EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICE (EBP)
Following the 2001 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, “Crossing the Quality Chasm”, recognition of the need to incorporate evidence into nursing practice has grown significantly. Yancey (2019) suggests that nurses among all generations and disciplines need to inform their practice with the best evidence available. To support Yancey’s claim, Blazin, et al.
(2020) give concrete examples of EBP through their study’s (I-PASS) adaptability, and its potential to improve patient safety through recognized reductions in errors and improvements in multiple handoff settings. Additionally, the work of Thomas-Hawkins, et al. (2020) supports the need for current, informed evidence to address the challenges of staffing, workload, care left undone, and their relationship to patient safety.
What does EBP mean to you as a nurse? Give examples of how EBP serves as a foundation for a practice philosophy of lifelong learning.
Support these examples with literature work of Yancey,2019; Blazin, et al.,2020; and Thomas-Hawkins et al.,2020. What is the theoryto-practice gap?
How do we close this gap? Are we making progress? How does possessing an evidence-based practice philosophy impact the issues you experience on a daily basis, issues that are clearly evident in the literature?
Yancey (2019) suggests that nurses need access to current evidence when making decisions about patient care; without this, they are unable to provide quality care. Blazin et al. (2020) highlight the importance of being able to quickly access evidence-based protocols in order to respond swiftly and appropriately in an ever-changing health care environment. Thomas-Hawkins et al (2020) discuss how having an evidence-based philosophy can help address challenges such as staffing, workload, and care left undone - issues I experience daily while caring for patients in my unit.
Theory-to-practice gap is defined by Mclaughlin & Kaluzny’s Continuous Quality Improvement model as “the differences between what we know works theoretically and actually happens clinically” (2006). To close this gap we must create cultures within our healthcare organizations that value learning from errors and promoting continuous improvement. We must implement strategies such as interprofessional collaborations, team building activities, educational opportunities for staff, peer review processes, debriefing after events or incidents occur; all with underlining goal continue shift culture safety support increased use evidenced based practices .
Possessing an evidence based practice philosophy has impacted many issues I experience on a day basis . For example ,earlier case study discussed earlier showed shifts utilization debriefings after events helping improve communication flow among nurses other healthcare providers despite potential language barriers Additionally another survey found individuals who felt empowered take ownership own learning process expressed increase confidence utilizing EBP overall Results like these indicate progress closing theory –practice gap creating positive atmosphere encouraging collaboration education amongst members healthcare teams Ultimately embracing concept lifetime learning key ingredient providing better quality safer outcomes our patients