Evidence Based Practice
" The institute of Medicine has set a goal that by 2020, 90% of all health care decisions will be evidence based" (Mazurek et al., 2009).
On entering the words "Evidence Based Practice" into the Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health Literature( CINAHL) database in December 2012, the amount of articles to be found by the author of this assignment was 5694. It could be said that this shows the importance of evidence based practice in today's world of nursing.
In 2012, the words accreditation, in private health care settings, Health Information and Quality Authority ( H.I.Q.A) standards, in the public sector and indeed Clinical Governance are spoken every day! Cranston (2002) stated that for the organisation, clinical governance lies at the heart of quality assurance and that clinical governance is linked to clinical effectiveness which is the goal of evidence based practice. Inevitably as a result of this all health care professionals are required to use evidence based practice in their every day working lives. Thus promoting accountability and quality patient care. However we must ask ourselves is there a down side to all this evidence based practice? What is wrong with the way we always did things?
As already stated above it is a necessity for all health care professionals to use evidence based practice, however for the purpose of this assignment the author will concentrate on the nursing profession, looking at how the use of evidence based practice is important for the patient, the nurse and finally the organisation.
On the other hand the author will also look at the barriers of evidence based practice for nurses. The methodology used is that of a literature review on evidence based practice in nursing. In addition a S.W.O.T. analysis was undertaken by the author looking at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and also the threats to evidence based practice.
At the outset it is important to firstly look at what evidence based practice is.
On entering the words "Evidence Based Practice" into the Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health Literature( CINAHL) database in December 2012, the amount of articles to be found by the author of this assignment was 5694. It could be said that this shows the importance of evidence based practice in today's world of nursing.
In 2012, the words accreditation, in private health care settings, Health Information and Quality Authority ( H.I.Q.A) standards, in the public sector and indeed Clinical Governance are spoken every day! Cranston (2002) stated that for the organisation, clinical governance lies at the heart of quality assurance and that clinical governance is linked to clinical effectiveness which is the goal of evidence based practice. Inevitably as a result of this all health care professionals are required to use evidence based practice in their every day working lives. Thus promoting accountability and quality patient care. However we must ask ourselves is there a down side to all this evidence based practice? What is wrong with the way we always did things?
As already stated above it is a necessity for all health care professionals to use evidence based practice, however for the purpose of this assignment the author will concentrate on the nursing profession, looking at how the use of evidence based practice is important for the patient, the nurse and finally the organisation.
On the other hand the author will also look at the barriers of evidence based practice for nurses. The methodology used is that of a literature review on evidence based practice in nursing. In addition a S.W.O.T. analysis was undertaken by the author looking at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and also the threats to evidence based practice.
At the outset it is important to firstly look at what evidence based practice is.