What is Evidence-Based practice ?

What is Evidence-Based Practice or EBP ?

Evidence-based practice, or EBP, is the standard model for nursing practice. Only treatment solutions whose effectiveness has been examined, confirmed, and certified by peer-reviewed scholarly sources are used in this approach. It is what is known as “best practice.” EBP differs from traditional or common practice in which procedures and treatment approaches are utilized simply because they have traditionally been used that way (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2019). It offers the best certainty yet that improved clinical outcomes in terms of therapeutic responsiveness and less or no adverse outcomes would occur. Nursing professionals participate in what is known as clinical inquiry to expand their EBP understanding. This is the activity of challenging the effectiveness and justification for using solutions in everyday practice. The purpose of this paper is to define EBP, determine its evolution, and barriers to implementation.

 

 

The Evolution of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) and How to Overcome Barriers to EBP

The evolution of EBP can be traced to the late 20^th century and early 2000s. This is around the time that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released the damning report titled To Err Is Human (Palatnik, 2016). The report stated that one of its findings was that about 98,000 patient deaths at that time were attributable to preventable human errors committed by healthcare professionals. To encourage use of only interventions that had the potential to generate expected clinical outcomes, clinical inquiry was embraced where gaps in effective interventions were identified and a PICOT question formulated to guide the search for scholarly evidence (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2019; Stannard, 2021; Twa, 2016). In order to overcome barriers to EBP, healthcare organizations must have a culture and policy of embracing change.  They must also constantly welcome podium presentations disseminating EB findings/ recommendations.

Example of a Compelling Clinical Question

An example of a compelling clinical question that I would say piques my interest is whether the administration of analgesics to terminally ill cancer patients should be liberal or not. The question is whether to liberally administer the analgesics (pro re nata) to them regardless of the prescribed dosing schedules, or to stick to the dosing intervals like other patients. I feel this question is fit for clinical inquiry.

 

Also read some related evidence-based projects:

• NURS-FPX6011 Assessment 1 Instructions: Evidence-Based Patient-Centered Concept Map
• NURS 6052 EVIDENCE-BASED PROJECT, PART 4
• NURS 6052: EVIDENCE-BASED PROJECT, PART 3: CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF RESEARCH

References

Melnyk, B.M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2019). Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice, 4^th ed. Wolters Kluwer.

Palatnik, A. (2016). To err is human. Nursing Critical Care, 11(5), 4. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.CCN.0000490961.44977.8d

Stannard, D. (2021). Problem identification: The first step in evidence‐based practice. AORN Journal, 113(4), 377–378. https://doi.org/10.1002/aorn.13359

Twa, M.D. (2016). Evidence-based clinical practice: Asking focused questions (PICOT). Optometry and Vision Science, 93(10), 1187–1188. https://doi.org/10.1097/OPX.0000000000001006