Evidence Based Practice
Infection Control
Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. EBP is the integration of clinical expertise, patient values, and the best research evidence into the decision making process for patient care.
Good doctors and health professional’s use both individual clinical expertise and the best available external evidence, and neither alone is enough. Without clinical expertise, practice risks becoming tyrannized by evidence, for even excellent external evidence may be inapplicable to or inappropriate for an individual patient.
The Five Steps of EBP
Evidence-based practice is primarily based on five well defined steps.
Asking an answerable clinical question
Acquire the best available evidence
Appraise the evidence
Apply the evidence
Assess the process
Evidence-based practice has gained momentum in nursing, and definitions vary widely. Research findings, knowledge from basic science, clinical knowledge, and expert opinion are all considered "evidence"; however, practices based on research findings are more likely to result in the desired patient outcomes across various settings and geographic locations. The impetus for evidence-based practice comes from payor and healthcare facility pressures for cost containment, greater availability of information, and greater consumer savvy about treatment and care options. Evidence-based practice demands changes in education of students, more practice-relevant research, and closer working relationships between clinicians and researchers. Evidence-based practice also provides opportunities for nursing care to be more individualized, more effective, streamlined, and dynamic, and to maximize effects of clinical judgment. When evidence is used to define best practices rather than to support existing practices, nursing care keeps pace with the latest technological advances and takes advantage of new
Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. EBP is the integration of clinical expertise, patient values, and the best research evidence into the decision making process for patient care.
Good doctors and health professional’s use both individual clinical expertise and the best available external evidence, and neither alone is enough. Without clinical expertise, practice risks becoming tyrannized by evidence, for even excellent external evidence may be inapplicable to or inappropriate for an individual patient.
The Five Steps of EBP
Evidence-based practice is primarily based on five well defined steps.
Asking an answerable clinical question
Acquire the best available evidence
Appraise the evidence
Apply the evidence
Assess the process
Evidence-based practice has gained momentum in nursing, and definitions vary widely. Research findings, knowledge from basic science, clinical knowledge, and expert opinion are all considered "evidence"; however, practices based on research findings are more likely to result in the desired patient outcomes across various settings and geographic locations. The impetus for evidence-based practice comes from payor and healthcare facility pressures for cost containment, greater availability of information, and greater consumer savvy about treatment and care options. Evidence-based practice demands changes in education of students, more practice-relevant research, and closer working relationships between clinicians and researchers. Evidence-based practice also provides opportunities for nursing care to be more individualized, more effective, streamlined, and dynamic, and to maximize effects of clinical judgment. When evidence is used to define best practices rather than to support existing practices, nursing care keeps pace with the latest technological advances and takes advantage of new