L.A.U.N.Ch. Into the Future: Evidence-Based Literature to Support Nursing Staff Development

Abstract

The authors completed a yearlong pilot program for the purpose of measuring the effect of a Clinical Nursing Librarian program on nursing practice in the Intensive Care Units at the University of New Mexico Hospital. This article describes the study and the resultant hospital-wide program that developed from the pilot project. Numerous studies have documented the efficacy of Clinical Librarian programs on improving the incorporation of evidence into patient care. There is little indication that this type of program has been targeted to nursing staff even though physicians and residents have used these programs over the past three decades.

KEYWORDS:

• Clinical librarian program
• evidence-based nursing practice

The authors wish to thank the New Mexico Organization of Nurse Executives for their generous funding of the L.A.U.N.Ch. project, the University of New Mexico Hospitals Chief Nursing Officer for funding the literature searches, and all the nurses that participated and continue to participate to improve patient care.