EBP Nursing Topics

100+ Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) nursing research topics

Stuck on a capstone, DNP project, or BSN research paper? Here is a curated list of 100+ EBP nursing topics organised by specialty. Use it to spark a PICOT question — or WhatsApp us and we'll help you turn a topic into a full proposal.

How to turn any topic below into a PICOT question

P — Population, I — Intervention, C — Comparison, O — Outcome, T — Timeframe. Example: In adult ICU patients (P), does an ABCDEF bundle (I) compared to usual care (C) reduce delirium days (O) within 30 days (T)?

Pediatric Nursing

  1. Impact of family-centered rounds on pediatric patient outcomes
  2. Non-pharmacological pain management in pediatric post-op patients
  3. Effectiveness of childhood obesity prevention programs in primary care
  4. Reducing pediatric medication errors with barcode scanning
  5. Screen-time education and behavioral outcomes in school-age children
  6. Vaccine hesitancy interventions for pediatric caregivers
  7. Bedside handoff and parent satisfaction in pediatric units
  8. Preventing central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) in NICU
  9. Kangaroo mother care and preterm infant thermoregulation
  10. Music therapy for anxiety in hospitalized children

Geriatric Nursing

  1. Fall prevention bundles in long-term care facilities
  2. Delirium screening protocols for hospitalized older adults
  3. Non-pharmacological management of dementia-related agitation
  4. Polypharmacy reduction in community-dwelling seniors
  5. Pressure injury prevention using turning schedules and support surfaces
  6. Advance care planning conversations led by nurses
  7. Hydration protocols to reduce UTIs in nursing home residents
  8. Music and reminiscence therapy for Alzheimer's patients
  9. Nurse-led exercise programs and mobility in the elderly
  10. Caregiver burden interventions for family caregivers of dementia patients

Mental Health Nursing

  1. Trauma-informed care training and staff outcomes on inpatient units
  2. Suicide risk screening in primary care using PHQ-9 and C-SSRS
  3. Mindfulness-based interventions for anxiety in college students
  4. Reducing seclusion and restraint through de-escalation training
  5. Peer support specialists and readmission rates in psychiatric care
  6. Nurse-led CBT-informed groups for depression in outpatients
  7. Telepsychiatry access in rural populations
  8. Sleep hygiene interventions for patients with major depressive disorder
  9. Screening and brief intervention (SBIRT) for substance use in the ED
  10. Postpartum depression screening in maternal-child clinics

Medical-Surgical & Acute Care

  1. Early mobilization protocols after abdominal surgery
  2. Multimodal pain management vs. opioid-only post-op regimens
  3. Nurse-driven sepsis bundles and time-to-antibiotic
  4. Hourly rounding and call-light usage on med-surg units
  5. Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) and length of stay
  6. Reducing 30-day heart failure readmissions with transition-of-care nurses
  7. Preventing hospital-acquired pneumonia with oral care bundles
  8. Nurse-led glycemic control protocols in non-ICU patients
  9. Impact of bedside shift report on medication errors
  10. VTE prophylaxis compliance interventions

Critical Care & Emergency

  1. ABCDEF bundle implementation and ICU delirium
  2. Nurse-driven weaning protocols and ventilator days
  3. Family presence during resuscitation and family satisfaction
  4. Triage accuracy and patient outcomes in the ED
  5. Reducing door-to-needle time for stroke patients
  6. Nurse burnout and moral distress in ICUs post-COVID
  7. Rapid response teams and cardiac arrest rates outside ICU
  8. Standardized handoff (I-PASS/SBAR) and adverse events
  9. CLABSI prevention bundles in adult ICUs
  10. Music and noise-reduction interventions on sleep in the ICU

Maternal & Women's Health

  1. Doula support and cesarean rates in first-time mothers
  2. Skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding initiation
  3. Group prenatal care and preterm birth rates
  4. Postpartum hemorrhage bundles and maternal outcomes
  5. HPV vaccine uptake interventions in adolescents
  6. Screening for intimate partner violence in prenatal visits
  7. Gestational diabetes education and glycemic control
  8. Non-pharmacological labor pain management
  9. Pelvic floor rehabilitation post-partum
  10. Nurse-led lactation programs and exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months

Community & Public Health

  1. School-based mental health screening programs
  2. Nurse-led hypertension self-management in underserved populations
  3. Vaccine campaigns and uptake in rural communities
  4. Home visits and 30-day readmissions in chronic disease patients
  5. Health literacy interventions and medication adherence
  6. Community diabetes prevention programs (DPP) outcomes
  7. Motivational interviewing for smoking cessation
  8. Food insecurity screening in primary care
  9. Telehealth access disparities in low-income populations
  10. Faith-based interventions and cardiovascular risk reduction

Nursing Leadership & Education

  1. Transformational leadership and nurse retention
  2. Structured onboarding and new graduate nurse turnover
  3. Simulation-based training and clinical judgment scores
  4. Nurse-to-patient ratios and patient outcomes
  5. Shared governance and staff engagement
  6. Preceptor programs and NCLEX pass rates
  7. Debriefing after adverse events and staff resilience
  8. Just-culture implementation and error reporting
  9. Diversity, equity and inclusion training and nurse satisfaction
  10. Evidence-based practice mentorship programs

Informatics & Patient Safety

  1. EHR alert fatigue and medication errors
  2. Clinical decision support tools and sepsis recognition
  3. Barcode medication administration and error rates
  4. Telemetry monitoring alarms and alarm fatigue
  5. Nurse-driven protocols using AI-based early warning scores
  6. Standardized documentation and continuity of care
  7. Patient portal use and chronic disease outcomes
  8. Voice-assisted charting and time at the bedside
  9. Cybersecurity education for clinical nurses
  10. Remote patient monitoring and heart failure readmissions

Oncology, Palliative & End-of-Life

  1. Nurse-led symptom clinics and chemotherapy adherence
  2. Advance care planning in oncology outpatients
  3. Cognitive behavioral therapy for cancer-related fatigue
  4. Palliative care consults and ICU length of stay
  5. Non-pharmacological interventions for chemo-induced nausea
  6. Massage and music therapy for cancer pain
  7. Nurse-led survivorship care plans and follow-up adherence
  8. Family communication training and end-of-life satisfaction
  9. Spiritual care interventions in hospice patients
  10. Bereavement follow-up programs and family outcomes

How to choose the right topic for you

A good EBP topic is one you can actually finish. Before you commit, check three things: that the problem exists in a setting you can describe, that a measurable outcome is attached to it, and that enough recent peer-reviewed literature exists for you to build a review around. If any of the three is missing, narrow the population or swap the outcome rather than abandoning the topic.

  • Start from a problem you have seen in practice — it makes the significance section far easier to write.
  • Keep the population specific. "Adult ICU patients" is workable; "patients" is not.
  • Choose an outcome you can measure with existing data, such as readmissions, length of stay, screening rates or incident counts.
  • Confirm your course scoring guide allows the design you have in mind before you write the proposal.

Where to go next

Once you have a topic and a PICOT question, the next steps are the literature review, the methodology and the implementation plan. These guides and services can help:

Conclusion

Choosing an EBP topic is the step that shapes every chapter that follows. Use the specialty lists above as a starting point, refine one idea into a focused PICOT question, and check it against your scoring guide before you begin writing. If you would like a second opinion on a topic or help turning it into a full proposal, our tutors are available to talk it through.

Need a full research paper or DNP proposal?

ScholarScript tutors turn any of these topics into a complete PICOT, literature review, methodology or full capstone — APA 7 and scoring-guide aligned.