Importance of evidence-based care and the challenges nurse administrators face in creating an environment in which bedside nurses use evidence-based care

Importance of evidence-based care and the challenges nurse administrators face in creating an environment in which bedside nurses use evidence-based care.

Evidence-based care is the combination of clinician’s expertise, patient’s preferences and evidence gathered from research in the provision of health care. It plays a significant role in promoting health outcomes and faster recovery. It also creates an opportunity for the nurse to access the risks and the effectiveness of treatments and tests.

There are five steps involved in the execution of evidence-based care. The first step entails developing a clinical problem, followed by gathering evidence and analyzing it. Implementation and result assessment. Evidence-based care helps cut the cost of health care as it reduces its demand due to an increase in positive health outcomes. It also supports individualized care as the patient can express their preferences, concerns, values, and suggestions. It enables nurses to make well-founded decisions based on research. Research enables nurse practitioners to keep up to date on the latest medical practices.

Nurse administrators are faced with several challenges in creating an environment in which bedside nurses use evidence-based care. First, bedside nurses are very busy. They lack the time to conduct research and to collect evidence. Secondly, nurses who studied in the early times did not get to know about evidence-based practice. It is a modern concept and only recent graduates are well aware of it. Lack of enough education about evidence-care among bedside nurses is a factor that hinders its practice.

Apart from education, inadequate access to literature is also another barrier nurse administrator’s face. Some hospitals do not have the internet that allows nurses to search for literature to guide them during practice. There is also a lack of enough nurses, particularly, those with knowledge and skills on how to care for the aged. The number of senior citizens is increasing. The availability of a few nurses with knowledge about geriatrics has become a major concern.

Finally, individual factors such as negative attitude among bedside nurses, lack of knowledge about research, unfamiliarity with research terminologies and inability to access research quality and research results have also hindered administrators from creating an environment where bedside nurses use evidence-based care.

Evidence-based care is the integration of evidence collected from research, clinician’s expertise and the patient’s preferences in the provision of health care. It plays a vital role in promoting health outcomes and individualized care. Factors such as lack of adequate education, time constrain and negative attitudes hinder the use of evidence-based care among bedside nurses.

References

Youngblut, JoAnne M., and Dorothy Brooten. “Evidence-based nursing practice: why is it important?.” AACN Advanced Critical Care 12.4 (2001): 468-476.

Majid, Shaheen, et al. “Adopting evidence-based practice in clinical decision making: nurses’ perceptions, knowledge, and barriers.” Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA 99.3 (2011): 229.

Nagy, Sue, et al. “Nurses’ beliefs about the conditions that hinder or support evidence‐based nursing.” International Journal of Nursing Practice 7.5 (2001): 314-321.