Understanding the Integration of Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing

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Understanding the Integration of Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing
Introduction
“Evidence based practice is a systematic approach that integrates the best currently available evidence, along with clinical expertise and each individual’s preference to make clinical decisions, in order to deliver the most optimal care to patients” (Baigis & Hughes, 2001, p.10). Evidence-based practice in nursing refers to the adaptation of the latest best nursing research findings with nurses’ clinical experience and the value and preference of patients, families and communities to make the patient care better (The Honor Society of Nursing, 2005).
Quality Patient Care Based On Research There are multiple steps that must be completed before evidence based practice can be incorporated into final patient practices. The first stage is known as the knowledge generating stage. In this stage, knowledge is discovered through traditional research and scientific discovery. Summarizing the knowledge is done in stage two. At this point in the process the research is interpreted into meaningful and useful information. This information results from multiple studies which gives the most credible results. The third stage results in the transformation of this evidence into practice recommendations and standards. The goal of transformation is to create useful tools to directly support patient care. The fourth stage, also known as the integration stage, is the most challenging and difficult. This is when the information is adopted and integrated into actual patient care, usually into the form of policy and procedure. The final stage is the evaluation of the outcome, which are actual documented improvements new policies and procedures have shown over months and years after they are implemented. “Evidence based nursing is the process of systemically finding, appraising, and using

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