Overview

The Texas Christian University (TCU) Center for Evidence Based Practice and Research: A Collaborating Center of the Joanna Briggs Institute is located within the TCU Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences.  The TCU Center promotes the mission of the Joanna Briggs Institute and engages both academic and practice associates in evidence generation, synthesis, transfer, and utilization. 

Background

The TCU Center emerged from an existing center that hasprovided evidence based practice and research products and services to health care agencies since 2006.  This entrepreneurial center is a unique approach to marketing faculty expertise in research and evidence based practice to health care and community agencies. The TCU Centerprovides an opportunity for vibrant, collaborative learning and research by faculty and students interacting with real world healthcare practice problems through faculty experts who serve as evidence based practice and research consultants to area organizations. In addition to existing partnerships with acute care agencies, the TCU Center has provided consultation to other agencies including school districts and community health agencies. 

The TCU Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences (HCNHS) has existing educational affiliation agreements with nearly 200 agencies including hospitals, community agencies, long term care settings, and schools.  The TCU Center hosts an Evidence Based Practice and Research Collaborative of hospital partners who meet on a quarterly basis to exchange ideas and best practices to support evidence based practice and research in the practice setting.  With the collaborative as an existing platform to launch innovations, the TCU Center serves as an effective link between the Joanna Briggs Institute and our practice partners. 

Activities

The TCU Center contributes to the production of Systematic Reviews through its faculty scholars, DNP students, scholars in existing HCNHS centers, as well as scholars in the practice community.  The existing relationships with our practice partners build awareness of the the Joanna Briggs Institute resources within the TCU Center’s community of interest.  An established history of online graduate programming expands the potential reach of the TCU Center beyond geographic boundaries.  The diversity of disciplines with the HCNHS (nursing, anesthesia, social work, kinesiology, athletic training, speech-language pathology, habilitation of the deaf) adds richness to the topics of review.  In addition, the TCU Center offers workshops and seminars to educate attendees on the Joanna Briggs Institute resources.

The TCU Centercontinues to collaborate with our clinical partners through an Evidence Based Practice (EBP) Fellowship that brings together staff nurses from various hospitals who are learning techniques to infuse evidence-based practice into their own practice settings. During the Fellowship, each EBP Fellow selects a project designed to solve a clinical problem or question in their own institution. This Fellowship furthers the work of the TCU Center by facilitating evidence-based practice and research in the practice setting.

Contact
Susan Mace Weeks, DNP, RN, CNS, LMFT, LCDC
Associate Dean, Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Director, TCU Center for Evidence Based Practice and Research: A Collaborating Center of the Joanna Briggs Institute
TCU Box 298620
Fort Worth, Texas  76129
Phone: 817.257.7519
Fax: 817.257.7944
E-mail: s.weeks@tcu.edu