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I would like to thank and acknowledge my two terrific friends and colleagues who edited and wrote this book with me: Lynn Gallagher-Ford and Ellen Fineout-Overholt. Their expertise in evidence-based practice (EBP) is unmatched, and it is always exciting to dream about and execute the next innovations and advancements in EBP together with them. We are fortunate to be able to continue our passion for and collaborative initiatives in EBP together to accomplish one of our big dreams—that by 2025, every clinician in the world will have EBP in their DNA. I also want to thank and acknowledge our entire team in the Center for Transdisciplinary Evidence-based Practice (CTEP) at The Ohio State University College of Nursing, especially Bindu Koshy Thomas, Lynn Ellingsworth, Susan Potter, and Cindy Zellefrow, who are the wind beneath Lynn’s and my wings. In addition, I am thankful to Mary Nash and Jackie Buck at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Linda Stoverock, Cathleen Opperman, and Cheryl Boyd at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, who have all been terrific academic-practice partners in working together with our CTEP team to create ideal EBP practice environments and cultures. Special acknowledgement also is given to all the Advancing Research and Clinical practice through close Collaboration (ARCC) model EBP mentors affiliated with our CTEP and the other five experts who served on the national expert panel for the first phase of consensus validation for the EBP competencies, including Karen Balakas, Anna Gawlinski, Marilyn Hockenberry, Rona Levin, and Teri Wurmser. It’s all about the dream and the TEAM because Together, Everyone Accomplishes More.
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—Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk
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On behalf of myself and countless other clinicians who are passionate about EBP, I would like to acknowledge Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk for her passionate and relentless leadership in the field of evidence-based practice. Working with Bern is the most exhilarating, inspiring, rewarding “job” anyone could ever imagine. Whatever your dream is, she will encourage you to dream bigger and in brighter colors . . and then she will be your biggest fan! The opportunity to work with this remarkable woman has been a gift to me, and I am humbled to be able to be a part of the legacy she has built and continues to grow. I would be remiss if I also did not give tremendous credit to my colleagues at the Center for Transdisciplinary Evidence-based Practice at The Ohio State University College of Nursing. Our team is simply amazing, and what we have accomplished is absolutely the product of synergy and mutual respect for each other’s talents and contributions. It is a privilege to work alongside these women every day. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the EBP champions whom I have come to know, not only through our EBP mentor programs, but also those who are out there passionately working every day to figure out how to make EBP a reality in their organizations. I am inspired by your passion, your vision, your courage, and your fortitude as you forge paths to evidence-based practice in spite of the barriers and obstacles! Carry on colleagues—together, we are changing the world!
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Thank you to Bern and Lynn for their commitment to advancing evidence-based practice and the opportunity to contribute to this important work. These EBP competencies are yet one more step toward realizing the dream of the EBP paradigm as the paradigm for healthcare. Thank you to my co-contributors, Tracy Brewer, Joanne Cleary-Holdforth, Tami Hartzell, Pamela Lake, Lisa Long, Tina Magers, and Dónal O’Mathúna. You are the best! Thank you to my colleagues at University of Texas at Tyler College of Nursing & Health Sciences, who have a wonderful way of fostering growth through strength. I am blessed to work with you. I so appreciate Drs. Barb Haas, Pam Martin, Gloria Duke, Danita Alfred, and Susan Yarbrough, who have encouraged me to reach new heights. Thank you to the One who loves me and sustains me with His strength. Finally, I extend my sincere appreciation to the emerging nurse leaders at the bedside, who I believe will be the change we need in healthcare. Thank you for tirelessly continuing to challenge the status quo so that healthcare improves for all of us.
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