Evidence-Based Practice Fellowship Program

Nurses and interprofessionals from a variety of patient care areas across UCSF Health are invited to participate in the Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Fellowship Program offered by the Leadership Institute within the Center for Nursing Excellence and Innovation. The 10-month 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:

  1. Compare and contrast research, evidence-based practice, and quality improvement.
  2. 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.
  3. Apply an evidence-based practice model through the development of a practice change.
  4. 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.
  1. Develop an implementation plan to effect change in practice.
  2. Identify and use implementation science strategies for effecting behavior change among nurses and interprofessionals.
  3. Evaluate outcomes from the change in practice.
  4. Collect and analyze data through the use of descriptive and/or inferential statistics or qualitative means.
  5. Formulate a formal sustainability plan for the practice change.
  6. Disseminate the EBP initiative to internal department and/or hospital committees and councils.
  7. Identify and execute an external dissemination plan to share the EBP initiative results at a professional conference or publication.

During the 10-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
  • Clinical projects that align with Magnet guidelines
  • 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

click here for a list of previous EBP projects

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

2025 Fellowship Program Workshop Dates

*Attendance at all sessions is mandatory. Unless noted, all sessions are in-person.*
  • Workshop 1: March 4  (9 am - 5 pm)
  • Workshop 2: April 9 (9 am - 5 pm)
  • Workshop 3: May 6 (9 am - 5 pm)
  • Consultation Day: May 27 and 28 (virtual)
  • Workshop 4: June 3 (9 am - 5 pm)
  • Workshop 5: July 1 (9 am - 5 pm)
  • Workshop 6: August 5 (9 am -1 pm)
  • Workshop 7: September 2 (9 am -1 pm)
  • Workshop 8: October 7 (9 am -1 pm)
  • Workshop 9: November 4 (9 am - 5 pm)
  • Workshop 10: December 2 (Graduation Ceremony and Final Presentations)

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 December, funding will be allocated in the following way:

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

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 September (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 Workshops 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.

***The application deadline is midnight, 12 am on October 13.***

To learn more about the program, we encourage you to attend an Information Session: 

 

If you would like support before you submit your application, we encourage you to attend an Application Support Session. Please email a draft of your application to [email protected] at least 3 days before the support session you wish to attend.

click here to apply for the ebp fellowship! deadline is 10/13/24.

click here to view or download the ebp fellowship flyer