Evidence Based Practice in Nursing

Evidence-Base practice (EBP) is defined as: “based on problem identified from the practitioner’s area of practice; a combining of best evidence and professional expertise and an integration of this into current practice; about ensuring patients receive quality care, being part of quality improvement processes; about collaboration and requiring a team approach” (French, 1999). Scott and Mcsherry (2008) supported the French’s assertion, proposing the key elements of EBP are that it is a theory-driven process, which involves the use, evaluation and application of research; identification of best evidence; evaluation of care; problem solving; decision-making; clinical expertise; and requires patient involvement. Evidence-based practice is made of evidence, clinical expertise, patient preference, the context of care (Barker, 2013). In brief, evidence-based practice is the parameter in the nursing practice that it requires that the nurses gather and use clinical evidence to make decision for the patients so that in the nursing process they can deliver the quality of care for the patients (Ellis, 2013). In the other words, in the nursing practice all the nursing procedures performed by the clinical evidence supported.

As a provider of care, professional nurses depend on research, theories, and evidence based practice to guide the care they provide to patients. Nurses deliver care to their patients based on information they have learned through many years of school and training. Training for nurses and other providers of care is founded on theories, research, and evidence based practice in the healthcare field. Theories, research, and evidence based practice are all important for providing care to patients and each can be used in a different manner depending on the situation. Clinicians often use research based evidence to design and implement care that is high-quality and cost effective for patients. Evidence based practice can be used to provide care to patients in a steadily changing clinical environment. (PDF page 8-9). Nursing theories are frequently used as frameworks for establishing nursing care interventions and assessing

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.

Nursing education is constantly evolving as new techniques are introduced within the medical profession. Thus, it is imperative nurses are kept updated, and continuously learning new methods to enhance and improve patient care. Over the last 150 years there has been a drastic change in nursing`s participation in research. Nursing research advanced initially from the investigations made by Nightingale in the nineteenth century of nursing education during the 1930`s. This further progressed to the research of nursing roles in 1950s following on to the 1990s where nurses began to focus on clinical problems and finding solutions to these problems which had a major impact within the nursing profession. As of today many health professionals are focusing on clinical research which in turn has helped to establish an evidence informed practice for nurses. (Burns and Grove 2003)

Evidenced Based Practice (EBP) is essential to enable all nurses to provide the most current up to date practises for their patients. This process involves research, systematic review of current practises, critical thinking skills, evaluation and application to the clinical setting. In addition to this, the nurse must take into account the patients’ preferences. For nurses to have professional autonomy they must be able to justify their actions and demonstrate an understanding of why they perform the tasks they do. This defines them as unique professionals judged by their knowledge and not simply by their hands on skills.

Experience with EBP: Evidence-based practice plays a crucial role in the quality of patient care. When care is performed based upon evidence opposed to outdated textbooks, instinct, tradition, or colleagues influence (Beyea & Slattery, 2006). The average nurse is currently more than forty years of age, without the frequent education upon new topics, many nurses’ knowledge has become outdated. As new textbooks are not published yearly or often times not kept up to date within facilities, they do not serve as reliable sources of

Evidence base practice is essential in nursing practice. It incorporates 3 key components which are clinical expertise, patient values, and best research evidence in order to provide the most effective and safe decision making for patient care. Neglecting a key component can affect the accuracy and efficiency of a research. Clinical expertise is based on a clinician’s experience, skill, education level and understanding in a certain area of nursing practice. Patient values can impact evidence base practice depending on their needs, preferences, expectations, values, understanding, and concerns. Best research evidence can be obtained from clinical research with supporting evidence base literature and sound methodologies. Each component will be discussed in further detail and how it links to clinical decision making by registered nurses in order to achieve the best evidence-based practice available.

Evidence based practice is an important priority in nursing because it ensures that the best quality and most effective care is being used. Restraint use is an intervention that is being minimized more and more. It can be an important intervention when necessary but there are specific circumstances and guidelines that must be followed. Evidence based practice is proving that restraint use may be eliminated due to safety concerns and more beneficial interventions being used.

Evidence - Based Nursing, An introduction (2008, p. 285 ) “ The rapidity of change and the reorganization of nursing services within the health care sector presents challenges for the advancement of EBP. Managers and administrators should facilitate the uptake of practice based on current, high-quality research by formalizing the expectation that nurses care be Evidence Based”.

I have been working as a registered nurse for almost 17 months. In that short amount of time, I feel have contributed to the nursing profession in many ways. First and foremost, my nursing skills and evidence-based practice has contributed not only to the nursing profession but it also benefits the patients I care for. I provide a safe, clean environment for my patients and use my nursing skills to deliver exceptional care to my patients.

Evidence-based practice is the process of searching research to gain knowledge in the quest to improve nursing intervention. It requires time, resources, teamwork, collaboration, and dedication, but it’s our calling and duty as nurses to ensure that patients receive the highest quality of care. For this paper, I will identify a new best practice to initiate, describe steps required to implement it, and give examples from literature that support the change in patient care.

One phase of the Evidence-Based Nursing is the critical reading. The critical reading of sa nursing research literature is an indispensable tool that any professional who wants to base their practice on evidence should be handled with fluency. Qualitative research is sometimes surrounded by certain misconceptions, as thinking that it is not scientific or objective, that is subjective and it is less important than quantitative research. It is important to clarify that work primarily by assessing the importance of the research studie, and conducting a detailed analysis of the research in order to prove if the research is or not reliable. It is important to respect as much as possible the original text in the description of the diferents

I do agree that nursing needs to establish the standard care based on research studies. The evidence-based nursing provides the quality and safe care to the patient populations and decreases the mortality rate in clinical. It looks that the majority of nurses would rather choose DNP than PhD. The best way to prevent the shortage of research studies is to let the doctorate-level nurses work together. According to Buchholz, Yingling, Jones, & Tenfelde (2015), DNP-prepared nurse with practice expertise and PhD-prepared Nurse with research expertise should collaborate together to improve and change health care. DNP-prepared nurses can provide the issues and problems to the PhD-prepared nurses and then PhD-prepared nurses to conduct research and

patients and be able to explain the reason behind the care given by them. Within nursing

Evidence-based practice (EBP) in nursing means making decisions about patient care on the basis of best, current, standardized practice and guidelines. According to an article, written by Dr. Kathleen Stevens, the development of evidence-based practice (EBP) is fueled by the increasing public and professional demand for accountability in safety and quality improvement in health care (Stevens, 2013). The author also mentioned in her article that the intended effect of EBP is to standardize healthcare practices to science and best evidence and to reduce illogical variation in care,