malnutrition in Hospitalized Patients 
  • Rehabilitative Services 
    • Streamline and Optimize Clinical Documentation 
    • Re-energizing Nursing Mobility Culture
    • Improving Rehab Over-Utilization 

Applications from Respiratory Care Services will be reviewed and selected by department leaders to ensure alignment with the divisional and the organization's strategic priorities.

click here for a list of previous EBP projects

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.
  • Comfortable with using various technologies: Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; database searching; creating prompts using artificial intelligence
  • 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

Program Funding Opportunities

For the fellowship program, funding is shared between the Center for Nursing Excellence & Innovation (CNEI), the fellow’s home unit/department, and the participant (education 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 72 funded hours to CNEI for the fellowship component. 

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

Program Dates

  • Virtual Orientation Session: November 3, 2026 @ 12:30-2:00pm
  • In-Person Workshop: November 17, 2026 @ 9:00-1:00pm
  • In-Person Workshop: December 15, 2026 @ 9:00-1:00pm
  • In-Person Workshop: April 13, 2027 @ 9:00-1:00pm

Information Sessions and Application

Applications are due on Sunday, September 20 @ midnight. 

Click Here to Apply for the Fellowship (due Sept 20)

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