Role of Nurses in Evidence-Based Practice

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Role of Nurses in Evidence-Based Practice

Nurses have an important role in the healthcare system and as the primary care

providers; they have a better understanding of issues affecting an organization’s care delivery

process and the specific patient healthcare and personal needs. One of their key

responsibilities is the delivery of evidence-based care to their clients. As described by Yoo et

al. (2019) evidence-based practice is the conscious use of the best available clinicians’

experiences, scientific evidence, and patients’ values to solve problems leading to safe and

quality health care. As a problem solving tool, evidence-based practice is one of the most

relied on approach to enhancing healthcare delivery and improving overall patient

experiences. This is because it helps them identify health issues and initiate evidence-based

strategies that would help address these issues.

In the organization, nurses have an extensive role in evidence-based practice. One of

these roles is sharing information and ideas with other staff members to enhance their

capacity to delivery standardized healthcare services to their patients which is characterized

by high levels of safety and quality. This is done through weekly and daily staff meetings as

well as direct interactions during care processes. Nurses also take leadership roles to

influence evidence-based practice in the organization. According to Bianchi et al. (2018),

nursing leadership has a critical role in influencing and sustaining evidence-based practice. A

key observable role for a nurse is staff training and education which is critical in ensuring that

they conform to the organization’s standards of practice and engagements which has

significant implications on overall. By leading, a nurse ensures that other nurses have access

to key competencies and resources to enable them achieve healthcare delivery goals.

Nurses are also engaged in teaching patients on evidence-based practices for self-care

and health maintenance. By doing that, nurses ensure that their patients can comply with the

proposed healthcare modalities or interventions ensuring successful management or treatment

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of a disease. For instance, educating patients on appropriate medication use during an illness

especially for those with multiple health issues may help eliminate the risk of polypharmacy.

According to Yoo et al. (2019), through nurse’s engagement with other staff and their

patients to promote quality, safe, and evidence-based care, they are able to create a culture of

evidence-based practice. This culture is characterized by a commitment to knowledge

acquisition and sharing, organizational readiness to addressing health issues, and a focus on

policy-making and infrastructure building to promote quality care delivery.

The value accorded to evidence-based practice by healthcare professionals within an

organization determines the potential success of their efforts in achieving desired outcomes. I

believe that evidence-based practice is one of the most valued practices in the organization as

nurses and other staff is actively involved in identifying new ideas, sharing them and seeking

ways of addressing them based on the available evidence. Further, every member of the staff

is allowed an opportunity to identify opportunities for change, support the proposal with

evidence, and share it with others and the management to leadership to impact change in the

defined area of practice. These practices align which what Yoo et al. (2019) has described as

evidence-based practice and what is expected for healthcare professionals. I believe that

nurses in this organization have a positive attitude towards evidence-based practice which has

been solidified by marking part of the organization’s culture.

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References

Bianchi, M., Bagnasco, A., Bressan, V., Barisone, M., Timmins, F., Rossi, S., ... & Sasso, L.

(2018). A review of the role of nurse leadership in promoting and sustaining

evidence‐based practice. Journal of Nursing Management, 26(8), 918-932.

https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12638

Yoo JY, Kim JH, Kim JS, Kim HL, Ki JS (2019) Clinical nurses’ beliefs, knowledge,

organizational readiness and level of implementation of evidence-based practice: The

first step to creating an evidence-based practice culture. PLoS ONE 14(12):

e0226742. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226742