Evidence Based Practice

Evidence based practice is an integral part of nursing care. According to the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses, evidence based practice is defined as, “the conscientious use of current best evidence in making decisions about patient care.” (AMSN) The use of evidence based practice has drastically improved patient outcomes, increased quality and safety of healthcare, and reduced costs for facilities. (Melnyk, 2016) In this paper I will provide the history of evidence based practice, how it has already been incorporated and impacted healthcare, and why it is important to nursing and healthcare as a whole.

Evidence-based practice is the practice of making clinical decisions based off the best available research evidence coupled with the nurse’s own expertise, while also taking into account, the patient’s assessments and own personal preferences. This use of research has proven effective at providing better outcomes and lower healthcare costs, yet there are several barriers, such as time, education, and support, which prevent nurses from consistently using evidence-based practice (AJN, 2012). The top three barriers to the use of evidence-based practice are lack of time, education, and support in implementing new practices and using them consistently.

In this essay, I am going to consider how evidence-based practice can be used to support, justify, legitimate and/or improve clinical practice. I am also going to explore and discuss primary and secondary research evidences about how nursing interventions can potentially improve the quality of life of patients in the community suffering from heart failure. I will gather these evidences using a literature search which I will include an account of. Using a critiquing framework for support, I will appraise both primary and secondary evidences that I have chosen. I will also look at potential non-evidential factors that can influence evidence utilisation in practice. Finally, a conclusion will be drawn.

Itroduction: Evidence-based practice is an approach to medicine that uses scientific evidence to determine the best practice (Beyea & Slattery, 2006). As nurses perform their daily tasks they must continually ask themselves, “What is the evidence for this intervention?”. Nurses are well positioned to question current nursing practices and use evidence to make care more effective. In order to improve patients’ outcomes it is the responsibility of the nurse to transition evidence-based practice into the norm, through application of daily practice (Flynn Makic, Rauen, Watson & Will Poteet, 2014). Continual evaluation of current practice must be performed to ensure the use of evidence-based practice opposed to practice based upon tradition. The implementation of evidence-based practice standardizes healthcare practices and diminishes groundless variations within care. These variations lead to the production of uncertain health outcomes (Stevens, 2013).

Venous thromboembolism refers to the formation of a blood clot in a blood vessel. While clots can form in an artery or a vein, this article focuses only on clots that occur in a vein ("," 2015). Critically ill patients are at an increased risk of a venous thromboembolism (VTE) due to VTE can manifest as a deep venous thrombosis (DVT) or a pulmonary embolism (PE). Risk factors include venous stasis, vascular injury, and hypercoagulable disorders. A majority of ICU patients carry at least one risk factor for VTE; additional risk factors are considered to have a cumulative effect…it is impossible to predict which patients will experience a

Evidence Based Practice is a principle that is centered on the improvement of patient care and outcomes, by introducing and researching current based evidence when making decisions for that patient. According to Johnston (2016), “Health-care practitioners are increasingly being encouraged to implement research evidence into practice in order to ensure optimal patient outcomes and provide safe, high-quality care”. Throughout the course of this class, whether it be from researching about Evidence Based Practice, or the implementation of nursing care delivery models, patient care and the way we treat our patients is at the forefront of change. We know that change is necessary, now it is just a matter of how to implement that change into the healthcare

This allows for a constantly growing pool of knowledge for clinicians to be able to get information from. Contributing not to only to the safety of clients, clinicians, and the efficacy of the medical procedures done. Evidence based practice encourages both old and new nurses to widen their knowledge and improve knowledge, competence and critical thinking skills (Belowska, Panczyk, & Gotlib, 2014). In a constantly growing and vast profession like nursing, it is imperative to constantly increase ones

Goodwin, V., Richards, S., Henley, W., Ewings, P., Taylor, A., Campbell, J., & ... Campbell, J. L.

Special education practitioners appear to have produced the majority of the research on the prevalence of evidence-based practice in education. Studies of the prevalence of evidence-based practice in general education do exist, but in at least one instance, the research was published in a special education journal (Kretlow and Helf, 2013). Kretlow and Helf (2013) published a study of kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade teachers that asked these teachers about the reading programs they were implementing. The results indicate that few of these teachers are using reading curricula that is demonstrated to be evidence-based. Studies among special educators have produced similar results. Research by Cook and Cook (2013) suggested that significant misunderstanding exists about what evidence-based practices are and this has led some special education teachers to ignore evidence-based practices. Similar results were obtained by Carter, Stephenson, and Strnadova (2011) regarding the prevalence of

Evidence based practice (EBP) is an important part of social work. Every social policy and interaction with individuals is based on experience and careful selection of research. Moreover it aims to empower individuals and reduce discrimination. Therefore it promotes productive interactions, which is crucial in this economic climate. Therefore. Social workers have to be competent and confident in analysing the latest research and being able to judge whether it is suitable in practice. Moreover this is supported by Standards of proficiency (SOP) section 14 “Be able to draw on appropriate knowledge and skills to inform practice”.

In nursing, evidence based practice is the platform in which nursing skills and knowledge are built upon. Evidence based practice, as defined by the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses, is the “conscientious use of current best evidence in making decisions about patient care” (n.d.). The nurse, upon licensure, acknowledges the ability to facilitate patient care that incorporates all aspects of the evidence based practice model. In order for evidence-based practice to be maintained within health care institutions, it is essential that the nurse is able to function in manner that promotes best practice to provide effective, safe, high quality of care that is beneficial to the patient (Stevens, 2013).

In today 's society, there is a great deal of research and practice about evidence based practice. Most of this is highly sought upon in the field of psychology, where evidence and decision making is key to accomplishing new ideas of treatments for people who retain psychiatric problems. The meaning of evidence-based practice in psychology is that it involves making very educated and supported decisions based on punctilious, unambiguous, and astute evidence (Rousseau & Gunia, 2016). With evidence-based practice, it assists in raising and deriving the issue of what evidence really is, the strength of the evidence, and how practitioners can improve the quality of their evidence (Rousseau & Gunia, 2016). Evidence is a major factor because

There are many different definitions of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP). According to EBP book, most EBP definitions contain three components “research-based information, clinical expertise, and patient preferences” (In Schmidt & In Brown, 2019, p. 4). These three words explain what is EBP in a simple way for me to understand. It means EBP research includes collecting information, reviewing, evaluating, and implementing evidence into the practice to improve patient outcomes. EBP is unique concept because it doesn’t only take consideration of the evidence, but it does give preference to individual patient’s values and needs to advocate for improved patient experiences. EBP is a holistic approach to improve patient care outcomes and nursing practices. By utilizing EBP into my practice is not an extra task but it helps to cover the difference in patient care to improve patient

Evidence based practices are important in nursing practice because It increases confidence in decision making, high quality patient care and achievement, it results in better patient outcomes, contributes

Schmidt and Brown (2012) defined evidence based practice as practice based on the best available practice, patient preferences and clinical judgement. Evidence based nursing is the collection, interpretation and use of research derived evidence to better patients care in the clinical setting (Nursing Research: Principle, Process and Issues, pp.447).It is very easy to see the significant changes that have transformed the nursing practice in recent years. It is no wonder, therefore, that evidence based nursing practice has been a central figure in professional practice (Rose and Glass, 2008). Hickman et al (2014) states that to have the best evidence based practice, a nurse must provide patients with the best, up to date evidence in contrast to care that is simply based on the traditional ways of nursing. However within evidence based research, Maloney et al (2016) found that it is extremely important to focus on knowledge based on the nurses own area of practice so that the best evidence based practice is given to their patients. Following the Briggs report in 1972, there has been more commitment within the health care profession to utilise evidence based