Jing Li,1,* Ya-Qi Liu,2,* Jia Song,3 Xu-Fang Huang,1 Mei-Fen Chen1 

1Department of Nursing, The Fifth Hospital Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Lishui Central Hospital, Lishui, Zhejiang, 323000, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Nursing, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, People’s Republic of China; 3Phase I Clinical Research Ward, The Fifth Hospital Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Lishui Central Hospital, Lishui, Zhejiang, 323000, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Mei-Fen Chen, Department of Nursing, The Fifth Hospital Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Lishui Central Hospital, No. 289 Kuocang Road, Liandu District, Lishui, 323000, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China, Tel +8613567618608, Email chenmeifangcmf@126.com Xu-Fang Huang, Department of Nursing, The Fifth Hospital Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Lishui Central Hospital, No. 289 Kuocang Road, Liandu District, Lishui, 323000, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86159 9086 0585, Email huangxunfanghxf6k@126.com

Objective: This study evaluates the interplay between nursing leadership, innovative self-efficacy, and evidence-based practice competencies, aiming to identify predictive factors for enhancing nursing performance in evidence-based care.
Methods: A convenience sampling strategy was employed to enlist 1104 clinical nurses from a tertiary A-level general hospital in Lishui city. Data collection involved the utilization of a general information survey, an implementation leadership scale, the Innovative Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (IS-EQ), and a simplified scale designed to assess evidence-based practice.
Results: The mean total scores observed were 37.34± 9.77 for nursing supervisor implementation leadership, 29.04± 5.39 for nurses’ innovation self-efficacy, and 28.80± 4.98 for evidence-based practice competency. Through correlation analysis, it was found that in the actual nursing work scenarios, when head nurses effectively exert their leadership and nurses have a relatively high level of innovative self-efficacy, the nurses’ evidence-based practice ability will subsequently improve, and the two show a highly significant positive correlation (p < 0.01). The multiple stepwise regression analysis further reveals in depth that the leadership implemented by head nurses, nurses’ innovative self-efficacy, as well as nurses’ educational level and the degree of participation in academic conferences are all key factors for accurately predicting nurses’ evidence-based practice ability. These factors work together and account for 52.8% of the variance in evidence-based practice ability (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: Strengthening the leadership training for head nurses, improving nurses’ professional quality, and providing more academic exchange opportunities could effectively improve nurses’ evidence-based practice ability to practically optimize the quality and professional level of nursing services.

Keywords: evidence-based practice, implementation leadership, innovation, nurse, nursing supervisor, self-efficacy