What is Evidence-Based Practice?

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  • Length: A minimum of 150 words per post, not including references
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    Evidence based practice can be defined as the practice of applying current research with clinical expertise and patient values.  The evidence utilized in evidence-based research typically comes from research conducted by nurses and other health care professionals (Polit & Beck, 2018).  Nightingale experimented in evidence-based practice well before the term took on the meaning it holds today.  Then, evidence-based practice really started to take off in the 1970’s when it was determined that relying on traditions and unscientific methods did not always yield the highest quality of care.  The goal of EBP quickly evolved into providing quality care that is also cost effective for patients and the health care system as a whole.  

     One major barrier to the utilization of evidence based practice is simply the lack thereof.  Despite the recent emergence and development of evidence-based practice (EBP), its adoption continues to be limited (Mohammadi et al., 2018).  There have been many studies produced signifying that nurses and advanced practice nurses do not feel equipped or prepared to implement evidence-based practice methodology regardless of the fact that EBP was included in their educational preparation.  To overcome this barrier, I believe nursing schools should re-evaluate the evidence-based practice coursework and potentially include increased hands on clinical care when it comes to research.  For example, rather than proposing a research project, consider having the students physically complete one.  As nurses make their way into the field, healthcare organizations must take partial responsibility for enticing nurses to continue EBP throughout their career.  For example, performance evaluations could include a component of evidence-based practice.  Nurses who strive for higher performance ratings will have conducted some form of evidence-based practice with the goal of benefiting patients through increased quality of care.  The idea is to keep EBP alive throughout the span of the nurses career and development. 

     A compelling clinical question that piques my interest involves the use of distraction as a method of pain control.  I find this topic extremely interesting, especially considering the involvement of pain signals to the brain.  The human brain is not meant to multitask.  If you give the brain enough distraction, can pain signals truly be interrupted resulting in a decrease in pain?  

References

Mohammadi, M. M., Poursaberi, R., & Salahshoor, M. R. (2018). Evaluating the adoption of evidence-based practice using Rogers’s diffusion of innovation theory: a model testing study. Health Promotion Perspective, 8(1), 25-32.  doi:10.15171/hpp.2018.03

Polit, D. F. & Beck, C. T. (2018). Essentials of nursing research: Appraising evidence for nursing practice (9th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.