Evidence-Based Practice (EBP)
Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) is the use of the most recent best evidence in making choices about patient treatment. The EBP primarily incorporates existing research to improve patient outcomes and guide nurse care. This enables caregivers and health practitioners to approach healthcare issues in a qualitative and evaluative manner. The key goals of EBP are the integration of external scientific evidence, clinical expert opinions, and the client with high-value services that primarily represent the people being served's choices, needs, and values (Schmidt & Brown 2015). However, there are problems in adopting the EBP in a system that integrates patient’s preference and values with clinical expertise and a systematic search for appraisal in search for the evidence to answer clinical questions.
Main Barriers to Effective Adoption of EBP
One of the main barriers to effective adoption of the EBP is the enormous amount of literature available about healthcare. This makes it hard for the health care providers and practitioners to keep up to date with the vast information. Consequently, there are quite a lot of source of the same information for the healthcare and it is hard to integrate into one system. Furthermore, there are quite a lot of articles and publications made every day with becomes tiresome and impossible to have them under the EBP (Schmidt & Brown 2015). Likewise, the lack of time to understand, search, and interpret findings is another barrier to adopting EBP.
Obstacles to the Adoption of EBP
Similarly, another major obstacle to the adoption of EBP is that medical professionals do not have adequate authority to change or alter the patient’s procedures. For the system to work the people efficiently on the ground should have the power to modify the things they deem necessary and could influence the information available. Consequently, the failure of the medical professionals of not having adequate time on the job to implement new ideas (Schmidt & Brown 2015). The changing nature of the medical profession makes it difficult for the healthcare practitioners to apply new ideas they deem necessary and could go a long way in improving and the helping the EBP.
Additional Barriers to the Adoption of EBP
Importantly, lack of resources, difficulty in understanding statistical data, and lack of adequate time are other important barriers to the adoption of the EBP. Failure of the medical professionals to understand some of the important aspects required in the consequently, other obstacles to effective adoption of the BEP are a lack of information searching skills and limited IT skills. Computer skills are critical in the modern world especially in the medical profession where everything has become automated, and the uses of technology are high. Failure of the professionals in the field to have the IT skills makes it harder for the adoption and implementation of the BEP (Schmidt & Brown 2015). This is because for efficient use and application of the system IT skills are essential.
Conclusion
EBP is a major component that can go a long way in improving the health service to the patients and improving the health care system. The main barriers to the adoption of the EBP include an enormous amount of literature available about healthcare, lack of time to understand, search, and interpret finding and lack of information searching skills and limited IT skills. It is important that these barriers are removed before the adoption and implementation of the EBP to ensure successful adoption of the program.
Sources
Schmidt, N. A., & Brown, J. M. (2015). Evidence-based practice for nurses: Appraisal and application of research. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
