Tackling complex problems, building evidence for practice, and educating doctoral nursing students to manage the tension

The mandate for evidence-based practice (EBP) arose in response to, among other catalysts, several Institute of Medicine reports beginning in the late 1990s. At the same time, the National Institutes of Health and others have recognized that the most complex, important, and challenging problems, termed “wicked problems,” are inherently transdisciplinary and require thinking beyond the limits of existing theories. When nursing students are prepared for EBP, they operate within a fairly stable set of assumptions and they exercise a past orientation. Wicked problem-solving occurs within a context that is characterized as dynamic and ambiguous and requires a future orientation to imagine potential solutions to questions of “what if?” Both skills, EBP, and wicked problem-solving, are essential within the discipline of nursing. Students at all levels need to understand when each scientific approach is required. PhD students must be prepared to participate in wicked problem-solving.