How does research affect existing medical knowledge and practice?
A successful nursing practitioner requires knowledge to assist them in deciding the care that a patient should receive. To achieve the desired experience, adequate research must be conducted, and the decisions as to the care that a patient receives should be based on research evidence. Clinical protocols are based on research that has transformed. A combination of research data and other sources of information contribute to practical and useful rules. Projects teams use a combination of evidence sources to develop nursing protocols ( Brown, 2014, p5-12) . Some of the sources include;
Research findings
Agency quality monitoring data
National databases
Expert opinions
Scientific principles
There is a consensus that the investigation evidence is one of the highly trusted sources and that clinical protocols must be based on it. The other sources should complement and support if research data is unavailable or insufficient ( Brown, 2014 pg5-12) .
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Clinical protocols define the care that should be accorded to the patients. They set a comprehensive plan of care for patients with similar health needs or one aspect or even a clinical procedure. Nursing staff produces clinical issues protocols that they use to manage different aspects in their profession. Once formulated, the rules help in the achievement of consistent, high-level care setting clear standards of care for a patient population by stating the care that should be performed ( Brown, 2014, p8-11; Cannon, 2016) .
The use of research findings to develop protocols and following the rules on a daily basis in clinical practice guarantees that the patient population is receive nursing care that is based on available scientific evidence. Properly formulated protocols eliminate considerable variability by ensuring that each nurse does not arbitrarily decide the care to give to the patient ( Brown, 2014, p6-12) .
How can evidence-based patient care improve the quality of care
Evidence Based Practice has resulted in a paradigm shift in healthcare education and nursing. The evolution of the nursing profession has been accompanied by better-educated nurses who critique existing research studies to identify any flaws, bias and other factors that might have affected the outcome. A clinician should use the best available evidence to support clinical practices to offer the best possible nursing care ( Cannon, 2016; Godshal, 2016, p5-8).
As nurses realize the importance of evidence based practice, they saw the need to connect new knowledge to standardize care to improve care processes and the outcome. EBP enhances the quality of care by integrating the various elements to offer consistent care from the different providers. By employing EBP, the chances are high that the care will have a greater likelihood of success. This is achieved by having reliable and relevant information ( Cannon, 2016; Godshal, 2016)
Evidence Based Practice contributes to patient safety by ensuring that errors are eliminated, and where they occur, the lesson learned from them are identified. By ensuring the safety of the patient, the overall care quality improves. By employing current research findings, the evidence is validated and substantiated before it is used on a patient. With the increase in research, evidence also rises similar to EBP across professional nursing ( Cannon, 2016; Godshal, 2016)
What types of clinical strategies help foster an evidence-based nursing practice
Evidence based practices have not been incorporated into clinical practice despite the awareness of the practitioners. The use of research from a single study by nursing professionals is still limited. Educators and coaches can adapt the following steps to include EBP into the clinical setting;
Formulate a clinical question that needs to be researched
Search for evidence that supports or disputes a clinical practice
Evaluate relevance, application, and quality of the practice
Establish an evidence based decision by considering the compiled evidence
Integrate the evidence with the experience and expertise of the practitioner
Apply to the clinical status and preference of the patients
Implement observed change in the practice
Evaluate the outcome of the change
The educators should incorporate clinical reasoning strategies to help their students in understanding EBP. By empowering the students to integrate EBP in their setting, there will be the optimal provision of health care services. Efforts should be focused towards the students to help them develop hands on experience of EBP. They should be empowered through adequate clinical opportunities for them to develop clinical expertise ( Cannon, 2012, , p202, 226)
Which component of the nursing process is evidence-based practice aligned with?
Evidence based practice is aligned to the component of assessment. A professional carries out five steps while practicing EBP;
They inquire about the clinical areas of interest
Collect relevant and appropriate evidence
Appraise the evidence
Integrate evidence with clinical expertise
Evaluate and make a decision
At the assessment step, a nurse will obtain a health history and review the clinical records. An initial evaluation is performed to complete a database that will assist in identifying a problem, develop reference and for future comparison. In some instances, it can be done to determine a unique issue that was identified in previous assessments ( Brown, 2014; Cannon, 2016, p3; Godshall, 2016, p8).
There are situations where assessments can be done to identify any life threatening issues or to determine new or overlooked problems. Where there is previous data that relates to the patient, a time lapse reassessment is usually performed. Nursing professionals also carry physical examinations of the patient to analyze the functioning of the body using such techniques like palpation and percussion. The bottom line of assessment is to solve a problem affecting a patient which is closely related with EBP which involves searching for and critically appraising relevant evidence to address clinical issues ( 2016, p4; Godshall, 2016, p8).).
References
Brown, S. J. (2014). Evidence-based nursing: The research–practice connection (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Cannon, S., & Boswell, C. (2016). Evidence-based teaching in nursing: a foundation for educators . Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Cannon, S., & Boswell, C. (2012). Evidence-based teaching in nursing: a foundation for educators . Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning
Godshall, M. (2016). Fast facts for evidence-based practice in nursing: Implementing EBP in a nutshell (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
