The Importance of Evidence-Based Practice Among US Nurses
The article is accurately described in the title. In reality, it introduces the reader to the perspectives of US nurses towards evidence-based practice (EBP). Because of its importance in improving quality and cost-effective healthcare, the reader can assess the importance of EBP among US nurses.
Unwillingness to Use EBP
Despite the absence of an abstract, the initial section of the article contains information that is indicative of the subject. The highlighted portion demonstrates US nurses' unwillingness to use EBP in their work. The abstract is extensive, particularly in how it defines the aim, research techniques used, results, and conclusion. The article argues that EBP is essential among nurses in improving the value of care, patient satisfaction and decision making in the US healthcare systems. The authors give attention to the importance of implementing EBP in nursing practice across United States. In essence, the article indicates that EBP seeks to solve problems aimed at enhancing decision making among clinicians. EBP ensures the integration of the best evidence using well researched and designed studies that involve clinical expertise. The expertise as the authors emphasize, provide internal evidence emanating from patient assessments along with practice data, values and preferences. The article finds that there is adequate research to support the execution of EBP as it results in high quality care, reduced healthcare costs and improved patient outcomes.
Benefits of EBP
Notably, EBP helps healthcare organizations to attain high reliability in terms of patient safety. The article also highlights the benefits that healthcare providers and hospitals gain from insurer incentives meant to implement EBPs though pay mechanisms to improve performance. The article notes that EBP reduces mortality, morbidities, geographic variation and medical errors in healthcare. However, EBP is inconsistently applied in US healthcare systems. As a result, several educational programs are spread across United States to emphasize the essence of conducting research in nursing practices rather than translating clinical data to support care. Despite the realization of the benefits associated with EBP in nursing practice, major barriers encompass a lack of EBP skills and knowledge among clinicians, the notion of timely EBP and beliefs that EBP is cumbersome to organization cultures. Therefore, EBP can be facilitated by strong beliefs that it enhances patient outcomes and care, accessing EBP mentors and instilling EBP values to organization cultures.
Introduction
The introduction makes the article's purpose clear. It clearly highlights the role of evidence-based practices in nursing practice especially in the United States. The introduction further highlights the problem statement, which entails the inconsistency among US nurses to implement EBP in their practices. The rationale for the study is also evident as the authors seek to justify the reluctance among US nurses to implement EBP. The authors further describe the essence of implementing EBP in US healthcare systems by outlining its benefits. The benefits comprise of improved patient care and outcomes, high quality care and improved decision making among clinicians. The authors insist that most US nurses do not conduct research regarding their practice and instead rely on already completed clinical data to administer care. The hypothesis for the study is also stated and is meant to conduct a contemporary assessment of the implementation of EBP in the US nursing system.
Methods
The study design is descriptive in nature and seeks to evaluate the extent of EBP implementation in the US healthcare system. The random sampling technique along with an appropriate sample size comprised of nurses who have been approved by the American Nurses Association (ANA). The survey by way of interviews was also conducted as a data collection method through which information such as age and level of employment was assessed. In addition, content validity regarding the research survey had the support of EBP personnel whose role was to evaluate the availability of EBP in nursing practice. However, the rationale for this method is inexistent despite its necessity in measuring the intended variables. In addition to that limitation, the authors did not provide a proper description of the procedures used hence the challenge of advancing research on the topic. Most importantly, the analytical approach used portrays consistency though the use of descriptive method tends to hinder the reliability of statistical testing.
Discussion
The research results are consistent with the research hypothesis. The results indicated that US nurses are reluctant to implement EBP in their practices. The research hypothesis sought to establish the barriers among US nurses in implementing EBP. The theoretical impact of the study is discussed to establish the lack of interest among US nurses in implementing EBP in their practice. Moreover, the nurses according to the results indicated a lack of sufficient time to implement EBP. However, the research in part indicates that most nurses across the United States are willing to apply EBP.
The participants in the study expressed their interests in their desire to acquire more skills and knowledge to enhance their delivery of evidence-based care. However, a majority of the participants indicated a lack of mentor, knowledge, organizational flexibility and time as aspects that hinder the successful implementation of EBP in nursing practice. The article emphasizes on the need to reinforce the tremendous desire among nurse leaders and executives to establish organizational cultures that enhance EBP. Further, nurses across the US should implement strategies that facilitate EBP knowledge among nurses and offer environments that ensure EBP can succeed and remain sustainable
Reference
Melnyk, B. M., Fineout-Overholt, E., Gallagher-Ford, L., & Kaplan, L. (2012). The state of evidence-based practice in US nurses: critical implications for nurse leaders and educators. Journal of Nursing Administration, 42(9), 410-417.
