Evidence-based practice involves using the current best evidence in collaboration with clinical expertise and patient values to guide decision-making processes in health care. The evidence may come from information in case reports, randomly controlled trials and other scientific methods such as qualitative and descriptive research. Applying evidence-based practice in the dynamic nursing field has significantly enabled clinicians to be more involved in their tasks by making more sound clinical judgments.
Despite its efficacy in improving the delivery of health care, the practice is still not the standard care in many hospitals, particularly in the United States. Research has proved that some fundamental elements have resulted in the slow integration of this practice in the nursing field. First, there is a lack of a shared model to guide staff through the evidence-based practice process. Such a model should be structured on primary research studies, systematic reviews, integration and evaluation (Duff et al., 2020). Secondly, decreased support for the practice in education, training and knowledge infrastructure has also affected its development. Introduction to new concepts and methods through continuous learning programs for practitioners on various levels would greatly improve services.
Thirdly, there is a lack of active team facilitation and cooperation between care nurses, nurse managers, specialists and scientists. Fourthly, the fact that new evidence is increasingly generated daily poses a challenge to health care professionals who must analyze and integrate it into their work. Lastly, the existing leadership, environment and culture fail to support and encourage the process. Moreover, there is a shortage of nurses, and the available ones have a heavy workload and lack time and access to the internet and other vital literature.
As a future Doctor of Nursing Practice, understanding how to use evidence-based practice to bridge the gap between theory and practice is essential. The research-based practice has fallen short of providing long-lasting solutions to problems that arise in health care (Miles & Scott, 2019). I would recommend using evidence-based practice to my manager as it would assist many health practitioners in gaining the skills required to be critical evaluators of today’s scientific findings (Buchan et al., 2020). Accountability is guaranteed when a diagnosis is reached through research and the patient’s values and beliefs.
Tradition-based practice relied on advice from more experienced health officials, ignoring that experience is also subject to bias flaws since incorrect and outdated information is often relayed. There was a need to improve the quality of health care services by adapting new nursing skills and practices. This push contributed to the rise of research-based practice, which provided high-quality care and collaboration for patients (Horntvedt et al., 2018). The difference between research and evidence-based practices is that the research practice is meant to generate new knowledge or validate existing knowledge based on theory. The evidence-based practice aims to translate available evidence and apply it to clinical practice decision-making. However, the evidence-based practice relies on research in its processes for quality improvement.
Advantages of evidence-based practice include the reduced cost of patient care, enhanced expertise of medical professionals, accountability, generation of new knowledge, and more individualized care of patients. Shortage of and insufficient evidence from errors in scientific research is a disadvantage of the practice. Moreover, there is oversight of common sense, lack of knowledge and motivation, negative attitudes and mismanagement of time in the clinical trials and systematic reviews. Conclusively, evidence-based practice is a core competency of health practitioners useful in minimizing variations in care and should be embraced in this new century.
References
Buchan, J., Campbell J., & McCarthy C. (2020). Research to support evidence-informed decisions on optimizing the contributions of nursing and midwifery workforces. Human Resources for Health. 18(1), 1-2.
Duff, J., Cullen, L., Hanrahan, K., & Steelman V. (2020). Determinants of an evidence-based practice environment: an interpretive description. Implementation Science Communications. 1(1), 1-9.
Horntvedt, M., Nordsteien, A., Fermann, T., & Severinsson, E. (2018). Strategies for teaching evidence-based practice in nursing education: a thematic literature review. BMC Medical Education. 18(1), 172.
Miles, J. & Scott, E. (2019). A new leadership development model for nursing education. Journal of Professional Nursing. 35(1), 5-11.