Evidence Based Research In Nursing

Nurses are expected to establish and make use of the best research evidence to enhance the clinical effectiveness of patient care and improve patients’ health outcomes. Barriers exists to knowledge of research utilization in their practice settings. In their study, Dalheim, Harthug, Nilsen and Nortvedt (2012), reported that inadequate time and resources to find research, unsupportive physicians, inaccessibility to information, and lack of authority to implement the finding, were the key barriers for nurses to use evidence based practice EBP (Dalheim et al, 2012). The barriers and assumption that evidence based research (EBR) is cumbersome make nurses to opt use of the gained knowledge from their experience in their practice instead of the advocated
EBR knowledge.
According to Fawcett (2013), theory is considered as the greatest evidence, however, a nursing accomplishment that is not founded on theory necessitates the establishment of a new theory. Advanced practice nurses (APNs) as leaders are responsible of fostering EBP, and also collaborate with nurse researchers to conduct research as well. All nurses are required to have necessary skills to review current findings and evaluate their application to their practice settings (Fawcett, 2013). I believe APNs have a big role in bridging the gap that has created knowledge barrier and the use of EBP in nursing practice. They must take the lead in helping all nurses understand that evidence-based practice is equivalent to theory-based practice. Nursing care should be based on evidence rather than individual’s experiences and traditions.