Understanding Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing

Nursing has come a long way from its early roots of following traditional wisdom and intuition. While experience still has its place, the contemporary nurse now relies on evidence-based practice as a guiding principle to deliver optimal care.

But with demanding workloads, nurses often find it challenging to stay up to date with new evidence. That's why it's important to understand why evidence-based care in nursing is so beneficial and take a look at strategies to manage the administrative load, enabling nurses to stay current with the latest research.

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Meet the Expert

Mical DeBrow is an accomplished healthcare leader and clinician with extensive expertise spanning pharma, healthcare payers and providers, and healthcare information technology.

The Argument for Evidence-Based Practice Nursing

The benefits of evidence-based practice are twofold:

1. Patients receive more effective, personalized care when nurses use both their existing knowledge and new medical discoveries.

2. It encourages continuous learning and development among nurses, keeping them up-to-date. This approach cultivates proactive nurses who drive healthcare innovation.

Consider a case of diabetes management and how the following strategy can be applied:

• Pose a question: Can regular exercise help people with diabetes control their blood sugar better than those without exercise?
• Gather the best evidence: Conduct a systematic literature review, find randomized controlled trials and other high-quality studies.
• Analyze the evidence: Examine the selected studies for their methodology, sample size, and results.
• Apply the evidence to clinical practice: Based on the analysis, if the evidence suggests that regular exercise improves glycemic control in diabetic patients, healthcare providers may recommend incorporating a structured exercise program into the treatment plan.
• Assess the result: Monitor and assess the diabetic patients who have incorporated regular exercise into their routine. Adjust the treatment plan as needed based on ongoing assessments.

As healthcare providers, we can use the evidence-based strategy above in diabetes management, employing a systematic approach from formulating questions to assessing results. This process allows us to evaluate the advantages of regular exercise in blood sugar control.

So by integrating the best available evidence into clinical decision-making, practitioners can tailor treatment plans to individual patient needs and circumstances.

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6 Steps to Effectively Implement Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing

1. Conduct Training

Provide mandatory training workshops and in-services to introduce the importance of evidence-based practice, build staff skills in identifying/appraising evidence, and address the change management aspects of transitioning approaches. Foster an encouraging, safe space for staff to ask questions and practice new techniques.

2. Develop Infrastructure

Supply on-site medical librarians, literature databases, and article/alert services linked to professional development journals and conferences for continuous research access. Assign designated experts to field questions and assist staff in searching for evidence.

3. Update Protocols

Modify internal care protocols, guidelines, and order sets to align recommendations with the latest evidence. Consider phasing revised practices with input from clinical staff for smoother adoption.

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4. Encourage Applications

Have staff reference sources to develop patient-specific recommendations based on scientific evidence matched to assessments. Have experienced nurses shadow and advise beginner staff to instill regular evidence-based practice habits.

5. Track and Report Outcomes

Quantify patient health improvements and care quality markers connected to increasing evidence-based practice usage. Share compelling usage data with administrators and across nursing units to justify further commitment.

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6. Recognize Champions

Celebrate nurses who spearhead new evidence exploration and serve as unit mentors. Their firsthand testimony and support are invaluable for gaining buy-in from other staff.

Unlock the Full Potential of Nursing Excellence

The research is clear-embracing evidence-based practice raises the standard of nursing excellence to unprecedented heights. It's not a one-time initiative but an ongoing commitment to remaining professionally curious, challenging conventional wisdom, and exploring new possibilities.

One way to remain professionally curious and up to date with industry trends is through advanced knowledge management platforms. These centralized hubs house all your organization's knowledge for quick and easy access. Plus, nurses can get notifications when new, relevant, and vetted information is available to them. Platforms like this make embedding evidence-based care into healthcare settings easy, no matter how busy your team is.

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