Evidence-based nursing: Finding the way to evidence-based practice
ABSTRACT
Originating from Florence Nightingale's work, using evidence to determine the best patient care has been the ethos for nursing practice.1 Evidence-based practice (EBP) requires structures and processes "to evaluate existing nursing practice" and "translate new knowledge into nursing practice" for positive patient outcomes.2 This reflects Donabedian's quality improvement framework of structure, process, and outcomes.3 One essential structure for promoting effective EBP use by nurses is strong leadership.4,5 Positive beliefs and attitudes about EBP's value are an integral part of the nurse leaders skill set for advancing evidence-based care at the bedside.6-8The nurse executive team at a Midwestern 350-bed community hospital conducted a gap analysis to determine EBP application in the nursing department and found a glaring deficit. Further investigation revealed that nurses at the bedside received little or no support from their nurse leader(s). Nurses expressed frustration about their efforts to use EBP, and many current nurse leaders had little or no experience using EBP. Nurse leaders cited time constraints as a barrier for learning EBP concepts and suggested using a flexible online educational program. The results of the gap analysis made online education the first priority toward incorporating EBP to improve patient outcomes.Many nurses lack proficiency in using EBP for clinical decision making and consider inadequate nurse leader support a significant barrier impeding their ability to use EBP effectively.1 For these nurses, completing assigned patient-care tasks usually takes precedence over initiating practice changes.9,10 Nurses often rely on "senior and/or experienced nurse colleagues for information" rather than searching for evidence-based solutions.11 The majority of nurse leaders express positive attitudes about EBP, but many don't incorporate it into daily practice or teach it to direct care nurses.12 Many nurse leaders have been in their roles for years,
Reference:
http://www.nursingcenter.com/lnc/JournalArticle?Article_ID=1538292&Journal_ID=54013&Issue_ID=1538272
